Here’s your chance to vote on your favorite awful example of what went wrong in Pasadena in the 60’s and 70’s.
By Brian Rodriguez
Which of the three structures is worthy of the honor of the ugliest building in Pasadena? Cast your vote and share your opinion with your fellow Pasadenans.
– 177 Bldg (Formerly the AT&T Bldg)
177. E. Colorado Boulevard
177. E. Colorado Boulevard (Photo – Staff).
Renamed the 177 Building, I’m personally hoping for a new name ala the Hunger Games building, or the Mad Max building will be utilized soon, something to remind us of the human nature going awry.
- 11-story building.
- Constructed on 2.6 acres.
- The start (or finish) of Old Pasadena.
- Pale, buff-colored mortar, surrounding a rounded exposed-pebble aggregate.
- Overpowering but in a ‘charming overpowering’ way.
– Darth Vedar Bldg (The Plaza Center)
150. E. Colorado Boulevard
150. E. Colorado Boulevard (Photo – Staff).
Dubbed by the locals as the Darth Vader building. If you still have more questions as to why, look at the above photo one more time!
- A block of historic buildings were raised to erect this “futuristic’ looking building.
- 3-story building.
-
Located in Pasadena’s Enterprise Zone (um!).
- 62,512 SF.
- Menacing but in a storm trooper charming way.
- This blinding eyesore was conceived in the 70’s by the Pasadena Redevelopment Agency (PRA), an agency that was, thankfully, dissolved in 1981.
– Citibank Building (Mutual Savings Bldg)
301 E. Colorado Blvd
301 E. Colorado Blvd (Photo – Staff).
This building will soon get a name change after the Citibank branch that’s housed in it relocates to the former AT&T building.
- Used to be the head office building for Mutual Savings.
- 9-story building.
- 90,000 SF.
- Nestled between City Hall and Paseo Colorado Mall on Colorado Blvd.
- 60’s style
Vote
[poll id=”4″]
Now that you’ve voted, let us present you with a serene scene from Pasadena’s past.
Click image to enlarge (Photo- Postcard).
This postcard is of a red car on East Colorado St. in Pasadena. It depicts the beautiful city as it was back in 1910.
If you know Pasadena enough, you can see some resemblance of the buildings back then and now. Residents of Pasadena are keen on preserving their city’s beautiful structures and history, despite many fateful attempts by short-sighted individuals, and agencies, that resulted in eyesores along the way.
About the Mutual Savings building, it was designed by famous architect Welton Becket in 1964, the same who designed the music center downtown Los Angeles and many other wonderful buildings arround the world (some of them prize winners). Making judgements about aesthetics (ugly and beauty) is very subjective. In such case there should be dozens of buildings in the list before the three that you propose. Al least this “ugly” buildings have a design concept. It’s important to learn about architecture to be able to have a better opinion. Best regards.
I think the ugliest building is 630 S. Raymond.
I think three of the ugliest buildings are on the NE, NW and SW corners of Colorado and Lake. The one truly handsome one is that housing Bank of America – loathe the bank but love the building. And guess which one they’re gonna tear down?
I voted for the former AT&T building, but if I had the chance I’d vote for the parking structure at the SE corner of Marengo and Walnut. Yikes!