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

the urban politician · #1 11-01-2006, 01:14 AM

Name one building (pictures as well) in your city that you curse and wish to spit at every time you pass it by. This building should embody everything you hate in architecture--in fact it should be so bad that if you had a daughter you wouldn't let her go near it because you believe it embodies everything evil in this world.

spyguy · #2 11-01-2006, 01:21 AM

There a number of ones I'd pick, but recently it would have to be Grand Plaza

CGII · #3 11-01-2006, 02:06 AM

Milwaukee Post Office

It fits the definition of monstrosity, it's really friggin huge and disgustingly concrete and absolutely filthy. The areas near the roof are simply slathered in bird shit. Thankfully, nothing was demolished to make way for it, it simply replaced a rail yard. The US Post Office said years ago they wanted to replace it, but sadly never elabourated and whatever plans they had now sit far in the back corners of limbo.

Of course, the dainty in comparison Amtrak station next door makes it look like a Mies...

The latter is currently being renovated:

vid · #4 11-01-2006, 02:22 AM

I don't think Thunder Bay has anything like that.................. but if it did, this would be it:

Buckeye Native 001 · #5 11-01-2006, 02:30 AM

For Orange County, take your pick:

Disneyland
Crystal Cathedral
Knotts Berry Farm
Chapman University
Cal State Fullerton
UC Irvine
Irvine
Laguna Beach
Newport Beach

All of it. Suburban waste.

bjornson · #6 11-01-2006, 04:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

For Orange County, take your pick:

Disneyland
Crystal Cathedral
Knotts Berry Farm
Chapman University
Cal State Fullerton
UC Irvine
Irvine
Laguna Beach
Newport Beach

All of it. Suburban waste.

Oh, you're good. Too good. Irvine is the worst of them all! Disneyland is a close second.

SmileyBoy · #7 11-01-2006, 05:00 AM

For Fargo, it would be the Central Post Office.

(It's the brown and white piece of dog shit across the street in the middle of the pic):

This is the kind of building that can frighten little children and pregnant mothers.

I guess "decent" brutalist modernism just skipped Fargo completely in the 60's and went directly up to Winnipeg.

Dalton · #8 11-01-2006, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

For Orange County, take your pick:

Disneyland
Crystal Cathedral
Knotts Berry Farm
Chapman University
Cal State Fullerton
UC Irvine
Irvine
Laguna Beach
Newport Beach

All of it. Suburban waste.

What's so bad about Irvine? I kind of like it there - the Spectrum (with the new parking structure you can finally find a parking space there!), the clean well-maintained wide streets, the 50 mph speed limit on Alton, the pleasant lush landscaping, the bike paths. Are you just upset because there aren't any skyscrapers and mass transit there? Well get over it - not every place has to be "downtown". The people are generally nice, well-educated, middle-class folks who work in the numerous tech-related small companies headquartered there, they seem happy to be living there, and there's seemingly little crime and no blight in the area. Why the hate?

Anyway, if you really want "suburban waste", try Schaumburg, IL. Irvine is paradise in comparison.

LostInTheZone · #9 11-01-2006, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CGII

The latter is currently being renovated:

gah... trading one short-sighted architectural fad for another... I actually prefer the older facade, it's at least got more logical order.

DetroitSTAR · #10 11-01-2006, 12:55 PM

Photo courtesy of DetroitYes.com

It looks like...hell, I dont even know, but not like a proud riverfront structure. Ford Auditorium, only in use for 25 years or so is a big waste of space on the Detroit Riverfront at Hart Plaza. It is now slated fore demolition and an amphitheater to be put in it's place, but it never should have even been built.

Honorable mention would be Joe Louis Arena. It has no architectural qualities at all. It's widely known as "The warehouse on the river".

toddguy · #11 11-01-2006, 01:41 PM

Lincoln Tower OSU campus:

And it's ugly twin sister tower, Morrill Tower as well:

I would love to see these monstrosities imploded.

the urban politician · #12 11-01-2006, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toddguy

Lincoln Tower OSU campus:

^

Those are too ugly even for this thread. Please remove those pics immediately or this forum will self-destruct

Steely Dan · #13 11-01-2006, 04:34 PM

those OSU dorms are hideous. why are the windows so friggin small? were they trying to make the thing look like a vertical prison?

The Chemist · #14 11-01-2006, 04:38 PM

Calgary:

Harry Hays Federal Building
McKimmie Library at the University of Calgary
Calgary Board of Education building
Scotia Centre

thenewsupastar · #15 11-01-2006, 04:49 PM

The Verizon Long Lines building in lower Manhattan. Or that hideous monstrosity on the corner of 34th and Park, the giant orange building.

wong21fr · #16 11-01-2006, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

those OSU dorms are hideous. why are the windows so friggin small? were they trying to make the thing look like a vertical prison?

Probably to make it harder for students to ventilate their rooms after hot-boxing. Or maybe to keep depressed students from jumping.

toddguy · #17 11-01-2006, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

those OSU dorms are hideous. why are the windows so friggin small? were they trying to make the thing look like a vertical prison?

And they are so damn visible sticking out right along the river and by the stadium..I hate them with a passion. What is even worse is actually being inside one...I experienced Lincoln Tower(or 'house' as they so euphemistically call it now)as a warren of cubicle-like 'cells' that was utterly spirit-killing with just a quick tour. Probably worse than most Russian apartment blocks. How someone could actually live there for any length of time is beyond my comprehension.

Coldrsx · #18 11-01-2006, 07:22 PM

Edmonton:

i dont have a page long enough

1ajs · #19 11-01-2006, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmileyBoy

For Fargo, it would be the Central Post Office.

(It's the brown and white piece of dog shit across the street in the middle of the pic):

This is the kind of building that can frighten little children and pregnant mothers.

I guess "decent" brutalist modernism just skipped Fargo completely in the 60's and went directly up to Winnipeg.

DAM RIGHT!

the bigest monstrosity in winnipeg would have to be the public safties building and parkade (head office for the winnipeg police)... or all the surface parking lots

hauntedheadnc · #20 11-01-2006, 08:36 PM

I can't find a decent picture, it would definitely have to be I.M. Pei's Akzona Building, on the north side of Pack Square. It's a testimony to the fact that just because you're a starchitect, that doesn't necessarily mean you have the first clue what you're doing.

Combined with its decaying parking deck, the two create a block-long dead zone along College Street. On the deck side, it's chainlink and crumbling cement. On the building side it's loading docks, without even a single window below the third or fourth floor.

I'm thinking, to tell you the truth, that the reason there aren't any good pictures of building, and especially of the building and its deck together, is that they're so ugly they shatter the lenses of anyone who dares attempt capture them on film.