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Audience Participation Time: The Ugliest Building In Brooklyn?
Ever since I posted the good news about the L Haus winning the #1 Ugliest Building in Queens my inbox (and incoming links) have been interesting to say the least.
Laura writes:
…regarding the ugliest building in Queens. Love it. Let’s do Greenpoint! Here’s my nominee, the one with the bulls eye. On memorial day my grandson was trying to shoot it with spit balls…
The building of which she speaks— 20 Bayard Street— is, unfortunately, located in Williamsburg. But Brooklyn11211 does a pretty good job of eviscerating it for the pile of shit it is. Halden volleyed the first proverbial spitball at this glass house. So to speak.
Now my buddy over in Queens has gotten into the swing of things. One commenter, Timothy, wrote:
There are some nasty McMansions near me that might qualify as Queens Fugliest. I think we should have a real contest!
I agree. We need a real contest. A Brooklyn versus Queens smack-down of fug infamy— or outer-borough barfchitecture. To this end I have created this flickr group and will get the ball rolling with my nominee: The Luminous.
This colossal pile of crap can be found on Richardson Street, Brooklyn 11222. It is the brain child of Karl Fischer Robert Scarano— who is all too eager to exploit “modification permits” when the mood (and/or money) suits him. The above (and strangely incongruous) brick facade was once a building. As you can see it has been given a new lease on life: the frontispiece and justification for this bigass pile of King’s crap! I for one am very fond of the beam left intact to support the adjacent buildings.
But this half-assed awning (which doesn’t even cover the entire doorway) comes in a close second.
Lovely. As I was taking the above photograph an old-timer painting his garage across the street asked:
Don’t you want to take my picture?
I replied:
Sure. I’d much rather take a photograph of you than that THING across the street.
So I did.
I might end up in the Greenpoint Gazette!
he said. I told him it was a distinct possibility— and that he might become a celebrity. He laughed heartily.
In any case this my inaugural piece of King’s crap to get this bi-borough rumble going.
Hear me, Crappy? Let’s get it on!
Miss Heather
Comments
2 Comments on Audience Participation Time: The Ugliest Building In Brooklyn?
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superclam on
Mon, 1st Jun 2009 7:41 pm
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snapnea on
Sat, 1st Aug 2009 3:08 pm
Once again, Miss H., I’m impressed with your eye for the truly hideous. That Richardson Street building is really one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen. A blend of old ugly and new ugly. Fisher managed to find some of the worst of old Greenpoint and mixed it with some of the worst of new Greenpoint. Really an architectural marvel.
On his site, he mentions that his buildings “blend seamlessly with their surroundings”. Seriously, look it up, it actually says that. You can see the seams right here.
I personally divide the new buildings into “passively ugly” (your average gray paneled condo or a Belvedere) and “actively ugly” (the L Haus). This gets into the “active” category with no reservations.
While the L Haus wins my vote for ugliest building I’ve ever seen (and I grew up on Staten Island, mind you), my Greenpoint non-fave is on Leonard Street near Greenpoint Ave across from the church. I’m sure you’ve seen it, the multi-colored brick residential building with huge gates with horses heads, eagles on top, and big metal garage doors? Somebody worked very hard to make something this awful.
I live directly around the corner from that building and cringed every day I saw it being built, however, there are much worse buildings to stare at in Greenpoint. (Most of them being condos).
And that guy is an old friend of my family, very sweet energetic guy. I swear I gave him about a million hugs in my lifetime.
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