Ugliest Buildings in the UK

[johntea]

The Bradford and Bingley HQ right smack bang in the middle of Bingley town centre outlived it's welcome by a number of years, thankfully now demolished!

 

[cjmillsnun]

The Bradford and Bingley HQ right smack bang in the middle of Bingley town centre outlived it's welcome by a number of years, thankfully now demolished!

Cleaned up that wouldn't look too bad to me. Again neglect has played a part in its appearance.

 

[EM2]

I'm sure it was, but unfortunately like a number of these buildings, it has been neglected. In the case of Cumbernauld, bits have been pulled down, certain phases never built. It's a mish mash now.

The Tricorn in Portsmouth was the same. I saw it about three years before it was demolished, and it was pretty much abandoned, but again I bet it was very impressive when it was built.

 

[J-2739]

Same here. Brutalism gets a lot of unnecessary hate.

Stuff like Preston bus station look very classic

 

[najaB]

Cleaned up that wouldn't look too bad to me. Again neglect has played a part in its appearance.

Indeed. Just look at buildings like St. Paul's Cathedral in the 1950s:

(Attached image from Google image search shows a drab looking St Paul's Cathedral)

 

[cjmillsnun]

The Tricorn in Portsmouth was the same. I saw it about three years before it was demolished, and it was pretty much abandoned, but again I bet it was very impressive when it was built.

I had a soft spot for the Tricorn having been to Uni in Portsmouth. The covered market in there known as "Charlotte's Superstore" after Charlotte Street had some great bargains. Part of the Tricorn still exists and acts as the emergency fire escape from the offices above Argos.
View media item 3291

 

[TRAX]

Same here. Brutalism gets a lot of unnecessary hate.

Indeed.

 

[sprunt]

This (across the canal from the H&C line entrance to Paddington station) is still under construction, so I suppose there's a slim chance that those big iron bars are temporary for structural support or something, but if not it's appalling.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

You're right; they're not and it's appalling.

 

[najaB]

so I suppose there's a slim chance that those big iron bars are temporary for structural support or something, but if not it's appalling.

I quite like it.

 

[Cowley]

There's some pretty grim stuff on here, although some of it is subjective and depends very much on how well maintained the buildings are, or what sort of materials they were made of in the first place.
What I find most depressing though are endless poor quality looking boxy brick houses, with rotting 1980s windows, crammed into any estate built on the cheap with the lowest priced fencing available - surrounding tiny gardens (filled with soggy abandoned mattresses, old washing machines, dog mess and broken faded plastic children's toys), on a grey winters day, pretty much anywhere in the country.
In my opinion the average UK Sink Estate trumps everything for sheer architectural depression.

 

[trash80]

I'd love to have seen it when it was new. I imagine it was rather fresh and exciting.

There is a film called Cumbernauld Hit, a 70s promotional film they turned into a kind of spy/action romp thats shows off the buildings when new. The film is available to see online, its rather good...

 

[TRAX]

I quite like it.

Me too. The building would be bland and boxy without the bars.

 

[David M]

I'm surprised no-one else has brought this one up. Cumbernauld Town Centre. Picture from Wikipedia

Yep, stop this thread just now. Cumbernauld Town Centre can simply not be beaten.

 

[DarloRich]

Yep, stop this thread just now. Cumbernauld Town Centre can simply not be beaten.

is the issue there neglect or design?

 

[David M]

is the issue there neglect or design?

Design.

 

[mirodo]

The Brown & Root Tower in Colliers Wood, South London, used to look particularly hideous. It's been tarted up and looks somewhat better nowadays.

https://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/resources/images/7067950/

 

[J-2739]

The Brown & Root Tower in Colliers Wood, South London, used to look particularly hideous. It's been tarted up and looks somewhat better nowadays.

https://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/resources/images/7067950/

Looks like two completely different buildings!

 

[cjmillsnun]

is the issue there neglect or design?

Both.

