# Really ugly buildings in Eastern Europe **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 24, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546 "2019-07-24T14:08:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/21 "2019-07-26T03:22:34Z")
Why is one of the billboards in English? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/22 "2019-07-26T10:04:14Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Hey! Those Seven Sisters and Palace of Culture and Science look like Cleveland’s [Terminal Tower](https://www.theclio.com/web/ul/25062.55020.jpg). Is that not how big city buildings are supposed to look? ☹ IMO that’s _almost_ ugly but not quite. It’s in the middle ground between garishly new and drabbily old where you’re right, it just looks like how big city buildings are supposed to look. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/23 "2019-07-26T11:33:15Z")
Here’s an [ugly building in Orlando](https://goo.gl/maps/cgJjQ8mNQEXYziz26) that also has the totalitarian aesthetic down for me despite all the glass. The statues combined with the greater-than-life scale of the first stories really remind me of oppressive artistic impulses. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/24 "2019-07-26T16:40:33Z")
> [@Marcus\_Flavius](#): > > I’m currently close to a placed called Constanta, loacated in Romania near the black sea, for work related reasons. This entire town is basically a giant eyesore. Ugly architecture absolutely everywhere you look, both ‘Modernist’ and Soviet era. Whatever good architecture this place had is gone. [Some of that has to do with construction projects being interrupted by the fall of Communism and left unfinished until relatively recently.](https://www.teoalida.com/world/europe/) ---
**Author:** ![Marcus\_Flavius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@Marcus\_Flavius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marcus_Flavius)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/25 "2019-07-26T18:03:14Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > No, they were regular apartment buildings. The Communist nomenklatura lived in villa-like buildings. Constantza is my native city and I lived in one of those ‘blocks of flats’ (Romanians call them blocks) as a child. Communist leaders were obsessed with demolishing old buildings and erecting new Soviet-style residential areas that reflected our New Progress and the taste of the [New Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Man_(utopian_concept)). You need patience if you want to see what the city looked like before the Communists slaughtered it. Please take a look at this square, situated not far from the Casino building that a participant in this thread has already mentioned: > > [http://tinypic.com/r/2di0fg2/9](http://tinypic.com/r/2di0fg2/9) > > In the center of this little square you can see the statue of Publius Ovidius Naso, a poet who became a city dweller against his will in the year 8 AD (Constantza has a long and complicated history, and it was named Tomis at that time). Anyway, the mosque and buildings around the square were built long before Romania became Communist, but some of these structures are going through a process of modernization, where neoclassical facades are being replaced with steel & glass walls. Of course it’s stupid since the original city architecture continues to vanish, this time in the name of another ‘new’ ideology where money dictates. > > Back to the Soviet-style apartment buildings, the positive aspect of erecting those architectural monsters was that there were no homeless people and everyone got to live in an apartment. Ninety percent (or more) were state-owned and citizens were lodgers. As soon as a person got a job, he or she applied for one of these apartments. The size of the apartment one received depended on the size of the family (and the relevance of one’s job). Of course there were more applicants than apartments, but I remember the building rate was really fast. When I was a kid, it seemed the whole country was a construction site. > > Today people have gotten used to living in apartment buildings, although many have opted for single houses or villas. Ninety five percent of Romanian people own the house/apartment they live in, but living in an apartment building is more advantageous because maintenance is handled by hired managers, who make sure everything is always in working condition and utilities are brought to a minimum. > > If you google ‘residential areas in bucharest’ you will get to see Soviet-style buildings in the capital city, where I live now. But if you google ‘new residential areas in bucharest’, you will notice that the new buildings tend to look smaller (i.e. cozier) and/or less Communist-like. I detest all these Soviet-style buildings that I can still see around, but even they tend to be gradually renovated, and the place is really quiet and enjoyable. Thanks for the background, it’s cool to hear from a native. It’s sad what the communists did to Eastern European cities. American cities faced a similar fate, all in the name of “progress,” and “renewal,” just as was the case in the Soviet block. America basically destroyed its cities, tearing down prime real estate and urban neighborhoods and replaced them with… highways and parking lots. Here’s a “before and after” pic of Atlanta, GA [https://66.media.tumblr.com/09e2ceffa994ef2f15f561aa6129eb2b/tumblr\_pd3ixdxvQe1qc63pwo1\_1280.jpg](https://66.media.tumblr.com/09e2ceffa994ef2f15f561aa6129eb2b/tumblr_pd3ixdxvQe1qc63pwo1_1280.jpg) The top pic was taken some time before 1950 I believe… the second pic is that same area today. > [@](#): > > Communist, but some of these structures are going through a process of modernization, where neoclassical facades are being replaced with steel & glass walls. Of course it’s stupid since the original city architecture continues to vanish, this time in the name of another ‘new’ ideology where money dictates. Yes, ‘modernist’ architecture is a product of our global, capitalist, consumer society. ‘Capitalism,’ and ‘Communism’ are far more similar than they are different. Out with the old, in with the new, progress, and “newness” lie at the basis of both these ‘ideologies.’ ---
**Author:** ![Marcus\_Flavius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@Marcus\_Flavius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marcus_Flavius)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/26 "2019-07-26T18:07:38Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Why is one of the billboards in English? Some of the signs and billboards are written in English. I can’t tell you why. ---
**Author:** ![Marcus\_Flavius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@Marcus\_Flavius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marcus_Flavius)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/27 "2019-07-26T18:09:13Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Boston has its own delightful Brutalist architecture: > > [Boston City Hall - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_City_Hall) And to think that steaming brutalist turd replaced this [https://www.google.com/search?q=old+boston+city+hall&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiV6NXrltPjAhXmk4sKHfMnDRoQ\_AUIESgB&biw=1920&bih=969#imgrc=WdGQEiTR8p0ejM:](https://www.google.com/search?q=old+boston+city+hall&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiV6NXrltPjAhXmk4sKHfMnDRoQ_AUIESgB&biw=1920&bih=969#imgrc=WdGQEiTR8p0ejM:) ---
**Author:** ![Marcus\_Flavius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@Marcus\_Flavius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marcus_Flavius)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/28 "2019-07-26T18:16:59Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > They were slightly better than what I was expecting, and I was expecting something fairly tolerable. They remind me of the [Hilton London Metropole](https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5193407,-0.1690519,3a,75y,267.55h,107.95t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sK8bfHsPB27JzYFDm4NcDEg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192). That’s ugly, but I think mine are much uglier. It’s absurd, because right across the street is an example of what good architecture is supposed to look like (those apartments on top of Pattisserie Valerie store) ---
**Author:** ![Marcus\_Flavius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@Marcus\_Flavius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marcus_Flavius)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/29 "2019-07-26T18:20:58Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > [Some of that has to do with construction projects being interrupted by the fall of Communism and left unfinished until relatively recently.](https://www.teoalida.com/world/europe/) Huh, interesting. I’ve been wondering why there are so many buildings in this town that look either half completed or half torn down. ---
**Author:** ![Marcus\_Flavius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@Marcus\_Flavius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marcus_Flavius)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/30 "2019-07-26T18:24:21Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Here’s an [ugly building in Orlando](https://goo.gl/maps/cgJjQ8mNQEXYziz26) that also has the totalitarian aesthetic down for me despite all the glass. The statues combined with the greater-than-life scale of the first stories really remind me of oppressive artistic impulses. Lol, replace the shiny glass with exposed concrete and it would be indistinguishable from a Soviet era building. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/31 "2019-07-26T19:24:52Z")
> [@Marcus\_Flavius](#): > > And to think that steaming brutalist turd replaced this > > [https://www.google.com/search?q=old+boston+city+hall&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiV6NXrltPjAhXmk4sKHfMnDRoQ\_AUIESgB&biw=1920&bih=969#imgrc=WdGQEiTR8p0ejM:](https://www.google.com/search?q=old+boston+city+hall&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiV6NXrltPjAhXmk4sKHfMnDRoQ_AUIESgB&biw=1920&bih=969#imgrc=WdGQEiTR8p0ejM:) Ugh, no kidding. At least the old building is still intact around the corner, and you can wander by and imagine a better world… ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/32 "2019-07-26T19:36:50Z")
> [@Marcus\_Flavius](#): > > Some of the signs and billboards are written in English. I can’t tell you why. Here in Krakow, and throughout the rest of Poland, seemingly at least 1/3rd of all billboards are in English, more if you count ones written in both Polski and English. I feel for the older Poles, many who fear that their culture and language are yet once again under attack, not by the Nazis or Communism, but now by unrestrained, relentless consumerism. (95% of young Poles are COMPLETELY obsessed with America and American pop culture, sadly, usually the very worst possible aspects of it) ---
**Author:** ![Marcus\_Flavius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@Marcus\_Flavius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marcus_Flavius)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/33 "2019-07-26T20:56:18Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > Here in Krakow, and throughout the rest of Poland, seemingly at least 1/3rd of all billboards are in English, more if you count ones written in both Polski and English. > > I feel for the older Poles, many who fear that their culture and language are yet once again under attack, not by the Nazis or Communism, but now by unrestrained, relentless consumerism. (95% of young Poles are COMPLETELY obsessed with America and American pop culture, sadly, usually the very worst possible aspects of it) It’s the same in Romania too. Young Romanians are incredibly “Americanized,” and also often reflect the worst aspects of that “culture.” It seems like all other countries know how to do is copy America. I like to say that there are only two cultures left in the world- American/Western/consumerist, and remote villager without internet. ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/34 "2019-07-26T21:20:39Z")
> [@Marcus\_Flavius](#): > > It’s the same in Romania too. Young Romanians are incredibly “Americanized,” and also often reflect the worst aspects of that “culture.” > > It seems like all other countries know how to do is copy America. I like to say that there are only two cultures left in the world- American/Western/consumerist, and remote villager without internet. During the past couple of years, I have spent time in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine, Slovakia, Croatia and Lithuania (on top of several other “Western” European countries as well) but I have never met people who as a whole are so incredibly, nakedly, unabashedly admiring of America and Americans as the Poles. On one had it is great living here, the people are genuinely excited to talk with an American, and are seemingly delighted with my attempts at speaking Polish with them (I am constantly told, with complete sincerity how extremely well I speak Polski, which to my great shame and embarassment after living here for 4 years, is frankly bullshit, I am still nowhere close to even basic fluency) but sometimes I want to tell people who tell me about how much they love America that Poland and Polish culture should be celebrated and cherished, and that 2019’s America is in many ways an unmitigated trainwreck, which is why every day that I wake up here in beautiful, safe, welcoming, historic, peaceful and affordable Krakow I Thank God for my incredible good fortune. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/35 "2019-07-26T22:00:21Z")
I agree there is a lot of English in mass media (including advertising, of course) caused by the American cultural hegemony, but it’s more than that. The youth want to distance themselves from what they perceive as conservative generations by adopting Western models, and mass media encourage these ‘young European citizens’ by targeting them with cosmopolitan messages. On the other hand, people feel that when it comes to business everybody should adopt English terminology to a certain extent. Look at the shops on the first storey of the building: one is named “Big” Commercial Center and the other Exchange, which refers to currency exchange services. Last but not least, companies that target some of the lower middle class, the upper middle class, and the wealthy in general will always use English messages because (1) they generally sell a lifestyle and therefore imply their clients are educated people who embrace the Western model of freedom and democracy, and (2) a great portion of their clientele consists of foreign people who work and/or live in Romania. The billboard ad proclaiming ‘summer sale’ belongs to [Mobexpert](https://mobexpert.ro), a Romanian company that produces and sells ‘high-end’ furniture, which only the rich can afford (that is wealthy foreigners and people who populate the corporate world). PhiloAmericanism is hardly a fleeting whim in Eastern Europe. Russia, which remains a de facto empire and has acted brutally toward its neighbors for three centuries, continues to threaten the countries in its vicinity (such as Romania or Poland) after already causing terrible damage to each one of them. Despite getting disappointed by the Western indifference, people here have embraced the Western ideals of freedom and democracy in the hope that the West will come to their rescue if Russia keeps bullying them. Our speaking English probably makes Russia’s cold breath on our neck seem to be a little farther, although it may be actually getting closer. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/36 "2019-07-26T22:40:47Z")
> [@PlaceboTarget](#): > > The billboard ad proclaiming ‘summer sale’ belongs to [Mobexpert](https://mobexpert.ro), a Romanian company that produces and sells ‘high-end’ furniture, which only the rich can afford (that is wealthy foreigners and people who populate the corporate world). The ad to the left of the “summer sale” ad looks to me much like one from IKEA. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/37 "2019-07-27T03:05:06Z")
The ad with the dog wearing a hard hat belongs to [Dedeman](https://www.dedeman.ro/ro), a Romanian DIY chain store offering home improvement and cheap furniture, owned by two Romanian businessmen (and former mathematicians) whose family name is Dedeman. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/38 "2019-07-27T03:21:11Z")
On the other hand, [the largest Ikea store in Eastern Europe](http://business-review.eu/business/retail/ikea-opens-its-largest-store-in-southeast-europe-in-bucharest-202531) lies in Bucharest indeed. It was launched only a month or two ago, and it is Ikea’s second store here. This type of stores seem to be thriving, which reflects people’s general urge to upgrade their living spaces. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/39 "2019-07-27T06:41:48Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > Here in Krakow, and throughout the rest of Poland, seemingly at least 1/3rd of all billboards are in English, more if you count ones written in both Polski and English. In several visits to Poland from the early 1990s on, I noticed that many graffiti-writers there, seemed to favour the English language for their activity – graffiti conveying, in English, a wide variety of opinions / sentiments. I recall one which read, “My dear wife Christina” [English spelling] – which I found highly charming. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546/40 "2019-07-27T08:47:42Z")
> [@Marcus\_Flavius](#): > > That’s ugly, but I think mine are much uglier. > > It’s absurd, because right across the street is an example of what good architecture is supposed to look like (those apartments on top of Pattisserie Valerie store) I usually like Brutalism in general although our examples are below average for uniquely architected examples of the style. I only dislike the good architecture opposite the Metropole because it is so common. But then again because of this, the brickwork building shouldn’t be compared to the Metropole, which you could tell was trying very hard, but still barely managed to surpass the average buildings around it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-ugly-buildings-in-eastern-europe/837546.md?page=3)