# The Worst Building in the History of Mankind **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 1, 2008, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829 "2008-02-01T05:51:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/81 "2008-02-01T23:39:29Z")
Cumbernauld Town Centre. Bear in mind this is a shopping centre whose role is to invite customers in to part witht their cash. [http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF001971/Downie/Downie12/Downie01.jpg](http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF001971/Downie/Downie12/Downie01.jpg) > **[BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | What's it called? Cumbernauld](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/1668464.stm)** > > BBC News Online Scotland looks at Cumbernauld which has just seen its town centre dubbed the most dismal place in the country. Actually this is considered to be the nicest of the view of the place. [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cumbernauld_Town_Centre.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cumbernauld_Town_Centre.jpg) Its as bad as this, [http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=9636&DISPLAY=FULL](http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=9636&DISPLAY=FULL) [http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=9639](http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=9639) [http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=9640](http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=9640) [http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=9644](http://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?resourceIdentifier=9644) It looked considerably worse in real life too. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/82 "2008-02-01T23:39:47Z")
I’ve seen the Palace of Culture in Warsaw when I went on holiday there, and my friends and I all commented that we expected the Eye of Sauron to start tracking us at any moment. Even worse is the plaque near it which reads that it was a gift from the loving comrades of the people of Russia to the people of Poland. Yeah, right, built by Poles using their money and probably not because they wanted to. One of the most hideous buildings in London is the [old Home Office building](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HomeOffice_QueenAnnesGate.jpg). Top that. Not an example of bad architecture, but simply an ugly building, there’s an office tower that I go past in the train on my way to work every day. The train goes right past the window and the inside looks as bad as the outside - every day I think “hey, it’s not so bad, at least I don’t work there”. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/83 "2008-02-01T23:43:37Z")
Also there’s the [South Bank centre on the river Thames in central London](http://www.explore-london.co.uk/sban3.html) which is pretty fugly too. I think it was made by the same people who created the Portsmouth Tricorn centre as it shares some of the same features (like the horrible staircases). ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/84 "2008-02-02T00:13:47Z")
[QUOTE=Niemand Noone] Obviously, this is where the Joker and the Penguin had their hideouts in the 1960s… [/QUOTE] Hmmmm, this would explain…much. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/85 "2008-02-02T01:10:58Z")
[QUOTE=SmartAleq] Ok, seriously–WTF? How do those work? How do you not have wasted space, tilted walls and windows that point at the ground? How do you have a level floor that doesn’t have windows that slant away from the plane of the floor? Dammit, that picture made my head hurt trying to figure it out… [/QUOTE] That’s the point… You _ **do** _ have wasted space; you _ **do** _ have tilted walls; you _ **do** _ have windows that point at the ground; you _ **do** _ have a level floor with slanted windows. The interior of those “cube houses” is the INSANEST place I’ve seen in my life. It defines the word “kafkaesque” to a T. Just my 2 eurocent! JoseB ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/86 "2008-02-02T06:46:14Z")
[QUOTE=JoseB] That’s the point… You _ **do** _ have wasted space; you _ **do** _ have tilted walls; you _ **do** _ have windows that point at the ground; you _ **do** _ have a level floor with slanted windows. The interior of those “cube houses” is the INSANEST place I’ve seen in my life. It defines the word “kafkaesque” to a T. Just my 2 eurocent! JoseB [/QUOTE] Maybe they were designed by the demon Crowley after he got tired of designing motorways in the UK… Those things offend me on a nearly cellular level! ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/87 "2008-02-02T13:13:26Z")
[QUOTE=chocolatefrog] Holy cow, that looks like a giant dildo superimposed onto a normal landscape with some bad Photoshopping :eek:! It’s probably not the worst or ugliest building in the world, but I nominate the new Singaporean supreme court. It looks like a bad sci-fi set to me, and I loathe the damn thing everytime I see it. [By day](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Supreme_Court_Building%2C_Singapore.JPG) [By night](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Supreme_Court_HDR.jpg) [/QUOTE] Wait, you guys have got a flying saucer landing port and haven’t told anyone about it? 😕 (Kind of reminds me of the house they kept Willard Whyte in.) IIRC, MIT is suing the architects involved with designing some buildings that look like they’re being sodomized by a Transformer, because the things are falling apart and they’ve only just been completed. Until Bart Simpson and the gang took it out, [the Sunsphere was a Knoxville eyesore.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sunsphere.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/88 "2008-02-02T16:26:59Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Wait, you guys have got a flying saucer landing port and haven’t told anyone about it? [/QUOTE] Heck, even here in Alberta, we’ve got a [flying saucer landing port](http://www.abheritage.ca/stvincent-stpaul/st_paul/community_UFO_en.html). Doesn’t everybody? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/89 "2008-02-02T17:20:50Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] IIRC, MIT is suing the architects involved with designing some buildings that look like they’re being sodomized by a Transformer, because the things are falling apart and they’ve only just been completed. [/QUOTE] Do a search for “Stata Center”. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/90 "2008-02-02T17:22:46Z")
