A Building In Your City that You Never Cared for, But Later Came to Like?

[i_am_hydrogen]

Have you ever disliked a building in your city, only to subsequently have a change of heart over the course of time and come to really like or appreciate that building? Feel free to share some pictures.

[MSPtoMKE]

Riverside Plaza has grown on me, for sure:

http://www.boomspeed.com/atucker7/TC_Catchup_09.jpg

I don't ever remember hating it, per se, but i didn't much like it. Now i think it is pretty bad ass.

[Steely Dan]

i know we just discussed this building in the shameful monstricity thread, but the harold washington library in chicago definitely applies for me in this thread. i thought it was a very silly design when first proposed in the design competition, but i have come to greatly admire and respect this building over the years.



http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/illinois/chicago/library/141newlibrary.jpg

[Distill3d]

i know we just discussed this building in the shameful monstricity thread...

if you look back far enough, that riverside towers thing is in there too.

[JimInCal]

This is one of the last buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I used to think it had too many round shapes going on and the coral color never really agreed with me. I always felt bad about not liking it; after all...it's a Wright design and how dare I. It has grown on me and has held up pretty well over time. It's a nice venue to see a concert or a Broadway-type show as well.

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/556/gammage7zq7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3374/gammage5lf5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3916/gammage3nu2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/9585/gammage4oq6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[psychosomatic]

Commerce Court West, toronto, by I.M. Pei.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/4119/commercecourtwcs4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[(four 0 four)]

JimInCal, the auditorium exterior looks to me like some of the work Michael Graves has done...very cool.

[i_am_hydrogen]

JimInCal, there's a building in Madison, WI, called the Monona Terrace, the design of which is said to be "inspired by" Frank Lloyd Wright. That must have been the building.

It's the white one on the lakefront.
http://virology.wisc.edu/asv06/images/downtown.jpg

http://www.biotech.wisc.edu/Outreach/images/monona.terrace.jpg

[plinko]

^Actually Wright designed a structure for that very site in Madison that looked much like the final product built 40 years after his death.

The Gammage in Tempe was originally designed as part of a larger complex to be built in Baghdad of all places. Wright convinced then ASU President Grady Gammage that the school needed a performing arts center. It was completed after his death in the mid 1950's. BTW, originally the building was entirely round. The 'garage' as it is called (the round brick portion), was added in the late 1970's IIRC by Taliesin Architects.

[JimInCal]

plinko, you're always a wealthspring :yes: I had never known the interesting history of Gammage Auditorium. Taliesin did a great job designing the garage addition. It's one of the features that makes me like the building more now. Thanks for the info for what is considered one of the treasures of metro Phoenix.

[Austinlee]

Here's my pic of the Riverside Riviera, since we're talking about it:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/austindaniel/Picture142.jpg

[rapid_business]

The CN Tower in Edmonton on the north side of downtown. Originally built with tracks running right behind it, but they were removed years ago now. It was built in '66, and was the tallest in western Canada at the time.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/6116/229939yd4.jpg

[muppet]

Portcullis House next to Big Ben, an extension of the Houses of Parliament in effect - I hated the roof and 'chimneys', some quasi neoVictorian excuse at postmodern cooling vents. Its one of the most expensive buildings built, especially for its size. At a cool $1 billion - more than the new Freedom tower in NYC - theres a vast underground Tube complex and is completely bombproof:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmcomm/155/15502.gif

http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/portcullishouse/portcullis2.jpg

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmcomm/155/15506.gif
Interior is faultless though

[Distill3d]

The CN Tower in Edmonton on the north side of downtown. Originally built with tracks running right behind it, but they were removed years ago now. It was built in '66, and was the tallest in western Canada at the time.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/6116/229939yd4.jpg

i'm gonna agree with you on this one. however, it took a bad greyhound expierence and some controlled substances to actually enjoy the existence (at least of the funky lights in the CN sign), so i don't know if that counts. :cheers:

[M.K.]

