A Building In Your City that You Never Cared for, But Later Came to Like?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by hackunion

I watched a documentary about the Chicago library competition in my 20th century architecture class last year. When the winner was revealed at the end of the film, the entire class was completely shocked. When you consider the other project entries, some of which had the chance of truly becoming one of the city's architectural icons, and compare it to the winner - it's a shame.

it wasn't a shame though. i thought it was at the time, but beeby's winning design has actually turned out well for the city over the years. jahn's scheme would have been disatrous at street level. SOM's design was just generally uninspired in my opinion. erickson's plan was even goofier than beeby's and that leaves lohan's design. that is the one that could have been the blockbuster modern statement that would have continued chicago's course with modern civic structures, but sometimes you need to shake things up, and shake things up beeby's design most certainly did. and in retrospect, i think the inhehrent whimsy in beeby's dsesign was just what the doctor ordered for a city that can take itself too seriously at times when it comes to architecture.

[PuyoPiyo]

For my city, I would say the Vancouver Washington City Hall. At the first time I thought this building was the most shameful ever built in downtown Vancouver, Washington, but later I am starting to liking it.. I think it is just a cute little shame monstrioty building.

[MolsonExport]

Quite honestly, I was never too fond of Place Ville Marie (PVM) in Montreal...it just dominated the skyline too much and struck me as awkward rather than graceful. But it has grown on me...and I appreciate it much more now. Still far from my favourite Montreal Skyscraper (that honour goes to 1250 Rene Levesque, aka the IBM-Marathon bldg.)

[headcase]

I don't need to post pictures, everyone knows what it looks like .....

The Sears Tower.

Before I moved to Chicago I always hated that big black beast, couldn't understand why people like it, etc...

As soon as I saw it driving into the city for the first time, I got it.

SSDD

Would the World Trade Center qualify for this topic?

Based on TV specials I have been, many New Yorkers didn't care for the WTC when it was first built because it was so imposing and simplistic.

[Wheelingman04]

^ That is true.

[kenc]

Originally Posted by A42251

Would the World Trade Center qualify for this topic?

Based on TV specials I have been, many New Yorkers didn't care for the WTC when it was first built because it was so imposing and simplistic.

When it opened in the early 70's the World Trade Center was almost universally hated. The scale was inhuman, and it dumped 4 mil square feet in a market that really did not need it. Plus an entire neighborhood of small businesses and apartment buildings, many over 100 years old, was wiped out.
But eventually the towers became a symbol of the city as much as the Empire State building, or Statue of Liberty.

[Magnus1]

Originally Posted by MSPtoMKE

Nice one. My brother lived there when he went to the U. It was affectionately know by students as the 'ghetto in the sky'.

[Wheelingman04]

I agree 100%, kenc.

[MayDay]

I'd have to say 200 Public Square, formerly known as the BP Tower (and Sohio before that). It's not the sentimental favorite like Terminal Tower, or the wow-factor like Key Tower, but it has its merits:

- It serves as a good counterpoint to the Terminal Tower's ornamentation without overwhelming it in the skyline.
- Along with Terminal Tower and Key Tower, it completes one heck of an impressive grouping of towers.
- Unlike a lot of PoMo buildings, the atrium/street level do a pretty good job of providing a welcoming pedestrian-friendly environment.
- It "cups" the eastern quadrants of Public Square.
- The northern "flank" is lined perfectly with the Mall (and War Memorial Fountain):

It will never be my favorite, but it's definitely grown on me. I especially like it when viewed from the northern or southern axis:

[TANGELD_SLC]

After more than Two Years of collecting dust, I shall resurrect this thread

Wells Fargo Building, Salt Lake City


Flickr: Blazefirelight

Even though it's the state's tallest building, it certainly doesn't look like it, due to it's unusual cladding style and excessive width. It looks more like a ten story building than a 26-story tower. But I've come to appreciate it more, even if it is a big blue block

Also, if you get it from the right angle, it looks pretty sharp


Flickr: Liesel's Easel

[WilliamTheArtist]

I think a lot of Mid-Century buildings, and homes, were once hated and now are starting to be appreciated. Unfortunately this new appreciation may come a bit late to save many of them. There was a time when Tulsa also didnt like all the Art-Deco we had and tore down a lot of it. Now we cherish every last bit we have left. Hopefully we wont tear down too much of our mid-century stuff.

