Most dreadful skyscrapers in the USA.

[Duck From NY]

Originally Posted by DrNest

I must be the only person that really likes 1 Liberty Place. It strikes a look of muscular power and strength, more so than just pretty looks.

You'd rather have 1LP than the Singer Building? Not mocking you, just curious because the Singer Building was so incredibly unique.

I like some boxes, just not 1LP

[DrNest]

I like Singer too. And it's a pity it was demolished. But, to me, 1LP is a brute that symbolises what skyscrapers are. Ideally it would have been nice if both buildings could be built.
I wouldn't want all tall buildings to look like this, variety adds to the interest of a skyline. But in my opinion buildings in the style of 1LP, the TD Centre in Toronto etc are all essentials for an overall good-looking skyline.

[Duck From NY]

Originally Posted by DrNest

I like Singer too. And it's a pity it was demolished. But, to me, 1LP is a brute that symbolises what skyscrapers are. Ideally it would have been nice if both buildings could be built.
I wouldn't want all tall buildings to look like this, variety adds to the interest of a skyline. But in my opinion buildings in the style of 1LP, the TD Centre in Toronto etc are all essentials for an overall good-looking skyline.

I agree that the boxes make a sort of frame for the more unique-buildings. They are essential. I love Chase Manhattan Plaza, for example.

[tujunga]

The centerpoint of Los Angeles is really quite embarrassing to anyone who's been to a Chicago or NYC. The final verdict; the tower has an immense lack of imagination (where ARE you Hollywood?). The architect firm, who made a career of making non-serious buildings for non-serious people, were inspired by the shape of a car transmission as the crowning achievement of the most illustrious city in the world. The obviously-late 80's endless-pastel-nightmare color scheme will trap the LA skyline in that decade forever. This is a dreadful building and an eyesore to the gods of the San Andreas fault. I can see why they blew it up in the film Independence Day!

Oh Brother

Another tired rip on the US bank tower. Obviously another east coster hate trip.
The US tower is fine and hollywood loves. I've been to Chicago, the buildings are tall but placed in a messy order and New York only has two building of beauty surrounded by architectural noise and clutter. Oh you forgot to add the Freedom tower to that list. That is the most uninspiring square peg shoved in a round hole design I've ever seen, that site deserves better peace out.

[Duck From NY]

Originally Posted by tujunga

The centerpoint of Los Angeles is really quite embarrassing to anyone who's been to a Chicago or NYC. The final verdict; the tower has an immense lack of imagination (where ARE you Hollywood?). The architect firm, who made a career of making non-serious buildings for non-serious people, were inspired by the shape of a car transmission as the crowning achievement of the most illustrious city in the world. The obviously-late 80's endless-pastel-nightmare color scheme will trap the LA skyline in that decade forever. This is a dreadful building and an eyesore to the gods of the San Andreas fault. I can see why they blew it up in the film Independence Day!

Oh Brother

Another tired rip on the US bank tower. Obviously another east coster hate trip.
The US tower is fine and hollywood loves. I've been to Chicago, the buildings are tall but placed in a messy order and New York only has two building of beauty surrounded by architectural noise and clutter. Oh you forgot to add the Freedom tower to that list. That is the most uninspiring square peg shoved in a round hole design I've ever seen, that site deserves better peace out.

-
:yawn:

You're allowing yourself to be pigeon-holed as an Angeleno with something to prove to NYC and the other "global cities" of the world. We're all quite aware that L.A. is a huge city with a lot to offer, so calm down. I like the tallest building in L.A. (whatever it's called) because it's right in the middle of the CBD and is taller than the surrounding buildings.

Two buildings of beauty? Are you insane? NYC has 100s of awesome buildings, you're clearly being biased.

And Chicago is laid out perfectly. It's 1/3 or 2/5ths as big as NYC in terms of combined CBD(s), yet looks more than half as big due to it's arrangement of skyscrapers.

Do you look up to Chicago as well as New York like a big brother you have something to prove to?

P.S. Hire an editor

[tujunga]

Originally Posted by Duck From NY

-
:yawn:

You're allowing yourself to be pigeon-holed as an Angeleno with something to prove to NYC and the other "global cities" of the world. We're all quite aware that L.A. is a huge city with a lot to offer, so calm down. I like the tallest building in L.A. (whatever it's called) because it's right in the middle of the CBD and is taller than the surrounding buildings.

Two buildings of beauty? Are you insane? NYC has 100s of awesome buildings, you're clearly being biased.

And Chicago is laid out perfectly. It's 1/3 or 2/5ths as big as NYC in terms of combined CBD(s), yet looks more than half as big due to it's arrangement of skyscrapers.