Well, I will start with the city I was born, Sao Paulo. As you see in the photos there are many decadend buildings which should be destroyed, mainly the ones in downtown with high criminality.
But the worse is that one and the tallest Mirante do Vale.
http://thomaslockehobbs.com/2005/banespa7.jpg:yuck:
http://thomaslockehobbs.com/2005/banespa1.jpghttp://thomaslockehobbs.com/2005/banespa2.jpghttp://thomaslockehobbs.com/2005/banespa3.jpghttp://thomaslockehobbs.com/2005/banespa6.jpg

[Derek]

i know we just discussed this building in the shameful monstricity thread, but the harold washington library in chicago definitely applies for me in this thread. i thought it was a very silly design when first proposed in the design competition, but i have come to greatly admire and respect this building over the years.



http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/illinois/chicago/library/141newlibrary.jpg

i dont see whats wrong with it...how come so many people in Chicago hate it?

[Distill3d]

i dont see whats wrong with it...how come so many people in Chicago hate it?

because its Chicago and their monstrosities would be beauties in every other city around the world.

[BTinSF]

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/illinois/chicago/library/141newlibrary.jpg

Call it a "shameful monstrosity" if you want, but I've loved it since I first laid eyes on it while riding the "El" one day.

[BTinSF]

There are quite a few buildings in SF I hate, but here's one that has grown on me some: St. Mary's Cathedral (Catholic), formally known as the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. It was designed by Pier Luigi Nervi

Exterior
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/nervi/frontangle.jpg
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/nervi/distant.jpg
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/nervi/lowerfront.jpg
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/nervi/side.jpg

Interior
http://www.stmarycathedralsf.org/images/ceil-cross.jpg
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/nervi/int.jpg

One thing I still hate about it is the fact that it's hard to get an exterior view of it without seeing a parking lot full of cars. I guess they figured they had to wedge parking into a city location because it kind of sits on top of a hill and nobody would walk there. But probably that's just a 70's thing (when it was built)--cars ruled the world then.

[hackunion]

I watched a documentary about the Chicago library competition in my 20th century architecture class last year. When the winner was revealed at the end of the film, the entire class was completely shocked. When you consider the other project entries, some of which had the chance of truly becoming one of the city's architectural icons, and compare it to the winner - it's a shame. The 1980s were full of backwards thinking though, so it is a good example of this I guess.
I originally did not like my school, but it took time to understand its excellent design. One of the projects for this semester's studio includes a 5th floor addition (in place of the current engineering addition I assume). It could use some work here and there (like extra space).
http://www.arch.carleton.ca/Splash/Splash-Page_r3_c1.jpg

[Steely Dan]

I watched a documentary about the Chicago library competition in my 20th century architecture class last year. When the winner was revealed at the end of the film, the entire class was completely shocked. When you consider the other project entries, some of which had the chance of truly becoming one of the city's architectural icons, and compare it to the winner - it's a shame.


it wasn't a shame though. i thought it was at the time, but beeby's winning design has actually turned out well for the city over the years. jahn's scheme would have been disatrous at street level. SOM's design was just generally uninspired in my opinion. erickson's plan was even goofier than beeby's and that leaves lohan's design. that is the one that could have been the blockbuster modern statement that would have continued chicago's course with modern civic structures, but sometimes you need to shake things up, and shake things up beeby's design most certainly did. and in retrospect, i think the inhehrent whimsy in beeby's dsesign was just what the doctor ordered for a city that can take itself too seriously at times when it comes to architecture.

[PuyoPiyo]

For my city, I would say the Vancouver Washington City Hall. At the first time I thought this building was the most shameful ever built in downtown Vancouver, Washington, but later I am starting to liking it.. I think it is just a cute little shame monstrioty building.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v500/Ufozacky2k/313309803_123dbca521.jpg

[MolsonExport]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a6/Placevillemarie.jpg/350px-Placevillemarie.jpg

Quite honestly, I was never too fond of Place Ville Marie (PVM) in Montreal...it just dominated the skyline too much and struck me as awkward rather than graceful. But it has grown on me...and I appreciate it much more now. Still far from my favourite Montreal Skyscraper (that honour goes to 1250 Rene Levesque, aka the IBM-Marathon bldg.)

