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Why do they use 'to' preposition in 'rose to popularity' here?

The Wallace E. Pratt house, also known as the Ship on the Desert, sits within the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. The house was the home of scientist Wallace Pratt. It was built in the modern “International Style” of architecture that rose to popularity beginning in the 1920s.

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    And we can sink (or fall) into obscurity. "popularity" and "obscurity" are states, not vehicles or instrumentalities. The verbs mean "become" with a directional flavor. became popular, became obscure.
    – TimR
    Commented Sep 24, 2018 at 11:53

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Rising to here is like moving from a lower/lying position (from being ignored by the architects) to a higher/standing position (to popularity). A similar expression is often used: rise to power.

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If X is a destination, and something is moving toward it, you can say to X. Common especially with verbs of motion like rise.

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  • so popularity is a destination here? Could you give other variant of meaning of 'rose to popularity'? Can we say something 'rise using popularity' or 'rise on popularity' are they the same meaning?
    – Vitaly
    Commented Sep 24, 2018 at 10:39
  • You can say something rises to popularity in the same way.
    – LawrenceC
    Commented Sep 24, 2018 at 10:46
  • Now I got it. I thought it used to be popular to built such architectural style. What is probably the same 'to be popular' or 'rise to popularity'.
    – Vitaly
    Commented Sep 24, 2018 at 10:54

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