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

[DePaul Bunyan]

The new Chicago Sun-Times building. It occupies a prominent site next to the Merchandise Mart and is hideously ugly. It used to not even have any windows, but they added them in when Trump started demoing the old Sun-Times building for Trump Tower. A fake building for a fake newspaper!

[kenc]

Originally Posted by spyguy

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

Now I have to disagree....I really like these buildings. Why do you dislike them so much ?

[Distill3d]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

Calgary:

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

Lets add to this list shall we?

Bow Valley Square Complex (all four towers)
Castell Library (downtown)
Century Garden Apartments
Calgary Tower
Provincial Court House

[Distill3d]

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

Edmonton:

i dont have a page long enough

this is true, but most worthy of a nod here is West Edmonton Mall.

[Arriviste]

This is one of the worst in Calgary without question. The biggest problem I have with this building is that it doesn't even try to have any conceptual value at all. I can appreciate an ugly building that has some intrinsic artistic value or merit.

I present to you The Ford Building (Taller of the two):


The architect gave up before he started. I'm pretty sure he just shat on a piece of grid paper, gave it his seal, and walked away without wiping his ass.

[1ajs]

thats far from ugly the old holy cross hospital is far wores then that......

[CGII]

Originally Posted by LostInTheZone

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

You obviously haven't seen it up close...or been inside it.

Looks like something out of 1984 or Mad Max.

As opposed to:

[Buckeye Native 001]

Originally Posted by Dalton

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?

Well, it wasn't mean to be taken seriously, and notice how even Newport and Laguna Beach made my list.

[rgalston]

In terms of size, the most shameful monstrosity in Winnipeg is the Trizec Building (1978) at Portage and Main, an embarrisingly ugly tower with zero relationship to the famous intersection it stands at. The rest of the city block is a concrete bunker which holds a partially-submerged shopping mall. Weren't the 70's great?

Here it is as it looks from Main Street:


And what it replaced:

[SpruceMoose]

Originally Posted by Distill3d

Lets add to this list shall we?

Bow Valley Square Complex (all four towers)
Castell Library (downtown)
Century Garden Apartments
Calgary Tower
Provincial Court House

Don't forget Bromley Square - the building that looks like a big lunch box in the picture (I couldn't find a better picture). A disgraceful eyesore on the Calgary skyline.

http://pictures.mls.ca/mls/reb9/highres/5/c32358651.jpg

[mdiederi]

The Aladdin in Vegas was imploded to make way for this new gigantic Aladdin. Everybody in town is taking bets on when it will be imploded again.


Also, Rem Koolhaas built a Guggenheim Museum inside the Venetian resort. They had one show and then closed it and got rid of it, it was so bad. (But to his credit, he designed a second space there for the Hermitage and Guggenheim joint gallery and that one is still there.)

[toddguy]

Originally Posted by rgalston

In terms of size, the most shameful monstrosity in Winnipeg is the Trizec Building (1978) at Portage and Main, an embarrisingly ugly tower with zero relationship to the famous intersection it stands at. The rest of the city block is a concrete bunker which holds a partially-submerged shopping mall. Weren't the 70's great?

Here it is as it looks from Main Street:


And what it replaced:

I can understand being disappointed with it being at an important intersection and not being 'street friendly', replacing historic buildings and all..but it really does not look that terribly bad to me in and of itself. Reminds me of this thing that we have here:



Winnipeg has a pretty good skyline also IMO.

[StormFire]

Originally Posted by kenc

Now I have to disagree....I really like these buildings. Why do you dislike them so much ?

You just might be the first person on the forum to ever like these buildings. Honest. The picture actually makes them look a bit better than they look - you may really have to see them live (but pray you don't). They are just horrible. Maybe we are spoiled in Chicago. But honestly, they (counting them as one) are one of the three ugliest buildings downtown, you have to see the setting - maybe a good part is in the context. And I work in the Sun-Times building posted in #21 (I tell people I work in the ugliest building in downtown Chicago). Again, the picture ALMOST makes it look good, but it on a piece of land where the Chicago river spilts and faces one of the best buildings in Chicago (333 W. Wacker) and a lot of other great buildings. Let me tell you, the Sun-Times (or the Apparel Center) has great views, but they (people in those buildings) all have to look at us. The other building in Chicago is a set of apartments at Lake and Dearborn. Ugh.

[MolsonExport]

Place Bonaventure. Once the second largest commercial building in the world (second only to Chicago's Merchandise Mart)

[MilwaukeeMark]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Place Bonaventure. Once the second largest commercial building in the world (second only to Chicago's Merchandise Mart)

Oh.my.GOD.

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by toddguy

I can understand being disappointed with it being at an important intersection and not being 'street friendly', replacing historic buildings and all..but it really does not look that terribly bad to me in and of itself. Reminds me of this thing that we have here:

Winnipeg has a pretty good skyline also IMO.

heres another angle of the trizac building.... origly it was supost to have a twin witch is why its got that concreat mess beside it but in winnipeg fashion it was cut back

[Distill3d]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Place Bonaventure. Once the second largest commercial building in the world (second only to Chicago's Merchandise Mart)

THEY BUILT THAT? you cannot be serious!?! omg..

[1ajs]

Originally Posted by Distill3d

THEY BUILT THAT? you cannot be serious!?! omg..

thats not to bad if only they cleaned it and umm aded some more windows to it...

[Dalton]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

Well, it wasn't mean to be taken seriously, and notice how even Newport and Laguna Beach made my list.

OK, gotcha. But it wasn't the first time I've seen derogatory comments about Irvine and the surrounding area and I was just wondering what I missed when I spent time there. The company I work for is based in Irvine (I live in Chicago) so I have spent many weeks there for training sessions and meetings. I especially like the close proximity of the Santa Anna airport and the fact that the jets don't actually seem to fly over Irvine - no noise. Seems like a very nice place to live, if you can afford the housing costs. (However, I do have to admit that the stereotypical So. California traffic jams on the freeways are NOT exagerated and the area could use some mass transit solutions.)

[Mister F]

Toronto: 77 Elm, AKA the nightmare on Elm St. The grey building in the middle of the photo.



It looks kind of like Place Bonaventure in Montreal, only with more random stuff sticking out of it.