[headcase]

I don't need to post pictures, everyone knows what it looks like .....

The Sears Tower.

Before I moved to Chicago I always hated that big black beast, couldn't understand why people like it, etc...

As soon as I saw it driving into the city for the first time, I got it.

SSDD

[A42251]

Would the World Trade Center qualify for this topic?

Based on TV specials I have been, many New Yorkers didn't care for the WTC when it was first built because it was so imposing and simplistic.

[Wheelingman04]

^ That is true.

[kenc]

Would the World Trade Center qualify for this topic?

Based on TV specials I have been, many New Yorkers didn't care for the WTC when it was first built because it was so imposing and simplistic.

When it opened in the early 70's the World Trade Center was almost universally hated. The scale was inhuman, and it dumped 4 mil square feet in a market that really did not need it. Plus an entire neighborhood of small businesses and apartment buildings, many over 100 years old, was wiped out.
But eventually the towers became a symbol of the city as much as the Empire State building, or Statue of Liberty.

[Magnus1]

http://www.boomspeed.com/atucker7/TC_Catchup_09.jpg



Nice one. My brother lived there when he went to the U. It was affectionately know by students as the 'ghetto in the sky'.

[Wheelingman04]

I agree 100%, kenc.

[MayDay]

I'd have to say 200 Public Square, formerly known as the BP Tower (and Sohio before that). It's not the sentimental favorite like Terminal Tower, or the wow-factor like Key Tower, but it has its merits:

- It serves as a good counterpoint to the Terminal Tower's ornamentation without overwhelming it in the skyline.
- Along with Terminal Tower and Key Tower, it completes one heck of an impressive grouping of towers.
- Unlike a lot of PoMo buildings, the atrium/street level do a pretty good job of providing a welcoming pedestrian-friendly environment.
- It "cups" the eastern quadrants of Public Square.
- The northern "flank" is lined perfectly with the Mall (and War Memorial Fountain):

It will never be my favorite, but it's definitely grown on me. I especially like it when viewed from the northern or southern axis:

http://www.clevelandskyscrapers.com/cleveland/bpkey1.jpg

http://www.clevelandskyscrapers.com/cleveland/bpwarmem.jpg

http://www.clevelandskyscrapers.com/cleveland/cleskynightcolumbus.jpg

[TANGELD_SLC]

After more than Two Years of collecting dust, I shall resurrect this thread :yes: :notacrook:

Wells Fargo Building, Salt Lake City

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/217/516738184_6b3a8bf2e2.jpg
Flickr: Blazefirelight

Even though it's the state's tallest building, it certainly doesn't look like it, due to it's unusual cladding style and excessive width. It looks more like a ten story building than a 26-story tower. But I've come to appreciate it more, even if it is a big blue block :tup:

Also, if you get it from the right angle, it looks pretty sharp :)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/2327281312_58675c5c54_b.jpg
Flickr: Liesel's Easel

[WilliamTheArtist]

I think a lot of Mid-Century buildings, and homes, were once hated and now are starting to be appreciated. Unfortunately this new appreciation may come a bit late to save many of them. There was a time when Tulsa also didnt like all the Art-Deco we had and tore down a lot of it. Now we cherish every last bit we have left. Hopefully we wont tear down too much of our mid-century stuff.

[NYaMtl]

There are quite a few buildings in SF I hate, but here's one that has grown on me some: St. Mary's Cathedral (Catholic), formally known as the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption. It was designed by Pier Luigi Nervi

Exterior
[img]http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/nervi/frontangle.jpg

Incidentally, this is the same architect as the Tour de la Bourse (Stock Exchange Tower) in Montréal, which I originally thought looked so dated and obtrusive. Since then it has become one of my favorite buildings in the city (it was the most prominent building in my view from school so I spent a lot of time looking at it). Now I think it's one of the most graceful skyscrapers I've ever seen, and among the first to come to mind when I think of the city.

http://www.imtl.org/montreal/building/Tour-de-la-bourse.php

[HooverDam]

I used to not like the Phoenix Financial Center, I suppose I thought it was sort of corny, but now I love it. It doesn't interact with the street terribly well, but otherwise its terrific. The South side of the building is designed to look like Midcentury computer punch cards, and it limits the amount of blistering summer desert son that gets into the tower.