[NYaMtl]

Originally Posted by BTinSF

There are quite a few buildings in SF I hate, but here's one that has grown on me some: St. Mary's Cathedral (Catholic), formally known as the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. It was designed by Pier Luigi Nervi

Exterior
[img]http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/nervi/frontangle.jpg

Incidentally, this is the same architect as the Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in Montréal, which I originally thought looked so dated and obtrusive. Since then it has become one of my favorite buildings in the city (it was the most prominent building in my view from school so I spent a lot of time looking at it). Now I think it's one of the most graceful skyscrapers I've ever seen, and among the first to come to mind when I think of the city.

http://www.imtl.org/montreal/buildin...-la-bourse.php

[HooverDam]

I used to not like the Phoenix Financial Center, I suppose I thought it was sort of corny, but now I love it. It doesn't interact with the street terribly well, but otherwise its terrific. The South side of the building is designed to look like Midcentury computer punch cards, and it limits the amount of blistering summer desert son that gets into the tower.

[munda]

Souce: google
everyone who on drives on N LSD has seen this building plenty of time, but never cared for it until it becomes a giant billboard. I never cared for it either, until i chose this building for project in architecture class.


Souce: google
who can forget a prison skyscraper just blocks away from Sears Tower

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by hackunion

I watched a documentary about the Chicago library competition in my 20th century architecture class last year. When the winner was revealed at the end of the film, the entire class was completely shocked. When you consider the other project entries, some of which had the chance of truly becoming one of the city's architectural icons, and compare it to the winner - it's a shame. The 1980s were full of backwards thinking though, so it is a good example of this I guess.

I would argue that it IS one of the city's icons, though.

Most "architectural icons" are buildings that average joes don't give a crap about, because they have no relation to that building. Consider the Inland Steel Building in Chicago: it's an architectural landmark, it's beautiful, but it's a modernist box and it has been buried amidst many taller buildings. Nobody except architects even knows (or cares) that it is there.

The buildings that become true icons, for all the people instead of just the architectural elite, are the buildings that combine a distinctive design with a public purpose. Sears Tower and John Hancock are icons not just because of their groundbreaking modernist design and engineering, but because of their observation decks and restaurants. All Chicagoans know that the Sears is the tallest, but most are surprised to learn that John Hancock is not the second-tallest (it's now fourth). Yet these two buildings host the only two public observation decks in Chicago, so it makes sense for them to be the two tallest buildings.

The Harold Washington Library serves as a downtown nexus. The library draws in children, families, people looking for a book, researchers, and students of all ages. The Winter Garden at the top hosts many weddings, banquets, and high-school dances. A great deal of Chicagoans have been inside those red stone walls. All this could be accommodated in an undistinguished building, but the distinguished design makes the building into something memorable and valuable to the city as a whole.

The public library here in New Orleans is just the opposite. It's a decent Modernist design but it's rather undistinguished and fairly boring. Poor lighting levels and poor maintenance just make it into an unpleasant affair. DC has the same problem. Their central library was designed by Mies himself, but the library's location, size, and limited scope ensure that the building is just one more glassy box along G Street.

[mrnyc]

i agree with mayday. even after all these years i'm still left trying to like the sohio/bp building in cleveland. a few recent photos over the years, particularly his, have helped, so i'm inching glacially forward.

looks aside, i think i unconsciously and unfairly have held all the tear downs around public square against it, too.

[TANGELD_SLC]

Not to go too off-topic, but i have to agree with ardecila about the chicago library. I personally don't see why so many Chicagoans hate it so much. I think it's a really unique building as well as extremely attractive. But I guess since I don't live in Chicago my opinion has little value, but I think it's one of America's best public libraries, along with the libraries in Salt Lake City and Seattle, unique architectural gems, like the Harold Washington.

[initiald]

129 West Trade

Among all the shiny new buildings in Charlotte, I always though this old building stuck out in a bad way. Eventually I came to appreciate for being representative of the style of its era. Built in 1958, it has 15 floors and t"he entire structure is clad with 3,822 precast concrete facade panels, each of which weighs 2,000 pounds and measure 5.5 feet by 6 feet." It is really about the only building from its era downtown that hasn't been reclad with a new facade.

[Patrick]

^^^Never noticed that one before! Interesting facade!