Which Are the Ugliest Buildings in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota?
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
But sometimes when an architect is designing a building, their hopes of creating something visually appealing to the masses can sometimes fall well short of the mark.
In some cases, bold choices don't work. In other cases, a design is just flat-out boring and unimaginative.
Whichever the case, the website Travel Alot has identified what they consider to be the biggest eyesores in America and compiled a list of 'The Most Unsightly Building in Every State'.
One building in the Tri-State area was deemed so homely that it landed in the top ten of the ugliest in the U.S.
The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis, is the ninth ugliest in the nation according to this list.
The website didn't pull any punches in its criticism of the structure:
'What is it with art museums being some of the ugliest buildings in existence? Considering what they house, you’d think they would go for, oh, I don’t know, a beautiful look. This aluminum foil monstrosity looks like something a five-year-old would design.
The building was designed by a world-famous architect (Frank O. Gehry), which is always a bad sign because they clearly can't be trusted to create beautiful buildings. However, credit where credit is due--this thing would be a nightmare to design with the aid of computers, but it was actually created before computer-aided design came to the world of architecture.'
In Iowa, another on-campus building was deemed the ugliest in the state.
The English-Philosophy Building at the University of Iowa in Iowa City (#34 overall) was described by the website this way:
'Students taking classes in the English-Philsophy building at the University of Iowa don’t have to worry about being distracted by beautiful architecture--because there’s none to be found here.
While the building might not be much to look at, it houses one of the most prestigious writing programs in the country--the Iowa Writers' Workshop. The graduate program has produced numerous famous and successful writers, and 29 former students have won the Pulitzer Prize since studying there.'
South Dakota's ugliest building is also the state's biggest.
Century Link Tower in downtown Sioux Falls (#47 overall) drew this review:
'The CenturyLink Tower may be the ugliest building in South Dakota, but that’s not its only claim to fame. At a “gargantuan” 11 stories, it’s also the tallest building in the state.
The building was originally completed in 1962, but it looked quite a bit different than it does today. Originally, the tower had a facade of white stone, but, because of structural issues, this all had to come down. It was only then that the current exterior was installed. Additionally, one portion of the building was demolished to make room for more parking in 2011.'
So which structure was deemed the ugliest in America?
That would be Kaden Tower in Louisville, Kentucky, a 15-story office building that originally opened as Lincoln Tower in 1966.
UGLIEST BUILDINGS IN AMERICA (Travel Alot)
- Kaden Tower - Louisville, Kentucky
- Orrin G. Hatch United States Courthouse - Salt Lake City, Utah
- Museum of Pop Culture - Seattle, Washington
- United States Courthouse - Austin, Texas
- 432 Park Avenue - New York City
- Peter B. Lewis Building - Cleveland, Ohio
- Veer Towers - Las Vegas, Nevada
- City Hall - Tempe, Arizona
- Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum - Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Denver Art Museum - Denver, Colorado