9 of the most hated buildings in the world

• Some of the ugliest buildings in the world are home to luxury apartments and government facilities.
• From Texas to Thailand, buildings across the world are ridiculed for their function and style.
• North Korea’s “Hotel of Doom” has been empty for decades, and is widely recognized as an eyesore.

Thanks partly to its blocky, concrete exterior, people in Massachusetts wanted to demolish Boston’s City Hall before its construction was even completed.

Completed in 1968, this building is an example of brutalist architecture — a controversial style known for its bare, blocky shapes and frequent use of exposed concrete.

Over the years, it has also been criticized for being “ugly” and “anti-urban.”

“City Hall is so ugly that its insane upside-down wedding-cake columns and windswept plaza distract from the building’s true offense,” wrote columnist Paul McMorrow in the Boston Globe in 2013.

“Its great crime isn’t being ugly; it’s being anti-urban,” McMorrow wrote. “… The primary function of cities is clustering people together, but City Hall goes to great lengths to repel them.”

In addition, many people in Massachusetts called for the destruction of Boston’s City Hall before the structure was even fully built, according to Current Affairs magazine. 

North Korea’s Ryugyong Hotel, also dubbed the “Hotel of Doom,” has stood empty for over 30 years, sparking criticism about its design and construction.

Once considered “the world’s tallest unoccupied building” by Guinness World Records, the Ryugyong Hotel has been nicknamed the “Hotel of Doom,” according to the BBC. 

It’s also been described as “the worst-designed building in the world” and one of “the world’s ugliest hotels” by writers for publications like Esquire and The Telegraph.

When construction began in 1987, the Ryugyong Hotel was designed to become an impressive masterpiece: a building taller than the Eiffel Tower, complete with 3,000 rooms and five revolving restaurants, according to CNN Style. 

Decades later, this hotel has yet to open its doors to guests. 

A Washingtonian critic described Washington, DC’s J. Edgar Hoover Building as visually unappealing, “cold,” “unwelcoming,” and “dystopian.”

The construction of the FBI’s headquarters — officially known as the J. Edgar Hoover Building — began in the 1960s. It is emblematic of brutalist architecture, which originated in the mid-20th century.

An article from The Washingtonian, a prominent local newspaper in DC, states that the building, which is the home of the FBI, has long been considered the “scorn of Washingtonians.” The author later describes the structure as “cold, unwelcoming, [and] almost dystopian.”

According to a survey conducted by home improvement company Buildworld, the building is deemed to be the ugliest building in the US.

The FBI website states that the structure heavily “[contrasts] with the traditional marble, granite, or limestone government buildings.”

In defence of the building, Deane Madsen, who runs an Instagram account dedicated to appreciating DC’s brutalist buildings, stated, “DC isn’t just Greek revival monuments or courthouse style buildings. It’s not just these sort of white marble edifices.”

Many believe that the Verizon Building on Pearl Street contrasts too heavily with its surrounding buildings, disrupting the beauty of New York City’s iconic skyline.

Built in 1975, the Verizon Building on Pearl Street has remained the subject of much ridicule. Set behind the historic Brooklyn Bridge and adjacent to some of NYC’s most beloved structures, many see the building as an affront to the city’s skyline.

Paul Goldberger — a New York Times architecture critic — argued that the building might be the “most disturbing” structure in all of New York City in 1975.

In a TimeOut article that showcased critical tweets aimed at the building, Twitter users referred to the building as “stupid” and claimed that it “ruined” their otherwise beautiful photos of the NYC skyline.

Although criticized by locals for its ugly Brutalist exterior, apartments inside The Balfron Tower sell for close to $1 million.

Similar to the FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, The Balfron Tower is an example of Brutalist architecture. Although the structure was built in the 1960s, the residential building has newly-renovated interiors.

Various publications, including MyLondon, refer to the structure as one of “the ugliest buildings in the country.” Nevertheless, after renovations, the Guardian reports that apartments in the Balfron Tower are being sold for upwards of £800,000, or $992,744.

In the same MyLondon article, Josh Bolton notes that in 2010 residents were forced to relocate — and eventually kicked out of the building — to allow for refurbishments. The building offers luxury amenities, including a private dining terrace, a yoga room, and a movie theater. 

The Žižkov Television Tower in Prague has been called “the second-ugliest building in the world” and is said to evoke the country’s communist past.

A structure builders began constructing in the 1980s, the Žižkov Television Tower in Prague, Czech Republic, has been nicknamed “the second-ugliest building in the world,” according to CBC Radio.

The building sticks out amongst the rest of Prague’s charming architecture and is a divisive reminder of the city’s former communist government. 

Over a decade ago, to make the “eyesore” more unique, artist David Černý installed sculptures of giant babies crawling up the side of the tower.

First added to the tower as a temporary exhibit, the “Babies” sculptures were recently reinstalled with more durable construction, according to expats.cz. Although the building itself may inspire mixed feelings, the sculptures of babies are quite beloved. 

In an article for The Washington Post, an architecture critic called the ROM Crystal in Toronto — considered one of the most hated buildings in Canada — “ugly” and “useless.”

When it first opened in 2007, the Royal Ontario Museum’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal did not receive much love for its design comprised of glass, steel, sloped walls, and angle joints. 

“Daniel Libeskind’s addition to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto surpasses the ugliness of bland functional buildings by being both ugly and useless,” wrote Philip Kennicott, art and architecture critic, in The Washington Post in 2009.

Kennicott also questioned the wisdom of creating a building with slanted walls to display art. 

In the past decade or so, some Torontonians have come to see the building as an essential addition to the city’s landscape and a beloved landmark. 

“Architecture needs time to sink in,” said Alexander Josephson, cofounder of architecture and design firm Partisans, in Azure magazine.

San Antonio’s Alamodome — a multi-use stadium — has been referred to as “an upside-down armadillo” and is hated by Texans and tourists alike.

The Alamodome — which cost $186 million to construct — opened its doors in 1993.

Despite its hefty price tag, San Antonians aren’t impressed with the stadium’s aesthetic.

According to the San Antonio Current, “Locals have long referred to the 64,000-seat arena by nicknames including the ‘Dead Armadillo’ and the ‘Doo Doo Dome.'”

In 2018, San Antonio Culture Map reported that Judge Nelson Wolff, who was San Antonio’s mayor during the Alamodome’s construction, explained that San Antonio residents referred to the stadium as “four telephone poles on an airplane hangar” and “an upside-down armadillo.”

Strikingly dissimilar to the medieval architecture that Edinburgh is known for, the Scottish Parliament Building has been named the “world’s biggest eyesore” by Buildworld.

In Buildworld’s survey of the world’s ugliest buildings, the Scottish Parliament Building came out on top. They found that, at the time of their study, 42.07% of tweets that mentioned the building were negative.

According to the Scottish Parliament’s archive, the building, which was completed in 2004, is made from a mixture of steel, oak, and granite.

According to Buildword, “The project was unpopular from the start, as a national building designed by a foreign architect that quickly spiraled ten times over budget and way beyond its deadline.”

Source: I N S I D E R