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2730/dsc0258zw7.jpg

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3874/dsc0268in7.jpg

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/9029/dsc0275lp0.jpg

[munda]

http://www.aviewoncities.com/img/chicago/kveus3285b.jpg
Souce: google
everyone who on drives on N LSD has seen this building plenty of time, but never cared for it until it becomes a giant billboard. I never cared for it either, until i chose this building for project in architecture class.

http://2wanderlust.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/rev_chi006.jpg
Souce: google
who can forget a prison skyscraper just blocks away from Sears Tower

[ardecila]

I watched a documentary about the Chicago library competition in my 20th century architecture class last year. When the winner was revealed at the end of the film, the entire class was completely shocked. When you consider the other project entries, some of which had the chance of truly becoming one of the city's architectural icons, and compare it to the winner - it's a shame. The 1980s were full of backwards thinking though, so it is a good example of this I guess.

I would argue that it IS one of the city's icons, though.

Most "architectural icons" are buildings that average joes don't give a crap about, because they have no relation to that building. Consider the Inland Steel Building in Chicago: it's an architectural landmark, it's beautiful, but it's a modernist box and it has been buried amidst many taller buildings. Nobody except architects even knows (or cares) that it is there.

The buildings that become true icons, for all the people instead of just the architectural elite, are the buildings that combine a distinctive design with a public purpose. Sears Tower and John Hancock are icons not just because of their groundbreaking modernist design and engineering, but because of their observation decks and restaurants. All Chicagoans know that the Sears is the tallest, but most are surprised to learn that John Hancock is not the second-tallest (it's now fourth). Yet these two buildings host the only two public observation decks in Chicago, so it makes sense for them to be the two tallest buildings.

The Harold Washington Library serves as a downtown nexus. The library draws in children, families, people looking for a book, researchers, and students of all ages. The Winter Garden at the top hosts many weddings, banquets, and high-school dances. A great deal of Chicagoans have been inside those red stone walls. All this could be accommodated in an undistinguished building, but the distinguished design makes the building into something memorable and valuable to the city as a whole.

The public library here in New Orleans is just the opposite. It's a decent Modernist design but it's rather undistinguished and fairly boring. Poor lighting levels and poor maintenance just make it into an unpleasant affair. DC has the same problem. Their central library was designed by Mies himself, but the library's location, size, and limited scope ensure that the building is just one more glassy box along G Street.

[mrnyc]

i agree with mayday. even after all these years i'm still left trying to like the sohio/bp building in cleveland. a few recent photos over the years, particularly his, have helped, so i'm inching glacially forward.

looks aside, i think i unconsciously and unfairly have held all the tear downs around public square against it, too.

[TANGELD_SLC]

Not to go too off-topic, but i have to agree with ardecila about the chicago library. I personally don't see why so many Chicagoans hate it so much. I think it's a really unique building as well as extremely attractive. But I guess since I don't live in Chicago my opinion has little value, but I think it's one of America's best public libraries, along with the libraries in Salt Lake City and Seattle, unique architectural gems, like the Harold Washington.

[initiald]

129 West Trade

Among all the shiny new buildings in Charlotte, I always though this old building stuck out in a bad way. Eventually I came to appreciate for being representative of the style of its era. Built in 1958, it has 15 floors and t"he entire structure is clad with 3,822 precast concrete facade panels, each of which weighs 2,000 pounds and measure 5.5 feet by 6 feet." It is really about the only building from its era downtown that hasn't been reclad with a new facade.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3125/3125857397_832e92056d_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3324/3245928485_9511447e6c_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3162/2947783916_c59d0aec25_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/2947783036_bff5613e5f_o.jpg

[Patrick]

^^^Never noticed that one before! Interesting facade!

[TANGELD_SLC]

:previous: It sure is! Glad they didn't reclad it :yes: