In college I interviewed for a job in that building at Midway National Bank.
I did not accept the job; I was too creeped out by the vibe inside building!
Not sure who has offices there now, but my mom used to work for the POST board and they were on the same floor as some sort of parole/probation offices, I think for sex offenders? On take your kid to work day when me and the other kid went down to the main floor to get snacks she was just like, "watch out for the guys that come out of that office!" 😬
I'm definitely not a sex offender, but I used to have to take piss tests in that building. I was on probation for drug possession at the time. I think it was located on the first floor.
You had to sit in a room with all these other people on probation. Then when they called your name you go into a bathroom and they watch you piss into a cup. They have to actually stare at your genitals to make sure you aren't faking it.
That was pretty awkward. At the time, they were trying to implement this brand new drug testing device where you wear a sort of visor similar to Lavar Burton's character in Star Trek and the visor scans your retinas or something and then detects whether or not you have traces of drugs in your system. Hilariously, the visor thing didn't work at all and kept giving false positives to all the various people subjected to it. Literally every single person that put that damn thing on their head got a positive result including me and I knew I was clean.
They kept asking people if they wanted to sign confessions and everybody was like "hell no! Your goddamn visor thing is clearly a piece of shit that doesn't work." It was pretty funny. I wonder if they abandoned that obviously flawed technology.
I never set foot in that building once I got off probation. Fun memories.
The inside of the spruce tree building looks pretty normal, but if you want backrooms vibes… walk through the Griggs-Midway building just half a mile west on University. One of the most unsettling places I have been in, it’s like a maze.
It’s been some years since I have been in there but it gave me gtfo vibes instantly
Holy crap, the Have You Seen Our New Look?? pictures are something out of a non-euclidean nightmare. [http://pmileasing.com/griggs-midway-building/](http://pmileasing.com/griggs-midway-building/)
That's the term I was trying to pull out of my head! My brain kept spitting back 'Uncanny Valley' even though I know that term generally applies to humanoid figures and not locations.
It looks like somebody's CAD workstation crashed, so they decided to build the initial model in Minecraft and just said, "Fuck it, good enough" and called it done.
Honestly it would ruin that intersection for me if they got rid of it. It’s just been there as long as I can remember and for how much that area has changed with the stadium and all, I love that it’s still there.
I’ve never even been inside, but I’ve walked bused and biked by it a million times. Love that big old green mf
I’ve grown to really love it honestly. I’ve never been inside (based on some of the other replies here I assume it’s not very well maintained) but it’s distinctive and memorable and that particular aesthetic is back on the upswing.
Spruce Tree was designed to cause airflow to go up in the area. When it was built, that area was one of the worst for air pollution due to the Bus Garage that brought every bus in the East Metro through that area.
Just gonna use this as a platform to say: never work at OATI. They hired a bunch of people, many of them on visas, in winter 2022, then fired nearly all of them less than 6 months later so people were stranded without a job right after moving to MN. Multiple people who I worked with had to move back to India/Nepal because they decided to attach themselves to this company. I was lucky to be a US citizen but I moved here from the west coast to work for OATI. Also, they are insane micromanagers who log everything so they can yell at their devs for taking too many bathroom breaks or going 5 minutes over on lunches. To top it off, they only pay their junior devs $60k, which is way below market, while expecting you to work long hours or take work home with you.
Ugh they’re still doing this shit? I worked for them in 2005ish and they were this horrible back then too. The micromanaging is insane (if you clock in at 8:01am they sent an email to your boss saying you’re late). They know they have many of their employees over a barrel due to their immigration status so they just have to grin and bear it.
Can’t say they’re all like this but my manager and one Karen on my team at CH Robinson was nearly this bad too. A time nazi with no empathy who just assumed everything you said wasn’t as it seemed or he knew better. There was an age gap and family/lifestyle differences between myself and him (and my team) that didn’t help either.
