What's the most shameful monstrosity ever built in your city?

[¿buen diseño?]

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[toddguy]

Originally Posted by Distill3d

i'm gonna have to agree with you on this one. unless you live in Dubai, this surely isn't a monstrosity. i would give almost any building in my city for this.

I realize it is not that great..but look at some of the things that are posted in this thread..*shudder*

And then there is this building.
I could only find a picture of this thing in Columbus from Emporis..so I hope it is alright to post it in this forum.

Emporis calls it the Ameritech building:



looks from the outside like it would be composed of a warren of small cells.


you can see it (and all the hideous crap on the top of it) in this pic. Looks like a prison or maybe a really bad dorm at OSU-an ugly stepchild of the Lincoln/Morill monstrosities I posted earlier. That Chicago building is a beauty in comparison.



and in this one:

[Exodus]

The former IRS Bldg. and current but soon to be former MGM Casino. It is an ugly 1960's-1970ish sprawling campus like facility that sits right next to the freeway for everybody to have to look at. If Detroit wants to tear shit down, let them tear this garbage down.

[LMich]

Toddguy, almost every modern downtown switching station is the ugliest building you'll find in a city. They are built for a purely utilitarian purpose, most of the time. Someone should make a thread about modern telephone switching stations which are usually nothing more than concrete blocks.

[CGII]

Originally Posted by LMich

Toddguy, almost every modern downtown switching station is the ugliest building you'll find in a city. They are built for a purely utilitarian purpose, most of the time. Someone should make a thread about modern telephone switching stations which are usually nothing more than concrete blocks.

One of them, however, is one of my favourite buildings on Manhattan:






I'm sure a lot of people disagree, though.

[LyndaleHoosier]

Minneapolis lucked out for the telephone builidings downtown (built as Northwestern Bell and is now a Qwest regional building):

originally looked like this:

[Ex-Ithacan]

^ Wow, that is the most impressive "phone block" I've seen.

[bobjgumby]

I give you the ugliest building in Flint MI, Genesee Towers (yes it is plural even though it is one tower). It was built in the late sixties as headquarters for Genesee Savings Bank. It is the tallest building in Flint eclipsing its beautiful deco neighbor "Mott Foundation Building".



This is the contrast just in front of Genesee Towers.

BTW the building in the foreground with the bricked in windows was build in the late 1800's and will be rehabbed opening the arched windows and doors up for the first time since the early 1900's.

[LMich]

Yeah, the historic phone buildings aren't bad. It's mostly those built after the 30's which are horrible. In fact, in most cities, they are right next door to one another as telephone technology changed.

[bobjgumby]

Lmichigan is right, here is Flint's Michigan Bell/Ameritech/SBC/AT&T building or whatever they call it anymore. Notice the hideous 70's addition. It actually a five story building when it was built. The previous addition was done in the same exact material and style.

[SapphireBlueEyes]

I call this building: 'THE END OF CONSTIPATION' as it certainly looks like something that leaves a severe MIES mess stain in the toilet bowl when ya try to flush it.

[Kevin]

Syracuse, NY



Hate this building. If I had money, I'd buy the building, demolish it and build a much better and taller building in it's place.

http://www.123syracuse.com/

[toddguy]

Most of the communications buildings look like they came straight out of the very worst God-forsaken rundown dirty cold Siberian mining town..someplace like Norilsk or something.

[gsgeorge]

Not sure if anyone took care of this yet but in Pontiac, MI we have this huge...thing:


image credit: thecentraloffice.com

basically it ruins our modest skyline, which would be beautiful with this 1929 beauty:

image credit: emporis.com

Doh!

[Lecom]

Originally Posted by toddguy

This one really does not seem that bad to me. Maybe not the best but not a real monstrosity.

It's alright as an office building, but living in it would be like living in a parking garage.

[beesbees]

There's waay too many in London as a whole, but local to me is this... thing:



Not TOO bad.. maybe.

A far out view would show that it is completely totally out of place:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl...26994&t=k&om=1

[toddguy]

Originally Posted by Lecom

It's alright as an office building, but living in it would be like living in a parking garage.

It looks office-like(which I guess makes sense since that was it's original use, right?)..or maybe even hotel like..but not residential/condo. I wonder what the inside is like? I actually do not mind the outside. It reminds me of a version of the Nationwide tower in Columbus-except better and with alot more glass.

[maudibjr]

Apparently none of you has been to Towson MD, Were almost every building is a 60's-70's monstrosity.

The penthouse building is the worst as it looks like it was designed by 2 diffrent people and neither one had a clue.

[Diddle E Squat]

Anything Gehry. Bilbao was cool, everything afterward (and much before) was simply schtick.

The architectural equivalent of Dogs Playing Poker and subsequent variations on the theme.

[texcolo]

Originally Posted by Marcu

I just can't stand the old Montgomery Ward HQ building turned condo in Chicago. Those massive concrete pillars disgust me. During the rehab, they replaced the old black glass with the new shiny glass and got rid of the "wards" sign.

According to the guide on the boat tour I took back in September, that building is significant because it was the beginning of the gentrification of the North Side. Without the Ward's HQ being there, it's possible that alot of the current development wouldn't have occoured.