Is this the Ugliest Building In America?

Curated Mid-Century Modern Home Listings from Across the U.S.A. 🇺🇸

What’s Brutalism? It definitely doesn’t sound very warm and inviting. Well, it was never really meant to be. The Brutalist style emerged in post-war England with the construction of large-scale utilitarian social housing. This new, no frills approach to modernism was inspired in-part by Socialist ideals gaining traction at the time. While other modernist movements focused on minimalism for aesthetics first, Brutalism embraced minimalism within a broader social and political framework - focusing on social works, utilitarianism, and practical community spaces. The style became a mainstay in government buildings throughout Europe and beyond during the late 1950’s to early 1970’s.

Boston’s ‘Brutalist’ City Hall. Completed in 1968.

A British husband and wife duo served as early evangelists of the brutalist form. Alison and Peter Smithson practiced architecture at the London Country Council where they held various responsibilities related to city planning and development. The post-war baby boom required a lot of new buildings, especially schools. The Smithsons broke with convention and designed stripped-down modular school buildings, including the Hunstanton School. The designs were polarizing then, just as they are now, but were indeed cheap, fast, and functional.

Fast forward to America in 1962. The city of Boston was looking for a new City Hall and kicked off an international design competition. Gerhard Kallman’s bold design was chosen from 256 designs submitted. Said design was undeniably brutalist, with a massive and rugged cantilevered concrete form. Construction on Boston City hall kicked off in 1963, and completed in 1968 before it’s February 1969 inauguration.

An aerial view of downtown Boston during City Hall construction. 1965.

Reviews for the building were mixed right out the gate. Ada Louise Huxtable, a New York Times critic praised the design as a progressive step forward: "It is as fine a building for its time and place as Boston has ever produced. Traditionalists who long for a revival of Bulfinch simply do not realize that one does not achieve a handsome monster either by enlarging, or endlessly multiplying, the attractive elements of smaller structures.” The voices on the negative side were (and continue to be) much louder. Boston Mayor John F. Collins was horrified by the design, reportedly blurting out “What the hell is that?” Over the years countless publications, including the Boston Globe and the Telegraph, have named the building the “Ugliest in America.”

Do you think Boston City Hall is the ugliest building in America? Let us know in the comments.

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