Then there’s the [Plaza Tower](http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=plazatower-neworleans-la-usa) in New Orleans. It has the distinction of not only being the ugliest building in Louisiana, but has been nearly uninhabitable for years because of severe mold and mildew and moisture problems. The only tenants left in it pre-Katrina were a couple of government offices whose employees were chronically ill from the building. I have no idea what’s happened to it post-K. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/91 "2008-02-02T17:26:29Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Tiger] Then there’s the [Plaza Tower](http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=plazatower-neworleans-la-usa) in New Orleans. It has the distinction of not only being the ugliest building in Louisiana, but has been nearly uninhabitable for years because of severe mold and mildew and moisture problems. The only tenants left in it pre-Katrina were a couple of government offices whose employees were chronically ill from the building. I have no idea what’s happened to it post-K. [/QUOTE] I kinda like that one – maybe the reality is worse than the pic. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/92 "2008-02-02T17:44:16Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] Let us not leave out [Boston City Hall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_City_Hall), another IM Pei masterwork. [/quote] No, Kallman, McKinnell and Knowles. Got some major prizes for it, too. IM Pei did the Hancock, though. > [@](#): > > That entire neighborhood needs to be levelled. It was, to make room for City Hall and the surrounding brick-tundra “plaza”. Planning to move or replace the building, and restore Scollay Square, are chestnuts of architecture/urban planning students’ theses, but don’t expect anything to come from them. I’d heard of the Pyongyang hotel, but had no idea just how atrocious it is until now. Looks like it’s ready to take off and fly into orbit, where it should remain. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/93 "2008-02-02T17:56:42Z")
I used to work in an IM Pei “masterwork” bilding, the east building of the National Gallery of Art in DC. There were no walls at right angles in the entire building, including the offices. Anytime you wanted to reorganize the workspace, you had to have custom furniture built, or carpenters and architect come in to design and build custom workstations in. You also couldn’t make any changes to any part of the interior of the building that was accessible by the public, unless the plan was approved by Pei. Of course, that made changes pretty much impossibly expensive. It was a huge pain in the ass, and everyone who worked in the building hated it. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/94 "2008-02-02T18:08:26Z")
I like that Pyongyang hotel, it reminds me of Godzilla films. Here’s a few shit buildings in Dublin: [http://img349.imageshack.us/img349/3102/02092006pa4.jpg](http://img349.imageshack.us/img349/3102/02092006pa4.jpg) I don’t know the name of the above but it’s tacked onto the historic Dublin Castle. [http://www.dublinblog.ie/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/199482049\_9ae6b62dfb\_b.jpg](http://www.dublinblog.ie/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/199482049_9ae6b62dfb_b.jpg) Liberty Hall was built in the early 1960s. I’m hoping they’ll tear it down soon. ---
**Author:** ![chocolatefrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/41988e/32.png) [@chocolatefrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chocolatefrog)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/95 "2008-02-02T18:55:20Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Wait, you guys have got a flying saucer landing port and haven’t told anyone about it? 😕 (Kind of reminds me of the house they kept Willard Whyte in.) [/QUOTE] On the designer’s page there’s some crap explaining that the ‘saucer’ houses the highest court in the land, and it is a modern reinterpretation of the former supreme court’s dome (which was a more aesthetically pleasing neoclassical design). Maybe this proves we’re governed by cybermen or something :dubious: . ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/96 "2008-02-03T00:22:29Z")
I might also nominate for its Stalinist ugliness the city hall of my city of birth, Albacete in Spain. [Here is one view](http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagen:Ayuntamiento_Albacete.jpg) [A bigger view (by day)](http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3594/plazaayuntamiento7vx.jpg) [A bigger view (by night)](http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/521/albaceteayuntamiento0ju.jpg) Another Spanish city hall monstrosity: The City Hall of Benidorm. [From the official website](http://www.benidormytu.com/benidorm/ayuntamiento.jpg) [Another view](http://img331.imageshack.us/img331/5985/beni013ou3.jpg) _shudder_ Just my 2 eurocent! JoseB ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/97 "2008-02-03T00:54:40Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Yeah, I like the gherkin, but I wonder what we’ll think of it in fifty years. [/QUOTE] It’s hard to keep something like that up after 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/98 "2008-02-03T01:54:08Z")
Wow, some of these are really…interesting. The Agbar vibrator is quite impressive. (I had to giggle.) There are a couple of Eyesores of the Month that I’d like to nominate: [Hideous (Akron art museum - firehouse meets…ladder truck?)](http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore_200801.html) [Beyond Hideous:](http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore_200712.html) the [future Czech National Library](http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/future_systems.php). ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/99 "2008-02-03T02:07:44Z")
[QUOTE=gardentraveler] …[Beyond Hideous:](http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore_200712.html) the [future Czech National Library](http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/future_systems.php). [/QUOTE] This looks like it was drawn to be part of the set of **Futurama** , right down to the colors. ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829/100 "2008-02-03T02:12:34Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I present, for your consideration, the now-demolished [Tricorn Centre](http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk/gallery/450/bb9/bb96_10635.jpg) in Portsmouth - voted the ugliest building in Britain in more than one poll, IIRC. [/QUOTE] is that the site of the protagonist’s apartment (that he shared with his parents, a snake, and several loose women) from the movie _Clockwork Orange_? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-worst-building-in-the-history-of-mankind/435829.md?page=6)