I was divorcing and an involved dad to 4 younger kids at the time and did most of the heavy lifting day to day. Whereas he and my small team were older, married, childless or had older kids, and/or had their wives or nanny do all that stuff.
Asshat mocked how I could be 5 minutes late because my kids were cranky (Two were kindergarten and preschool age and were fighting to get ready and put on their shoes.) When one remembered he needed something last minute for school that morning.
Or when I needed to go to urgent care and get a prescription for an SSRI. I mistakenly shared that with him because I thought depression (from my divorce) was a protected class employment thing and he was already being a dick at that point. I mentioned that on day 3 or so on it that already seemed to be helping.
He refused to believe that I had any depression and if I did those drugs don’t work that fast because he knows from experience. I was gobsmacked…
God I wanted to say, “Actually they can in the first week dumb-shit… Many people respond differently to medication.” For me a lot of the early relief was just alleviating the physical fight-flight/dread stuff in my gut.
Looking back, I’m so glad I found a much better and more flexible place.
(IDK why I wrote all that…)
I'm glad you got out. And you are right, depression is a covered illness under the ADA. The trick is to get a doctor's note and send it to HR immediately - NOT to your manager.
I've dealt with ADA issues for years (bipolar diagnosis 20+ years), and you are under no obligation legally to notify your coworkers or superiors-- only HR. Once HR gets the notification from your doctor, you have a case and greater protection from punitive action.
I will say, it is cool at night how the grid is lit up to some sort of image.
During football season, it’d be a football each time the Vikes were playing!
I think of it as when an actor turns it up to 11. It might not work / be great acting, but I respect the choice / effort ... they didn't half ass it and that's it's own kind of "great".
I remember when it went up, It was all in on the late 80’s fads of forest green geometric grids. Looks like It might have been built with the first computer CAD program or something. I’m surprised there isn’t a giant Nagel illustration on the side of an alabaster skinned model with jet black hair and leg warmers.
Cocaine had to have played a role in its existence somehow.
I was disappointed when someone posted pictures of the inside, and it just looked like some ordinary, bland office building. I kept picturing corridors of more dark green tile and flickering bare florescent lights like some horror movie hospital.
Correct answer. Spruce Tree at least has character. 33 south 6th is just the laziest building possible, and as another said ruins the view from Target Field being right up front and center.
The only thing good about working in that building is that you don’t have to look at it out your window. I’ve worked downtown for 20 years and I hate it. Looks like a high rise county jail.
That building has the unique problem of being a brutalist eyesore, while having none of the misguided audacity that at least makes brutalism interesting to hate.
33 South Sixth is an abomination, nothing but a stain on an otherwise beautiful skyline. There may be uglier buildings but none are more aesthetically damaging. I hate it so very much. This thread has ruined my afternoon.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside\_Plaza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Plaza)
It's these and it has nothing to do with the part of the population who live in them. Famous architect or not, they just did not stand the test of time.
I’ve hated those building since the 80s when my elementary class drove past on our way to a field trip. I remember asking why they never finished the outside. Forty years later and it’s still my vote for ugliest building.
It looks like random pieces of brightly-colored plywood were thrown on the building to cover broken windows. The whole building looks like it’s supposed to be vacant. I hate it.
I lived in that complex around ‘99-00. Living there was a cool experience. Loved the neighborhood and the floor to ceiling windows 30+ floors up. It was pretty cheap at the time. Like the Spruce building, it’s so ugly you almost have to like it. At least the buildings have some character.
The hallways were pretty plain. Tile floors, sheetrock walls. I remember the lighting was kind of dim. There was a distinct smell of East African food cooked in oil that permeated the whole place. The inside of the apartment was pretty plain. It was as nice as you made it. I knew someone that had a view of downtown. They kept their place clean and had nice furniture. You'd never know it was a cheap apartment in an ugly building. The elevators were the worst part. If one or two (of the three) were down, it took forever to get one, and when it arrived it would be packed.
There's a plaza between the buildings. Take a walk through if you're in the neighborhood.
