Three Brooklyn Winners on AMNY's Most-Fugly List

AMNY asked critics and architects to name the ugliest buildings in New York City and came up with a “10 to Lose” list. Manhattan entries like One Police Plaza and NYU’s Kimmel Student Center dominate the survey, but three Brooklyn charmers made the cut:

220 Greene Avenue: “220 Greene Avenue in Clinton Hill pretty epitomizes much of what has been wrong with the building boom in Brooklyn. Shoddy workmanship? Check. Non-contextual design? Check. Unlicensed workers? Sure. Poor layouts? Got that too. In a sign of just how much the current owner cares, the second-floor window has been cracked for months,” says some guy named Jonathan Butler. “The ‘Greene Avenue Atrocity’ (as we’ve dubbed) is such an eyesore that it has made the adjacent lot, on the market for more than a year, effectively unsellable. Talk about value destruction!”

Atlantic Center: “Seems like the focus should be on buildings and structures that are not just ugly in someone’s opinion, but things that detract from, if not destroy, the most essential part of urbanity – the pedestrian experience. One example is Atlantic Center in Brooklyn,” says Rob Lane of the Regional Plan Association. “Not only is it an eyesore, it completely detracts from the walkers experience through long empty sidewalks and hallways and absolutely no street life whatsoever.”

166 Smith Street: “The MTA-owned structure at 166 Smith St., on the corner of Wyckoff Street, in Brooklyn. It’s a windowless two-story bunker from the ’20s that was encased in concrete a few years ago and now looks like it could withstand a nuclear blast,” says Lawrence Levi, senior editor of Nextbook.org. “Earlier this year the MTA put it up for sale, so there’s finally some hope for its destruction. And if the wrecking crew comes and takes out the Starbucks across the street, that’d be nice, too.”

Surely we can think of one or two more.

10 to Lose: Ugly Buildings NYC Would be Better Without [AMNY]