Ugly, ridiculous, impractical buildings that you still think are awesome

[Iggy]

@Ostrya

Pals, which is a fastfood burger restaurant chain of 23 stores located in northwestern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia. Pals is unique in several ways but one of the most notable being main menu items in three dimensional form presented as part of the building itself.
…

I grew up very close to the first location where they used their unique architecture. The local reaction was a big WTF!? that lasted until word spread about their sweet tea. Now it is something of a treasured landmark.

[Whatever4]

@friedo

I love the OEOB. Great example of Second Empire style.

Speaking of halls of bureaucracy, my nominee is The Pentagon. Short, squat, and a totally boring, unattractive shape. But I love it because it’s one of the most efficient buildings ever designed; despite being the largest office building in the world you can walk from any point to any other in less than ten minutes, guaranteed.

Yeah, but you learned to walk fast. My first job out of high school. I still swoon when I see a guy in Navy summer whites. (I’m 65;).

[bump]

@Wallaby

The Ming Wing. The Robert Gordon Menzies School of Humanities at Monash University (Menzies was Aussie PM for about 2 million years, and nicknamed Ming the Merciless, hence the Ming Wing).

Just for a bit of clarification, “Menzies” is a Scottish name pronounced “Mingus”, so “Ming the Merciless” makes more sense in that light…

[Lacunae_Matata]

I don’t know that’s it’s actually ugly, or even impractical, but LSU’s Tiger Stadium used to house thousands of students in dormitories. In the 1930s, Governor Huey Long wanted to expand the stadium, but the legislature didn’t approve the funding for that. They did, however, approve a bill to add dorms to the campus, so the Guv did what any clinically insane politician would have: he arranged for the dormitories to be built as part of the stadium. I’ve been to Tiger Stadium, but never inside the dorms areas, which now house office space, I think. I understand that they were pretty spartan, even by dormitory standards, but, hey! No long stagger home after a football game!

[Dorjan]

I’ll nominate Rhodes Tower. It’s the largest, most imposing building on the Cleveland State University Campus. Fraught with construction problems from the beginning and widely hated, it’s now largely empty due to asbestos issues and the University seems to be at a loss over what to do with it. But It’s my favorite example of Brutalist architecture and I hope it sticks around!

[Wendell_Wagner]

I’m in Dublin at the moment, and I must say that the Spire of Dublin is weird. From a distance you will momentarily think that it’s a flagpole. Then you realize how tall it is and how thick the base is:

[ElvisL1ves]

[QUOTE=Lacunae Matata[Boston City Hall - Wikipedia]
(Boston City Hall - Wikipedia);17692718]I don’t know that’s it’s actually ugly, or even impractical, but LSU’s Tiger Stadium used to house thousands of students in dormitories.
[/QUOTE]

Ohio State had that too, before they disappeared in a renovation/expansion. The stadium dorms were for scholarship students.

Boston City Hall, replacing the wonderfully funky Scollay Square red light district, won some awards in its younger days, when brutalism was more accepted, even though it looks like a parking garage.

[Son_of_a_Rich]

@LawMonkey

I’ll admit to digging Stalinist architecture generally, which I think is not generally held in high regard; the Moscow State University probably is the most familiar example.

That reminds me of the Terminal Tower in Cleveland.

[howye]

@Dorjan

I’ll nominate Rhodes Tower. It’s the largest, most imposing building on the Cleveland State University Campus. Fraught with construction problems from the beginning and widely hated, it’s now largely empty due to asbestos issues and the University seems to be at a loss over what to do with it. But It’s my favorite example of Brutalist architecture and I hope it sticks around!

Saw “Rhodes Tower” and thought it was going to be about this one. The state office tower, boxy, the elevators are usually nonfunctional or make you wish they were, plain, recirculated air. While it is not the worst thing, it has no redeeming qualities what so ever.

[ducati]

Not a single building, technically, but maybe…

The Kowloon Walled City began in 1898, and its history is interesting I think.

It was finally torn down in 1994, and should have been, I suppose, but I always found the concept of their independence and separatism pretty amazing given the nature of Chinese culture.

[StrangerThanFiction]

@ducati

Not a single building, technically, but maybe…

The Kowloon Walled City began in 1898, and its history is interesting I think.

It was finally torn down in 1994, and should have been, I suppose, but I always found the concept of their independence and separatism pretty amazing given the nature of Chinese culture.

Wow, thanks for posting this. I found a web tour here: http://projects.wsj.com/kwc/. Fascinating.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

@friedo

Frank Gehry is the world’s worst human.

Srsly. I mean, I know your being hyperbolic, but srsly. That guy is a jackass and his buildings suck.

[Ranchoth]

I dunno…my sense of aesthetics is so warped that I can hardly tell what counts as a “hideous” building, from an objective viewpoint, anymore. Or even an average viewpoint.

I’ve got a soft spot for buildings that incorporate giant skulls, though. A tragically underutilized architectural style.

Also, obnoxiously huge Art Deco elements.

[Dave_Hartwick]

The State Library in my adopted city of Brisbane, Queensland.

From the bridge it looks like a ruin. The entrance looks like a prison set in a Kubrick film. From the one side it looks like-- I dunno, a hexhead screw? A bar code?

Still a nice place to visit with the kids on a hot afternoon.

[JustinC]

Not as per the OP, but antidotes to brutal architecture here and here.

[Robot_Arm]

@JustinC

here

I wouldn’t go skydiving anywhere near that place.

[Greg_Charles]

Watts Towers in Los Angeles aren’t buildings exactly, but they are weirdly awesome. They were built by a single person over many years using hand tools and simple materials.

[dougie_monty]

@The_Second_Stone

In D.C. the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. Architecturally thousands of years out of date and mostly decoration. The Washington Monument has a great view from the top, but boy is it ugly with it’s non-matching marble and dangerous with it’s reinforced masonry. The Lincoln Memorial is probably the best example of an ancient Greek temple in the world, with Lincoln in statue form just as Athena or Zeus would be in their temples. Lincoln, who was certainly an atheist until he was president and starting invoking God in speeches (and may have remained an atheist) would have been utterly appalled and embarrassed. But the thing is exquisitely grand and competently done.
The Flintstones house in Hillsborough, California visible from I-280 is just preposterously ugly and cool. Went through once when it was for sale.

Say
what you will about the Lincoln Memorial…if I ever went there, and approached that statue, I probably would break down…and cry hard. Have you ever seen the editorial cartoon by Bill Mauldin, that appeared in newspapers on November 23, 1963?

[ElvisL1ves]

@Dorjan

I’ll nominate Rhodes Tower.

To me, it’s not clear why. That looks like half the buildings in Downtown Anywhere USA.

But It’s my favorite example of Brutalist architecture and I hope it sticks around!

You seem to be about the only person around with any appreciation for the genre now, even if it did have its day.

[wguy123]

@Greg_Charles

Watts Towers in Los Angeles aren’t buildings exactly, but they are weirdly awesome. They were built by a single person over many years using hand tools and simple materials.

Very cool! Thanks for the link…fascinating guy and work.