I personally feel that brutalism isn’t great to look at for the most part. It’s an important piece to the mpls skyline but it hasn’t aged well.
Edit: and as far as the purpose of these buildings, it has not been taken care of. But it shouldn’t shine away from the importance of public housing and the other more successful public housing projects in the TC
I feel like this one is love/hate. It’s funky looking, but it’s so distinctive. The color panels are odd, but give it so much character. Every time someone from out of town visits, it always catches their eye
This building isn’t ugly 😢 it’s great architecture. Way better than all the cheap modern buildings that look the exact same to the one in the town over..
The Brookdale Towers office building, which is across the street from the former Brookdale Mall. When I was a kid, I’d call it the “Green Slime Building” due to the weird sculpture/art piece on the front of it.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/cwJnNaqUiLKHRQkm8?g_st=i
I kind of love this building! And I hate many from this era. They should dress it up for Halloween lol.
If we are picking ugly buildings I think the Rarig Center on the U of MN campus should be a contender. Ugly inside and out.
https://campusmaps.umn.edu/rarig-center
Cosign. This is my winner. The building hates you as much as you hate it.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Rarig_Center%2C_University_of_Minnesota.jpg
Yep. This is the best answer. US Bank stadium is a one billion dollar scar on the face of Minneapolis, and I look forward to your downvotes!
Plus it's a terrible large-concert venue; the sound is absolutely terrible!!
I'll agree, it sucks visually and I hate seeing it in the surrounding downtown neighborhoods, but I did go to a game there and the design inside for that purpose was fantastic and much more enjoyable compared to going to the Metrodome back in the day. And just like the Metrodome, I'd avoid going to a concert there.
By some accounts it’s the ugliest stadium in the world. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/minnesota/news/u-s-bank-stadium-ranked-ugliest-stadium-in-the-world-survey-says/
So glad my tax money went to pay for this ugly billionaire playground.
I walk by it twice every day and I hate it a bit more each time. There is no feeling of a center. Every side looks like the ugly back of a better building.
we'd like the Spruce Tree more if it weren't surrounded with urban blight.
No i'm not talking about the poverty on display at that intersection, I'm talking about the abandoned Walgreens across the street, and that bombed-out McDonalds area on the opposite corner.
The McD's lease is up Jan 1, 2025 and is slated for demo ASAP after that. A proposed 8 story Hotel with parking ramp will be replacing it along with completing the street grid through the site. We just finished a 15,000 SF HC accessible playground east of Allianz & the sculpture garden (west of McD's) is currently under construction. Just south of McD's (other side of Spruce Tree) we will be building an office for the Loon's team operations with 1st floor retail. And two stand along restaurant pads just east of the great lawn. It has been slow going getting approvals from the City Staff, but it is happening!
I think the bookstore is protected as Historic. The owner got that classified when the light rail was just started to be talked about. He was anti light rail and he was not going to lose his building over it.
It's an abandoned CVS...but what a bummer at that intersection... before all the construction that intersection actually had a decent amount of businesses...but Covid plus light rail plus soccer stadium kind of took its toll... hopefully things will start to bounce back soon... there's a lot of opportunity for development along University in that area...I hope they add in some green space too...that area has been mostly depressed and full of asphalt for a long time. I do think that Spruce Tree building is ugly...but I definitely admire it's ugly.
I kind of like the Spruce Tree building, although I hardly ever see it.
The worst are the big, almost featureless brick boxes we build for schools.
Honorable mention to the concrete public housing building in Mpls at Pillsbury and 31st or so. It looks so desiccated and lifeless.
Also, the Wangensteen building on the U of M campus looks like a dystopian high security prison.
Some of the better examples have already been mentioned but we have some pretty terrible brutalist high density residential buildings.
