Ugly Buildings

[Newarker 24]

What is Nottingham's ugliest modern building?Every time l pass the National lce Centre/Motorpoint Arena on Lower Parliament Street l think that must surely be it - a massive bulk out of scale with its surroundings, not that the surroundings are attractive but at least the NCT depot has some character.  Having just seen the new School of Art & Design (of all things!) on Shakespeare Street/North Sherwood Street l think that must be a contender. The building itself would be fine in an appropriate location but here it dwarfs everything around it such as the former synagogue and registry office not to mention the pub (currently called The Playwright). lt looks as though it has just landed from outer space. 

 

What about the new HMRC building opposite the station? No doubt well-designed for its purpose but in appearance it looks like a 1960s office block. When the former lnland Revenue offices were planned in the 1980s l seem to remember the Civic Society having sone input which resulted in the original design being improved. ln fact the whole of Queens Road is now like a canyon with massive buildings lining both sides with the HMRC block looming down it.

 

l seem to have answered my own question but no doubt there will be other suggestions. 

[Cliff Ton 10,565]

I agree the HMRC place is pure 60s, and not in a good way.  https://maps.app.goo.gl/CbQLhwZKTyvquyDL7

 

Also the Arena on Lower Parliament Street; it overpowers the road https://maps.app.goo.gl/fMxjfDUJ7FR4wmCf7 

 

and it's clad in a material similar to the one used at the Cornerhouse in Trinity Square  https://maps.app.goo.gl/AsVHHi9SfCW1DV7s9  which very quickly looks shabby and dirty. 

[katyjay 5,092]

When they demolished the Black Boy Hotel and replaced it with the then Littlewoods store, at that time (1970?) It had to be THE most ugly building in Nottingham.  The Black Boy blended in with its surrounding, Littlewoods stuck out like a sore thumb. They never even tried to make it match.  i haven't been to Nottingham for a few years so have not seen any new buildings.

[Brew 5,485]

Two things I don't like, the awful, totally out of sympathy with it's surrounding - slab square. Second, the Trent University Newton Building, it looks like a picture on a cold war soviet postage stamp. Whoever termed the style 'Brutalist' was spot on.

[Cliff Ton 10,565]

I don't mind the Newton Building, although I can see the cold war connection.

 

Unsurprisingly, there's a very old thread specifically dedicated to it.   

 

https://nottstalgia.com/forums/topic/1056-britains-most-fascist-building/?tab=comments#comment-8535

 

[Willow wilson 902]

Nottingham Contemporary Arts gallery in Weekday Cross/ High Pavement must be a contender for the title, especially considering its location.

[Cliff Ton 10,565]

Definitely; I really dislike that place. It would look bad anywhere, but in that location it looks even worse than bad.

[DJ360 6,771]

Surely the Futurist Cinema would be the most Fascist building in Nottm, because as I understand it.. Fascists, embraced 'Futurist' ideology and to a large extent, vice-versa?

 

Quote

Many Italian Futurists supported Fascism in the hope of modernizing a country divided between the industrialising north and the rural, archaic South. Like the Fascists, the Futurists were Italian nationalists, laborers, disgruntled war veterans, radicals, admirers of violence, and opposed to parliamentary democracy. Marinetti founded the Futurist Political Party (Partito Politico Futurista) in early 1918, which was absorbed into Benito Mussolini's Fasci Italiani di Combattimento in 1919, making Marinetti one of the first members of the National Fascist Party.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurism

 

As for the Newton Building.  I recall it being built. It certainly impressed me and I always saw it as modern but 'classy' and not a bit 'Brutalist' or whatever.  Current descriptions have it as classic 'mid 20thC', but also Art Deco in style, which latter, frankly, I don't see.. but what do I know?

 

And the Contemporary Arts?  I've only seen pictures of it and in all honesty it doesn't excite me much, but it does seem to have gone down well with some architecture critics.  I suppose the question is.. if you don't like it..what would you like there.?

 

Edit :P.S. It seems that Newton was originally designed in the 1930s, which might explain the alleged Art Deco style.. I still don't really see it.  Not enough curves or triangles. But too attractively proportioned and styled to count as Brutalist.