San Francisco's Ugliest Buildings

Columnist John King details his criteria for labeling the ugliest buildings in the Bay Area.

1 minute read

December 10, 2004, 11:00 AM PST

"...It's my own personal worst, reached via a scientific method drawing on the following criteria...

There's a reason that everybody knows San Francisco Marriott -- its official name -- as "the jukebox." Because The Chronicle's wonderful former architecture critic Allan Temko likened the hotel to "a giant Wurlitzer, flowing in the barroom of the San Francisco sky." Talk about nailing it: There's no better way to describe the swirls of mirrored glass that fan upwards from the center of the block-long behemoth.

Thanks to Prative of New Urbanism

FULL STORY: If only we could wave a wand and make them disappear. Alas, our ugly buildings are here to stay.

Friday, December 10, 2004 in The San Francisco Chronicle

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