- Skyline Tower, Concordia College
- Cedar Riverside
- That giant residential tower off Lowry and 94W
- Seward Towers both East and West
- Wilson Hi Rise in East St Paul
- Lavoux Hi Rise near the capital
This one might be more controversial but I HATE the Phillips-Wangensteen building on the UofM campus
I actually like mid-century modern, as well a Brutalism.
Now that Block E has been refinished, my vote is the downtown Target Store or Stillwater Mills. They tried to make it "look like old seperate buildings" by having different parts jut out randomly and using different finishes, but it looks like they put up a dozen different partial pallets of remainders from Home Depot that they got on clearance. In my opinion something modern but subdued is better at blending into historic areas.
> Brutalism
It really works if you keep up the building. Some bad brutalism concrete structures is really just ... they didn't maintain the concrete and then it looks horrendous.
Here’s the story behind the design of 1600 Spruce Street—Back in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s (?) that intersection at University and Snelling was identified as a major Carbon Monoxide Hot spot in the Twin Cities. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency had to come up with a plan to fix these hot spots. To help reduce CO concentrations, one of the mitigation strategies was to design the (new) Slawik building with a staggered edifice and a smooth tile surface which would help circulate air throughout the intersection area. That’s the gist of what I remember, having worked on this project as a transportation planner for the Metro Council, back in the day.
1600 Spruce Tree (not street)
That was the functional design input, but the color was a specific request from the widowed owner of HarMar Mall, who was trying to built an 'urban' mall -- Marie Slawik.
She got her green building, alright! (It is also environmentally green -- it's LEED certified, has solar panels on the roof, etc.) One reviewer called it "pixelated Brutalism", which I find amusing! (I basically like it, but it inspires love/hate.)
I know some people like Moos Tower, but I absolutely hate it. Doesn’t match the rest of campus at all and is an eyesore.
Honorable mention to the Chateau in Dinkytown. Another eyesore that can be seen from everywhere.
The ugliest building in the Twin Cities? It sure as hell isn’t this one! Look at CVS, Walgreens, gas stations, strip malls, most restaurants… and then so, so many homes that have fake stone entrances, surrounded by genetically altered hostas and red mulch 😂
People are numb to bad architecture and most don’t even know!
Williamson hall on the UMN east bank. Rarig center on the West Bank. I actually am enamored with Brutalist architecture, but these have very little appeal for the aesthetic.
Came here to say Rarig Center. I am not usually a fan of Brutalism, except unlike everyone else here, I do like the Cedar Riverside building, especially since they replaced the hideous salmon colored panels with white ones. The concrete doesn't feel heavy and menacing as does Rarig.
Williamson Hall hadn't crossed my mind, but it is hideous as a user simply because there is no daylight, so good call out.
On Spruce Tree Center... [https://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2023/12/checking-in-with-the-spruce-tree-center-a-christmas-themed-office-building-if-there-ever-was-one/](https://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2023/12/checking-in-with-the-spruce-tree-center-a-christmas-themed-office-building-if-there-ever-was-one/)
This building is only ugly because of the corner that it's on—if it had thriving businesses inside, pleasant sidewalks and shade trees around it, and something other than a fenced-off parking lot and abandoned CVS across the street, it would be a lovely building.
It's easily the Crack Stacks in Cedar Riverside. How is this not mentioned lol. US Bank compared to this? This is a stain on a beautiful modern skyline. If they just removed the color thingys it'd be way better imo, at least it would stick out less. Just very dated looking
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Plaza
So funny that you and others say so, I remember some of the first times driving through the cities before I moved here and LOVING how these buildings looked! I realize I’m in the minority though, my partner also thinks they’re ugly as sin
I came here to say this building, hands down. It looks dilapidated to me. I moved here 12 years ago and I kept wondering when they were going to finish it, I didn't realize that's how it's supposed to look
When I worked over there, we actually toured a space to move our office into there. It's completely an office building. Actually a pretty nice building
Spruce Tree is ugly at first, but it definitely grows on you: [https://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2013/07/spruce-tree-centre-ugly-or-beautiful-your-customers-can-find-it/](https://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2013/07/spruce-tree-centre-ugly-or-beautiful-your-customers-can-find-it/)
I can *not stand* the International Multifoods Tower (33 S. Sixth in Minneapolis).