Do you look up to Chicago as well as New York like a big brother you have something to prove to?

P.S. Hire an editor

Oh god how condescending. I don't look up to any city as a big brother I just think they're all unique. I was purposely being ridiculous like this thread to prove a point. I've been to NY and loved it and yes there are many beautiful buildings there, although I am disappointed with the freedom tower and as for Chicago its layout is a bit messy in my opinion.

Anyhew LA is too laid back to give a fart about what NY thinks. Actually it's the NYer who have something to prove when they come to LA, they won't shut up talking about NY. We just kinda stare at them with a blank look on our faces like shut up and enjoy the sun or go the F home.

BTW the Empire State building was blown up in Independence day too so it's obvious the film maker thought of the 2 buildings as iconic.

[rabidrabid]

Boy is this a fun thread. It's hard to say which "modern" boxes are the worst because there are so gosh darned many of them and so many of them look alike.

And I gotta laugh at the idea that Denver's skyline is great. Most of it was developed in the mid-late 70;s and very early 80's...when tarted up boxes and brutal concrete were the rage.

My picks? These painted concrete monstrosities in Chicago. They're an insult to this magnificent skyline:

http://www.emporis.com/building/gran...chicago-il-usa

And then there's this crappy squat box in Cleveland:

http://www.emporis.com/building/nati...eveland-oh-usa

[Guiltyspark]

Originally Posted by rabidrabid

Boy is this a fun thread. It's hard to say which "modern" boxes are the worst because there are so gosh darned many of them and so many of them look alike.

And I gotta laugh at the idea that Denver's skyline is great. Most of it was developed in the mid-late 70;s and very early 80's...when tarted up boxes and brutal concrete were the rage.

My picks? These painted concrete monstrosities in Chicago. They're an insult to this magnificent skyline:

http://www.emporis.com/building/gran...chicago-il-usa

And then there's this crappy squat box in Cleveland:

http://www.emporis.com/building/nati...eveland-oh-usa

I JUST saw those chicago towers in another threat (just the very tops of them from above) and thought "Those are kind of neat" lol

[DrNest]

From certain angles I don't dislike those Chicago towers. They actually make a change from the glass box condos we have going up in Toronto.
That one in Cleveland isn't exactly pretty, but I wouldn't call it ugly either. It's decent density filler in a skyline.

[Ritarancher]

Originally Posted by FTP

No particular order. Please don't take too seriously.



San Francisco - 345 California Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/345_California_Center

Considering this was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who have made some of the greatest buildings in the world, these "Tweezer Towers" are a gaudy embarrassment to everyone involved. Between the juvenile ambition of the double spires and the confusing angles, I can't precisely say what makes this building so hideous. It essentially looks like an ugly, downtown hospital from the Wizard of Oz. Ironically, the height restrictions of the time prevented an even greater tragedy.



San Francisco - California Automobile Association Building
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califor...ation_Building

Even if the people inside are happy and well-paid, I still wouldn't admit to working in it simply because it's so shamefully ugly. What a dreadful, soul-crushing concrete box with a design "efficiency" that would make a Moscow housing project look like the Bellagio. Also, San Francisco has a surprising amount of these depressing, modernistic "grid buildings" and has easily the most overrated skyline.



Charlotte - Bank of America Corporate Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of...rporate_Center

Another boring, obvious early 90's design that leaves you feeling empty. Its "puffy" stance and lack of repetition breaks feels like they were compensating for something. So in the end, the largest building downtown is the least interesting, and least popular. The locals mockingly call this building the "Taj McColl" after the massive ego who built this evil empire headquarters. And just how un-American is it to have 60 floors to pay tribute to the Queen of England 60-year reign?



Atlanta - Coca-Cola headquarters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_headquarters

The panels don't really match up, the viewing angles must look dreadful from the corner offices; esteemed dreadful box design, and the most useless spire "thing" I've ever seen. The closer you look at this failure of human engineering, the more ashamed you are of being one. For a company that supposedly had its roots in great Americana design; where is the evidence? Oh wait, we're talking about a hangover remedy with cocaine inside.



New Orleans - One Shell Square
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Shell_Square

The worst part about this building is that almost the exact same thing was built only a year earlier in Houston. Big, empty corporations usually make big, empty-feeling office building designs. New Orleans has an otherwise, subtle, old-fashioned downtown and this building smears 80's boxy feces all over it. Maybe them not cleaning the exterior properly is supposed to make it blend in more. Looking at it inspires such emotions as "pointlessness" and "cage".



New Orleans - Sheraton New Orleans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheraton_New_Orleans

Seriously, I wouldn't even take a hooker to a place like this. It looks like a patch-worked cardboard box with plexi-glass. I don't understand why there are random breaks in the window pattern. If that was supposed to be a design characteristic then it's completely over my head. It just looks like they are patching up bombing attacks or something. The official website over-saturates every photo to make it look more colorful than a hallucination at Circus-Circus.



Dallas - Mercantile National Bank Building
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercant..._Bank_Building

I can't imagine that in the 1940's, they'd make a building that tall and that plain. I can see why Dallas has been a hotbed for con men because just looking at the building crushes all optimism and faith in society. Nobody was ever happy with anything about this place as it was remodeled more times than anyone bothers to remember. The clock is stupid and its stance makes it look shorter and smaller than it actually is. This would be considered a bad lego building design, let alone an actual one.



Dallas - Elm Place
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elm_Place

Sporting the 1960's audio-receiver look, the architect of the Cotton Bown stadium taught the world how to make a box look more like a box with panel manipulation. Where is the ambition? Or did that money go into furnishing the horse ranch? Texans probably actually like this design because they like anything that lights up like strip joints at night.



Dallas - Trammell Crow Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trammell_Crow_Center

Dallas, AGAIN! It looks like some mechanical object that needs to be fitted in a factory machine. Which, I imagine, was the inspiration. The building looks petrified in the 80's. The downtown would look more modern if the Trammell Crow Center was replaced with an outdoor flee market. The strange Freemason references (glass pyramid, geometry), only convince me more of its pretentiousness. Its 1984 time capsule (to be opened in 2084) will be the greatest non-event ever.



Fort Worth - Burnett Plaza
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnett_Plaza

Not to forget Dallas' neighbor! Fort Worth really had to make a lot of modern glass buildings to compensate for this concrete abomination. The messed up elevator shafts and tight "cage grid" design might convince a naive passerby that this is actually a city jail. Try it!



Houston - Four Leaf Towers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Leaf_Towers

I don't understand why people ever hired Cesar Pelli to design anything. Almost everything he made was dreadful. The Petronas Twin Tower are terrible, and my favorite, Bank of America Center in Charlotte is a travesty. Everything he's ever done has either been gaudy or plain obvious. Guess of which "design ambition" he employed on the Four Leaf Towers (two of them (...?)).



Houston - Devon Energy Tower
http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=1885

Don't let the link's diagram confuse you, it really does look like a rabbit cage. The name of this place is ironic really considering no energy was put into its conception. I can't find any solid data on the architects.



Houston - Continental Center I
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Center_I

This post-modern gas chamber inspires suicide and nothingness at every section. Everything looks sterile and as if designed to trap people inside. Sort of ironic considering the only thing this building was known for was being vacant.



Los Angeles - U.S. Bank Tower
http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=51

The centerpoint of Los Angeles is really quite embarrassing to anyone who's been to a Chicago or NYC. The final verdict; the tower has an immense lack of imagination (where ARE you Hollywood?). The architect firm, who made a career of making non-serious buildings for non-serious people, were inspired by the shape of a car transmission as the crowning achievement of the most illustrious city in the world. The obviously-late 80's endless-pastel-nightmare color scheme will trap the LA skyline in that decade forever. This is a dreadful building and an eyesore to the gods of the San Andreas fault. I can see why they blew it up in the film Independence Day!


Los Angeles - 777 Tower
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/777_Tower

My favorite architect Cesar Pelli strikes back with another painful, late 80's pastel rabbit cage. The pointless sectioning and that dreaded bloated shape will never look modern again. But it must take a true visionary not to see that... or something. The politics of Pelli somehow gave this 10-minute, postmodern, curtain wall design awards for years to come.



Denver - Brooks Tower
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Tower

Denver has the worst skyline in the nation. Only a few places in supposed civilization would they ever build this tall, this ugly. I might be wrong but I think this building inspired the building-crunching arcade game Rampage.



Denver - Republic Plaza
http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=2699

You have GOT to be kidding me. Nobody ever grows up to be an architect to design something this plain. To take all this granite and to make it all into a perfect box is really kinda creepy. Is it me, or is every tower in Denver a copy of another tower somewhere else in the country? And to think who designed this... for shame!



Salt Lake City - Church Office Building
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LDS_Church_Office_Building

I didn't realize a church needed so much office space but then again I must be limited by my Catholic scope. It took them 10 years to build something that looks like a nuclear substation in eastern Siberia. I think I might have seen this exact same building in Fallout 3. Maybe I'm just being knee-jerk but I was expecting some stain glass or puritan architecture or SOMETHING. Come on, I think the architect was some sort of upstart. The whole Brigham Young family legacy "thing" makes me wanna barf...



Minneapolis - U.S. Bank Plaza
http://www.emporis.com/building/usba...eapolis-mn-usa

Another travertine Tron nightmare; this one looks quite cheap and stagnating from the sidewalk level. Maybe the idea was that they could make two buildings for the price of actually designing one. I know the idea was to bring out the elegance of windows by making it all simple, but instead, the windows look like those solar panels you see on crappy calculators.



Milwaukee - 411 East Wisconsin Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/411_East_Wisconsin_Center

It's amazing how ugly this looks compared to the rest of downtown. The shadow that dismal concrete box must create is not worth its office space. They bulldozed a wonderful relic called the Goldsmith building to build this jagged shard.



Detroit - One Woodward Avenue
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Woodward_Avenue

Detroit's fantastic skyline was introduced to the dreadful 60's. If buildings are meant to inspire then it's no wonder cars from Detroit have become boxy and cheap. What works in Tokyo, clearly, doesn't wok in Michigan. Maybe I'm not qualified to say it, but why do I think that? Like Joe the Plumber, I have a mouth that can emit sound.



Buffalo - One HSBC Center
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_HSBC_Center

Losing TEN straight Superbowls can't be as bad as having THIS as your city's largest building. Holy cow, this wouldn't even be complex enough for a modern parking garage.



Troy (Michigan) - Top of Troy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_of_Troy_Building

I'm sorry to the humble folks of Troy. Whatever design contest or process you guys used was obviously the wrong one. The official website's poor quality would make me laugh even in the late 90's. The building's design was laughable by the late 70's. It desperately needs a new color theme and panels that actually match up.



Philadelphia - 1818 Market Street
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1818_Market_Street

What a terrible eyesore to Philadelphia's glass skyline. Real tough to find ANY pictures of it really. William Penn would at least be thankful it was built lower than his statue.



Pittsburgh - Fifth Avenue Place
http://www.emporis.com/building/fift...tsburgh-pa-usa


Whatever idiotic geometrical ambition this building has, I don't want to hear about it. No stat or detail can make up for the ugliness and whimsical attitude this design employs. Pittsburg is a hard city with a no nonsense attitude. There isn't a more unfitting building in any city's skyline, even when they flood light the place to look like it came out of hell.


Las Vegas - Encore Las Vegas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encore_Las_Vegas


This is how building's SHOULD have looked from the 70's. But this ain't the 70's, and the elegant, polished tape-deck look just doesn't cut it anymore. How utterly uninspiring and flat out pretentious and ghastly. Worst part is that Wynn built two of these idiotic monoliths. Who the heck would go to Vegas excited about staying at the Encore? I can think of ten I'd still rather go to.



Nashville - William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William...ennessee_Tower

I'm not sure what kind of an honor is named after something so mundane. Only an insurance company can be that cheap with design. Figures the state government bought it to be used as a civil jail. And no, you CAN'T bring your gun inside, hillbilly.



Baltimore - Transamerica Tower
http://www.emporis.com/building/legg...ltimore-md-usa

Designed by a guy that makes projects this special design cheats the inhabitants of corner offices or any sort of proper view. It also cheats the outside viewers of humanity. There's a banner at the ground level that inexplicably says "believe" perhaps as a suicide deterrent?



Chicago - One Magnificent Mile
http://www.emporis.com/building/one-...chicago-il-usa
You know it's bad when the main facade color is listed as "dark pink". Chicago is only next to New York City in the WORLD'S best skylines and pointing fun at ANY building from either of those cities is sacrilegious. HOWEVER, this building somehow won awards, I assume, for its gimmick of making everything idiotic hexagons. It's not that this pompous design has no place in the world, just not in Chicago world.



New York City - Sony Building
http://www.thecityreview.com/sonyatt.html

Sorry New York, but the Sony Tower is your eyesore. It's simultaneously pretentious and shockingly plain. Its brick-like facade just makes it look cheap, not nostalgic. Yes, I know the central arch is a throwback feature, and no, it doesn't make it cool at all. There are at least 10 things this building copies and not a single of it well. The skyscraper is supposed to be a tribute to NYC, but it is instead a criticism. Sort of like "you're cool, but in a kinda nerdy, tacky, not-too-serious way." This is New York City, not the Hard Rock Cafe.

It seems as though you are not a fan of 1940s style buildings.

[Dylan Leblanc]

Wow, who is this guy? Dissing buildings like the Library Tower, BoA Corp. Center, 777 Tower, Sony Building - no, I'm not going to take this seriously!

