The World’s Top 10 Ugliest Buildings

“The World’s Top 10 Ugliest Buildings and Monument.” General manager, Giampiero Ambrosi talks about the selections: “Some of these picks have all the charm of a bag of nails while others are just jaw-dropping in their complexity. Love them or hate them, the list is certainly entertaining.”

1) Boston City Hall; Boston, Massachusetts

While it was hip for it’s time, this concrete structure now gets routinely criticized for its dreary façade and incongruity with the rest of the city’s more genteel architecture. Luckily, it’s very close to more aesthetically pleasing attractions.

2) Montparnasse Tower; Paris, France

While it’s almost universally agreed that this ominous stick is a blight on the landscape of the world’s most stunning city, its detractors admit that there is one very good reason to take in the view from the building’s observation deck: it’s the only place you can go to get a view of the city without it.

3) LuckyShoe Monument; Tuuri, Finland

It may be over-the-top, but there is something to be said for the giant, golden horseshoe that looms over Finland’s second-largest shopping center. The shoe, and, in fact, the entire town in which it is situated, is said to bring good luck to those who visit.

4) Metropolitan Cathedral; Liverpool, England

The people who work here must be so sick of the space capsule jokes. Even those who find the building’s shell a little, well, “spacey,” have to admit the building’s circular interior is pretty spectacular.

5) Port Authority Bus Terminal; New York City, New York

Those who pass by this iron monstrosity might be tempted to ask about a completion date, but alas, this is the finished product. Hated by New Yorkers and tourists alike, this aptly named station is enough to make you take the train.

6) Torres de Colón; Madrid, Spain

Like a set of giant salt-and-pepper shakers, these matching towers loom over the city to the dissatisfaction of many area residents. Not surprisingly, the buildings are also known as “El Enchufe” or “The Plug” for the plug-like structure that holds them together.

7) Liechtenstein Museum of Fine Arts; Vaduz, Liechtenstein

Some feel the building’s minimalist box design is a triumph, others say it’s an eyesore. Luckily, here in this most mysterious of countries an equally mysterious building seems strangely appropriate.

8) Scottish Parliament Building; Edinburgh, Scotland

Stone, oak, and bamboo comprise the buildings that make up the Scottish Parliament, a building that is the subject of much debate. Hopefully the discussions that take place inside the building are more decisive than the ones that take place about it.

9) Birmingham Central Library; Birmingham, England

One look and it’s easy to see how this genre of architecture came to be known as the “Brutalist” style. Not surprisingly, the issue of its possible demolition has been looming over the town for years.

10) Peter the Great Statue; Moscow, Russia

Think Tim Burton meets Pirates of the Caribbean. Some 15 stories high, the larger-than-life monument was designed by controversial artist, Zurab K. Tsereteli, whose statue of Christopher Columbus was repeatedly rejected by the United States.

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