Which Miami Building Is The Ugliest?

[thetallerthebetter]

no i meant that ugly china grill building... so ugly

arch I think you will almost like portofino one day when sanity reigns and they paint it with the right palete to work well with the windows or maybe even replace them one day.

I wish something could be done about the retarded little castle tops but I have come to accept that weird round thing like an ugly step child

[Daybreaq]

I don't think "One Miami" is so bad; and it's right outside my window. I realize it's mostly the paint job and the way they have it lit at night. Still I think it's more attractive than the Intercontinental Hotel and the Citibank building which is what it blocked from my view. I do think MY building is prettier than "One Miami" so if people look at the mouth of the river and say the yellow buildings to the south of the river are prettier than the blue ones to the north, that's fine by me. Don't nobody diss Tequesta Point particularly Three! I agree the Suntrust and the New Word Tower are a little boring looking but I don't think they are horrible. The One Biscayne is a weird little creature in Miami's current skyline but it IS distinctive and, to me, it is part of Miami. I don't think I'd like to see it go any time soon.

As far as Four Ambassadors ever going down, I think it's hard to get condos down. They'd have to buy out all the individual owners. If any of the older condos in Brickell were to get taken down, I would have thought it would be Brickell Harbour which was actually declared unsafe a few years ago and evacuated. They fixed whatever was wrong and it's still there ... and that's pretty prime land as well.

[SoBe99]

Yes, Portofino Tower is one of the ugliest buildings around. If they would just paint it white to replace that ugly salmon color, it would look 100000% better. White with the blue windows would similar to the Murano at Portofino, which is a beautiful building two blocks away.

[arch photographer]

ABSOLUTELY, white would cure the ailment.

[SoBe99]

This building is just horrible...

[Daybreaq]

Love, LOVE Villa Regina and its Crayola surprise paint job. It and "hole in the middle" Atlantis are essential to Brickell's distinctive skyline.

[arch photographer]

I like Villa Regina too. It's a little silly but color is not a bad thing, just bad color is a bad thing. I love white buildings, but I also like 6000 Indian Creek, 2Midtown, Aqualina, as absurd as it is, and It seems they are painting Quantum a kind of ice blue grey?

[thetallerthebetter]

while on the topic of colors

I was driving down Biscayne today and nearly drove right into a royal palm when I saw the blue that they are painting the new building on the west side of the ave and about 25st with

has anyone seen it

what is the name of this thing and there renderings anywhere?

[dave8721]

Villa Regina is just one of those things you just accept as being Miami in the early 80's. That whole stretch of Brickell actually with Villa Regina, Atlantis, the Imperial, & the Palace. Sort of like Miami Vice; it was't really the best show around but it captured the vibe of a city coming of age.

[spellbound]

Originally Posted by dave8721

Villa Regina is just one of those things you just accept as being Miami in the early 80's. That whole stretch of Brickell actually with Villa Regina, Atlantis, the Imperial, & the Palace. Sort of like Miami Vice; it was't really the best show around but it captured the vibe of a city coming of age.

I agree with that.

Just to backtrack for a second, after thinking about it more I'm gonna award my "ugliest" title to One Miami after all. It's not so much that it's absolutely the WORST looking building in Miami---it isn't---but the damn thing just has so much prominence in the skyline despite its puny height and sits there looming over the south end of Bayfront Park. It's just such a "blah" structure for such a prime piece of real estate. Most of the other ugly stuff is pretty well hidden.

[Bobdreamz]

Arquitechtonica (sp) really botched One Miami...I know it was a very odd shaped piece of land but they basically erected two walled monstrosities whereas they could have erected 3 tall & slender towers on the site.

I actually like the New World Tower since it was built in the International Style prevalent in the 50s & 60s...it has aged well IMO.

One of the ugliest buildings in Miami has to be the Dade County Courthouse in the Civic Center...now that is an abomination!

[spellbound]

Originally Posted by Bobdreamz

Arquitechtonica (sp) really botched One Miami...I know it was a very odd shaped piece of land but they basically erected two walled monstrosities whereas they could have erected 3 tall & slender towers on the site.

I actually like the New World Tower since it was built in the International Style prevalent in the 50s & 60s...it has aged well IMO.

One of the ugliest buildings in Miami has to be the Dade County Courthouse in the Civic Center...now that is an abomination!

LOL...yeah. That building pretty much screams "You're Going To Have An Extremely Annoying Experience In A VERY Ugly Place."

It is, however, probably the best place in Miami to find headless chickens or other ritualistic offerings to the Santero Gods. Never understood why it wasn't a bigger tourist attraction...

Agreed with One Miami. Didn't it have to go before a design review committee? Were they drunk that afternoon? Cripes...real estate like that deserves SO much better. Same reason I'm no fan of Met1 either. Boring stuff like that should be infill west of the CBD or pushed to the edges of downtown, not smack dab in the middle.

[spellbound]

If I'm not mistaken, wasn't "New World Tower" once called the "Ferre Building" as in Maurice Ferre, long ago mayor of Miami?

Not that he built it...but his family was loaded and had pretty significant downtown land holdings.

Poor Maurice. He was mayor in a period when a combination of Winston Churchill and Jesus Christ would have had a rough time getting Miami out of the doldrums but I always though he was a pretty decent guy at heart.

[gus_chi]

Hands down the most hideous of the pack is the Stephen P. Clark Government Center. Partly due to it's location, size, color and lack of thought out architecture. I cannot comprehend how something built in the mid 1980's can contain such bland characteristics and lack of character.



Picture credit goes to: Marc Averette @ http://www.Wikipedia.org

[Miami-#1]

Stephen P. Clark Government Center is surely not a very nice building, but it's not as much of an eyesore as New World Tower. At least it's relatively hidden in the western part of downtown, only visible from I-95 and points west (i.e. It isn't seen in most of the shots of the skyline).

Isn't that where the metrorail Government center station is located? Also, I don't see how a building that's over 500 feet tall could only have 28 floors as this one does, it must have really high ceilings or a lot of wasted space.

[HialeahBred]

The reason the Stephen Clark Center is only 28 floors is due to it's level of concrete reinforcments. The building houses several federal and local government offices, sort of like the pentagon. It was built with bunkers for the high hats in case of nuclear war.

There are offices in that building that require certain security clearances from the federal government, so that says it all.

Most federal buildings are like that.

Brad

[Bobdreamz]

^ gus it is a government bunker and it is hideous just like the Dade County Courthouse at the Civic Center.

[Miami-#1]

Thanks for clarifying that Brad...very interesting.

[Architek]

I actually don't think Stephen Clark center is ugly, The building has alot of french qualities in it, the symmetry and perspective spent in doing the design is amazing, the interior looks really good, and the function and form go hand in hand.....the function of the building dicated the design and the only problem i find with is the fact that its very closed off to the public.

[Architek]

And by the way my nomination goes to the buildings on brickell key, there often forgotten but they have a huge impact on our skyline and there all pretty hideous..except mandarin.