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by psuhoops123

Out of all the buildings in Pittsburgh, you pick the 5th ave place? aka Highmark building!! It's actually one of my favorite and much better in person! The pic you picked was an old one before it had the hallmark sign on it which gives it some accent and it glows blue at night.. oh and its Pittsburg"H". Thanks
http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4090/5...pittsburgh.jpg

I agree with you 100 percent! At one point, I had some infatuation with this building, in terms of its height as well as its architecture. In general, Pittsburgh's buildings have quite a bit of character. I think Pittsburgh's ugliest building is the sprawling eyesore that is Allegheny Center. Apparently urban planning was an after thought in Pittsburgh during the 1960s...

I think the real winner here (or loser) is the colossal architectural abomination that is the Pima County Legal Services Bldg in Tucson, posted above!

[L1011driver]

The Texas buildings are kinda bland but then again the big Texas cities had the misfortune of building most of their skylines in the eras of blandness. Not really their fault.

Your Los Angeles picks baffle me though. LA is an ocean of weird, eclectic and often bland architecture and out of all that you choose the Library Tower and 777? You didn't even have the decency to mention that ugly half glass - half parking garage monstrosity on Wilshire. Who does that!?

[buildup]

The Singer building was a victim of the times. In the late 60's the Singer building was a dirty, tired looking building. If it survived untouched into maybe the 80's that building would have been made historic (if it wasn't already) and renovated into an upscale residential property. They didn't do that in the 60's.

And many of the buildings mentioned as "dreadful" weren't considered ugly when they were built.

I think 1818 Market St. in Philly was built just before 1970. It was bare exposed concrete until they finally painted it sometime in the 1990's. I would say at worst 1818 Market St. was a bit of an eyesore but not dreadful. Until Williard Rouse III (a Philly skyscraper pioneer) lobbied to build higher Willian Penn's hat on City Hall, most of the newer skyscrapers at the time were fat, squat boxes.

[IMBY]

Originally Posted by nickw252

Nice work on the thread. I like your commentary on the Encore in Las Vegas. Unfortunately the Wynn (2005) is just as bad.



It looks like we both share the same disdain for brutalist and modernism. I disagree, however, with your perspective on the Mercantile National Bank Building. I love Art Deco architecture. Although it's no Chrysler Building it has some Art Deco elements.

These are my favorite towers on the Strip! But then, I love 70's/80's Houston style skyscrapers, and I'm so glad, a little late, we got Houston to come to Las Vegas!

You should see them, in the morning, with the sun rising from the East! Breath-taking!

I deplore, detest post-modern architecture!

The worst on the Strip: Adelson's Palazzo tower next door, and Monte Carlo!

[Buffalonian]

I am very happy that you listed the One HSBC Tower in my hometown of Buffalo as an architectural travesty. This 40 story bland box is not only uninviting but it is now functionally obsolete because the office tower itself is too skinny resulting in square footage per floor being too damned small. It will be almost 90% vacant at the end of this year. It was a poorly designed project from day one. The building complex is horribly outdated and the public plaza is ugly and depressing.

[DrNest]

Originally Posted by Buffalonian

I am very happy that you listed the One HSBC Tower in my hometown of Buffalo as an architectural travesty. This 40 story bland box is not only uninviting but it is now functionally obsolete because the office tower itself is too skinny resulting in square footage per floor being too damned small. It will be almost 90% vacant at the end of this year. It was a poorly designed project from day one. The building complex is horribly outdated and the public plaza is ugly and depressing.

It's no beaut, but I like it to look at to some extent. Which is unusual for me as normally I'm not a fan on concrete boxes. But I take your point about floor space. A pity, as I wonder how easy it will be to give this building a meaningful make-over.

[deepen915]

375 Pearl (Verizon) needs a renovation ASAP.. it completely kills the view from the Brooklyn Bridge area of the WTC and Downtown.. such an eyesore.

[jaunis]

I would sooo love to see all (or at least some) of these skyscrapers live and in person... being from Germany, we only have some in Frankfurt and Berlin, but they can hardly compare to the US ones. I 'd generally love to move to the US but as you now it is very difficult to get a green card. Nevertheless I took part in a green card lottery and tried my luck. Still waiting for results though.

[bob rulz]

I'm glad to see the LDS Church Office Building on here. Even the staunchest Mormon can't deny how ugly that building is. What were they thinking with that one? It will be a blight on the Salt Lake skyline until the day the LDS Church decides they need a new tower. Then hopefully they'll demolish that one.

I detest most of the skyscrapers built from the 50s to the 70s.

The last 10 years have actually had by far the best and most innovative skyscraper designs, at least since the 20s and 30s!