Had it been built as originally intended and built properly. it wouldn't be great but would be a lot better than it is now.

However I think only 3 of the original phases got built, two have been torn down and the Antonine centre grafted on the side. The original part still standing suffers from serious neglect. Add to that it is a Rabbit warren to get around. There are structural issues that meant the Penthouses (the long structure on stilts with the circular windows) had to be abandoned (not long after they were let) although some were converted into offices (that have since been vacated and never used again).

 

[175mph]

If we're counting buildings that have since been demolished too, I'd say Paragon House outside of what's now Hull Paragon Interchange.

(Source: Wikimedia).

 

[nlogax]

Brighton's Holiday Inn, aka the old Bedford Hotel. There were plans to clad the exterior in white but as we all know certain things can't be polished.

 

[70014IronDuke]

... Very soviet looking ...

Me wonders how much you've been in the [former] Soviet bloc.
To my mind, these look far better than most 'over there' - they are certainly in better nick.

 

[70014IronDuke]

The Brown & Root Tower in Colliers Wood, South London, used to look particularly hideous. It's been tarted up and looks somewhat better nowadays.

https://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/resources/images/7067950/

This is not too far from Wimbledon station, right? I was going to mention this - I remember passing it one Sunday about 10 years ago - it was truly hideous and sinister - like something out of a horror movie based on Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four. Most definitely the most awful building I can remember seeing in the UK.

 

[trash80]

Me wonders how much you've been in the [former] Soviet bloc.
To my mind, these look far better than most 'over there' - they are certainly in better nick.

Yeah i think people imagine how the old Soviet Union looked, i went there in 1988 and ...well... away from central Moscow it quickly got "interesting"

 

[ComUtoR]

Am I weird in that I really don't like the Shard ? The glass building look is really hard to pull off. It's either really beautiful or a horrific mess. Sometimes I just feel it's lazy design, although, I'm sure they are architecturally and structurally brilliant.

http://www.esg.glass/esg-news/article/esgs-top-10-favourite-glass-buildings has a 'top 10' list of the more iconic ones.

#9 The Great Glass House (Carmarthenshire, Wales) looks like an eyesore.

 

[trash80]

The Shard isn't wonderful though that ridiculous walkie talkie building is the worst.

 

[matacaster]

Here we have a winner from Bradford. The old Yorkshire Building Society HQ, currently vacant.

Well we would have if I'd uploaded image correctly. Could someone upload a suitable image please, its well worth it.

 

[Esker-pades]

The top of The Shard still looks unfinished.

 

[AM9]

Am I weird in that I really don't like the Shard ? The glass building look is really hard to pull off. It's either really beautiful or a horrific mess. Sometimes I just feel it's lazy design, although, I'm sure they are architecturally and structurally brilliant.

http://www.esg.glass/esg-news/article/esgs-top-10-favourite-glass-buildings has a 'top 10' list of the more iconic ones.

#9 The Great Glass House (Carmarthenshire, Wales) looks like an eyesore.

I have always felt that the Shard was built to get the highest building in Europe award, and it has no real claim to elegance. The Gherkin is a far more attractive and interesting structure but it seems to have been passed by because the Shard beat it in the numbers game.

 

[ComUtoR]

The top of The Shard still looks unfinished.

I find the whole building looks unfinished. The bottom buildings do not 'fit' with the overall design and look tacked on. It is supposed to represent a shard of glass but looks like a badly drawn pyramid.

I have always felt that the Shard was built to get the highest building in Europe award, and it has no real claim to elegance. The Gherkin is a far more attractive and interesting structure but it seems to have been passed by because the Shard beat it in the numbers game.

The Gherkin certainly has a more visual appeal and plenty of art, design and architectural elements to it that makes it stand out. *The Goblins however, worry me.

*bonus points for naming the reference.

Interesting to see St Pauls and how that clearly looks out of place in that picture. I wonder if time has an influence if, in a few years, we look back in retrospect and change our decisions.