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Boston's 10 ugliest buildings, mapped

It’s not that all of these are aesthetically unpleasing necessarily, it’s that some are just plain boring

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It’s not that Boston’s 10 ugliest buildings are all aesthetically unpleasing necessarily. It’s more that some are just plain boring. Or at least that was the verdict of Curbed Boston readers, who helped devise this map.

Modern architecture came in for a particular drubbing, with that style's brutalist subset bearing the brunt of the criticism. What’d you think? (We think there are plenty of gorgeous modern buildigns in Boston.)

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Fenway Park

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The home of the World Series champion Red Sox opened in early 1912, and that makes it the oldest ballpark in all of Major League Baseball.

The arena, which seats just over 37,000, is also one of MLB’s smallest.

Because of this size and age, it’s also not as sleekly striking as its younger MLB brethren; positively dowdy, in short.

A row of wooden seats in an open-air ballpark. Emma Krahmer/Shutterstock

The Clarendon Apartments

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The Robert A.M. Stern-designed condo opened in 2009, and has rankled residents ever since for its starkly utilitarian appearance.

The 107-unit spire could be even more obtrusive, though, so points for that.

Photo via Trulia

Tufts Medical Center

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One Curbed Boston reader described this complex as "the world's largest air-conditioner."

One Beacon Street

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Skidmore Owings & Merrill designed this office skyscraper, which went up in 1971.

The 37-story modern is representative of what one reader called "nothingness." Indeed, One Beacon is just kind of there and adds little aesthetically to the skyline.

Photo via Wikipedia Commons

Government Service Center

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Another brutalist punching bag, this monolithic structure went up in the late 1960s and very early 1970s.

Paul Rudolph designed it as a way to kind of exhibit government at work, but for many it reigns instead as an eyesore downtown.

Photo via Wikipedia Commons

St. Anthony Shrine

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The Catholic parish and charity hub is something to look at on the inside, but outside readers described it as basically monolithic and forbidding.

The building dates from the early 1950s—any later and it might've looked worse.

Jim McIntosh/Flickr

Boston City Hall

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Boston's City Hall has been an architectural punching bag since its completion in 1968.

Kallmann, McKinnell & Knowles, then professors at Columbia, won an international competition to design the civic hub; and pivoted from more traditional fare as well as from sleek glassiness to a brutalist design that still perplexes and enrages the masses.

A large building with a concrete facade and a red pedestrian plaza in front. Jorge Salcedo/Shutterstock

28 State Street

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Emery Roth & Sons and Edward Larrabee Barnes Associates designed this skyscraper, which was constructed in the late 1960s.

The 40-story office building is definitely for modern architecture aficionados and nobody else.

Photo via Wikipedia Commons

One Federal Street

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The Architects Collaborative was behind this 38-story skyscraper that went up in the early 1970s. It's another product of its time.

Photo via Wikipedia Commons

Harbor Towers

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The pair of 40-story residential towers went up in the late 1960s and opened in 1971.

I.M. Pei designed them in the modern-slash-brutalist style popular at the time. They certainly stand out on the waterfront and not necessarily in a good way.

David Persson/Shutterstock

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Fenway Park

The home of the World Series champion Red Sox opened in early 1912, and that makes it the oldest ballpark in all of Major League Baseball.

The arena, which seats just over 37,000, is also one of MLB’s smallest.

Because of this size and age, it’s also not as sleekly striking as its younger MLB brethren; positively dowdy, in short.

A row of wooden seats in an open-air ballpark. Emma Krahmer/Shutterstock

The Clarendon Apartments

The Robert A.M. Stern-designed condo opened in 2009, and has rankled residents ever since for its starkly utilitarian appearance.

The 107-unit spire could be even more obtrusive, though, so points for that.

Photo via Trulia

Tufts Medical Center

One Curbed Boston reader described this complex as "the world's largest air-conditioner."

One Beacon Street

Skidmore Owings & Merrill designed this office skyscraper, which went up in 1971.

The 37-story modern is representative of what one reader called "nothingness." Indeed, One Beacon is just kind of there and adds little aesthetically to the skyline.

Photo via Wikipedia Commons

Government Service Center

Another brutalist punching bag, this monolithic structure went up in the late 1960s and very early 1970s.

Paul Rudolph designed it as a way to kind of exhibit government at work, but for many it reigns instead as an eyesore downtown.

Photo via Wikipedia Commons

St. Anthony Shrine

The Catholic parish and charity hub is something to look at on the inside, but outside readers described it as basically monolithic and forbidding.

The building dates from the early 1950s—any later and it might've looked worse.

Jim McIntosh/Flickr

Boston City Hall

Boston's City Hall has been an architectural punching bag since its completion in 1968.

Kallmann, McKinnell & Knowles, then professors at Columbia, won an international competition to design the civic hub; and pivoted from more traditional fare as well as from sleek glassiness to a brutalist design that still perplexes and enrages the masses.

A large building with a concrete facade and a red pedestrian plaza in front. Jorge Salcedo/Shutterstock

28 State Street

Emery Roth & Sons and Edward Larrabee Barnes Associates designed this skyscraper, which was constructed in the late 1960s.

The 40-story office building is definitely for modern architecture aficionados and nobody else.

Photo via Wikipedia Commons

One Federal Street

The Architects Collaborative was behind this 38-story skyscraper that went up in the early 1970s. It's another product of its time.

Photo via Wikipedia Commons

Harbor Towers

The pair of 40-story residential towers went up in the late 1960s and opened in 1971.

I.M. Pei designed them in the modern-slash-brutalist style popular at the time. They certainly stand out on the waterfront and not necessarily in a good way.

David Persson/Shutterstock