[NYguy]

I've stated my dislikes for this building so many times, its like a broken record.

http://www.observer.com/2010/media/n...liest-new-york

Renzo Piano's New York Times 'Paradise' is the Ugliest Building in New York

By Zeke Turner
July 6, 2010

The American Institute of Architects new Guide to New York City has named Renzo Piano's New York Times tower at 620 Eighth Avenue the ugliest building in the city, according to the Daily News.

The Times faced stiff competition on the list of uglies from the likes of the T.G.I. Friday's on Fifth Avenue (number 9) and Trump Tower on East 56th Street (number 4).

The Times own architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff called the building "a paradise by comparison" to the old Times building when it first opened. Not everyone was convinced.

Meanwhile Mr. Piano has been selected to design the new downtown headquarters of the Whitney, so that bodes well?

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http://www.nydailynews.com/real_esta...york_city.html

Top 10 ugliest buildings in New York City

Want to see some ugly buildings?

New York's got its share, and the new edition of the AIA Guide to New York City shows you where to find them - pointing them out with great glee.

Here are reviews of 10 of New York's most hideous buildings:

10. Former Bear Stearns World Headquarters, 383 Madison Ave.
A bulky octagonal hulk for the mighty Wall Streeter felled in the 2009 financial crash. Stolid, not graceful; a dour banker in a bespoke suit.

9. T.G.I. FRIDAY'S, 604 Fifth Ave.
The brilliant blue on Fifth Ave. is a sign of desperate marketing.

8. The Four Seasons Hotel, 57 E. 57th St.
Pompous.

7. Montefiore Apartments II, 3450 Wayne Ave., the Bronx
Scale, but not human scale.



6. Training Center, Ironworkers Local 40 & 361, 35-23 36th St., Queens
A Constructivist steel building for welders in training. Perhaps they will practice on the building!




5. Trump Place, between W. 66th and W. 70th Sts. west of West End Ave.
The phony incarnation of Riverside Drive, south of its historic 72nd St. ending, has sprouted awkward giants, glorious to look out from (at the river and the Palisades) and inglorious to look at.

4. Trump Tower, 725 Fifth Ave. at E. 56th St.
Folded glass conceals a fantasyland for the affluent shopper. Within, the multilevel space houses a cafe with waterfalls and moving stairways to a shopper's heaven; flamboyant, exciting and emblematic of the American Dream. Donald Trump entered here stage left and has since delivered the Trump brand everywhere: His esthetics, however, are still more akin to malt liquor than to Veuve Clicquot.

3. 200 Eleventh Ave.
The "sky garage" (an elevator that lifts cars directly into the apartments) sounds exhausting.

2. 520 W. 27th St.
Apartments in two parts, with an outdoor recreation space between. The base is black block with white window frames flush to the facade. The upper stories, steel frame with translucent glass block, are reminiscent of the Brooklyn House of Detention. Can the residents leave on weekends?

1. Times Tower, The New York Times Building, Eighth Ave. between 40th and 41st Sts.
A tense tower obsessed with its own fussy connections, its glass facade bracketed by steel columns, X-bracing for lateral support and horizontal bars that act as a sunscreen (and ladder: Lunatics have been climbing it). As gray and dour as a rain-soaked copy of the Sunday Styles section.