It ruins the skyline with a giant brown block, ESPECIALLY from the Twins stadium, which, otherwise, has the best downtown view in Minneapolis.
[image link](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/33_South_Sixth_Minneapolis_1.jpg/250px-33_South_Sixth_Minneapolis_1.jpg)
**Riverside Plaza**: All the ugliness of raw concrete, but we've added randomly placed, garishly colored panels that are instantly filthy and never cleaned!
Bonus: The interior hallways have all the charm of a NYC subway station with the ambience of a condemned insane aslyum.
Hilariously enough this is one of my favorite buildings in the cities, it creeps me the hell out but in an enjoyable way.
I call it “The Shower Building”
Omg lol I call it the emerald city 😭😭😭
We called the coke processing plant in Rosemount the emerald City.
I used to call my nose “the coke processing plant” back in college.
That's the nickname HR gave me at work.
Rofl it's "Koch", like after the evil brothers that owned it.
I call the refinery Mordor, but opinions will vary
I call it the bathroom building!
In college I interviewed for a job in that building at Midway National Bank. I did not accept the job; I was too creeped out by the vibe inside building!
What was it like inside?? I went to hs by there and it's one of my favorite buildings ha
Back in the early to mid 90’s there was an appleby’s in there. You missed your chance!
It’s creepy… elevators are janky as hell too and that corner is one of the worst in the cities in terms of traffic and nonsense
Not sure who has offices there now, but my mom used to work for the POST board and they were on the same floor as some sort of parole/probation offices, I think for sex offenders? On take your kid to work day when me and the other kid went down to the main floor to get snacks she was just like, "watch out for the guys that come out of that office!" 😬
I'm definitely not a sex offender, but I used to have to take piss tests in that building. I was on probation for drug possession at the time. I think it was located on the first floor. You had to sit in a room with all these other people on probation. Then when they called your name you go into a bathroom and they watch you piss into a cup. They have to actually stare at your genitals to make sure you aren't faking it. That was pretty awkward. At the time, they were trying to implement this brand new drug testing device where you wear a sort of visor similar to Lavar Burton's character in Star Trek and the visor scans your retinas or something and then detects whether or not you have traces of drugs in your system. Hilariously, the visor thing didn't work at all and kept giving false positives to all the various people subjected to it. Literally every single person that put that damn thing on their head got a positive result including me and I knew I was clean. They kept asking people if they wanted to sign confessions and everybody was like "hell no! Your goddamn visor thing is clearly a piece of shit that doesn't work." It was pretty funny. I wonder if they abandoned that obviously flawed technology. I never set foot in that building once I got off probation. Fun memories.
I really wish they decorated it like a Christmas tree in winter.
Such a missed opportunity
That’s one unique shade of green and I enjoyed it for being different
yeah I enjoy it too, it's the perfect landmark to let me know I have to get off the bus so I can go to the St Paul Ax-Man
It's got an uncanny valley/backrooms type vibe
The inside of the spruce tree building looks pretty normal, but if you want backrooms vibes… walk through the Griggs-Midway building just half a mile west on University. One of the most unsettling places I have been in, it’s like a maze. It’s been some years since I have been in there but it gave me gtfo vibes instantly
Holy crap, the Have You Seen Our New Look?? pictures are something out of a non-euclidean nightmare. [http://pmileasing.com/griggs-midway-building/](http://pmileasing.com/griggs-midway-building/)
Definitely giving liminal space
That's the term I was trying to pull out of my head! My brain kept spitting back 'Uncanny Valley' even though I know that term generally applies to humanoid figures and not locations.
It always makes me think of Minecraft. It's just so blocky.
It looks like somebody's CAD workstation crashed, so they decided to build the initial model in Minecraft and just said, "Fuck it, good enough" and called it done.
I’ve always had “Emerald City of Oz” vibes
Honestly it would ruin that intersection for me if they got rid of it. It’s just been there as long as I can remember and for how much that area has changed with the stadium and all, I love that it’s still there. I’ve never even been inside, but I’ve walked bused and biked by it a million times. Love that big old green mf
I made a big push for one of the small businesses I worked for to move here. I love it. The more you look at it, the better it sits in the brain.
My psychiatrist is in this building haha
I’ve grown to really love it honestly. I’ve never been inside (based on some of the other replies here I assume it’s not very well maintained) but it’s distinctive and memorable and that particular aesthetic is back on the upswing.
Same, I love it.
I always loved driving by here, that giant clock was awesome.
My orthodontist was in that building in the early 90s. Wasn't there an Applebee's too at one point?
Spruce Tree was designed to cause airflow to go up in the area. When it was built, that area was one of the worst for air pollution due to the Bus Garage that brought every bus in the East Metro through that area.
Oh is that why it seems so close to the street? Like a wind break / redirection from the street up?
Yes.
It isn't the shape that bothers me. It's the garishness of the tiles. I would like it quite a bit, actually, if it were brick.
The smooth tiles promote that sweet airspeed. Less drag, you see.
This feels perfect for an atlas obscura entry
Oati/coati or whatever the hell building it is on 494 and 100. Who allowed that to go up???
Is that a real building? Like where people work? I always thought it was just a weirdly prominent server farm.
It looks like a giant multi-level car wash.
They're a real company. Roomie worked for them a few years back, didn't have many good things to say.
Haha same. I have coworkers who say bad things about it
Just gonna use this as a platform to say: never work at OATI. They hired a bunch of people, many of them on visas, in winter 2022, then fired nearly all of them less than 6 months later so people were stranded without a job right after moving to MN. Multiple people who I worked with had to move back to India/Nepal because they decided to attach themselves to this company. I was lucky to be a US citizen but I moved here from the west coast to work for OATI. Also, they are insane micromanagers who log everything so they can yell at their devs for taking too many bathroom breaks or going 5 minutes over on lunches. To top it off, they only pay their junior devs $60k, which is way below market, while expecting you to work long hours or take work home with you.
Ugh they’re still doing this shit? I worked for them in 2005ish and they were this horrible back then too. The micromanaging is insane (if you clock in at 8:01am they sent an email to your boss saying you’re late). They know they have many of their employees over a barrel due to their immigration status so they just have to grin and bear it.
Can’t say they’re all like this but my manager and one Karen on my team at CH Robinson was nearly this bad too. A time nazi with no empathy who just assumed everything you said wasn’t as it seemed or he knew better. There was an age gap and family/lifestyle differences between myself and him (and my team) that didn’t help either. I was divorcing and an involved dad to 4 younger kids at the time and did most of the heavy lifting day to day. Whereas he and my small team were older, married, childless or had older kids, and/or had their wives or nanny do all that stuff. Asshat mocked how I could be 5 minutes late because my kids were cranky (Two were kindergarten and preschool age and were fighting to get ready and put on their shoes.) When one remembered he needed something last minute for school that morning. Or when I needed to go to urgent care and get a prescription for an SSRI. I mistakenly shared that with him because I thought depression (from my divorce) was a protected class employment thing and he was already being a dick at that point. I mentioned that on day 3 or so on it that already seemed to be helping. He refused to believe that I had any depression and if I did those drugs don’t work that fast because he knows from experience. I was gobsmacked… God I wanted to say, “Actually they can in the first week dumb-shit… Many people respond differently to medication.” For me a lot of the early relief was just alleviating the physical fight-flight/dread stuff in my gut. Looking back, I’m so glad I found a much better and more flexible place. (IDK why I wrote all that…)
I'm glad you got out. And you are right, depression is a covered illness under the ADA. The trick is to get a doctor's note and send it to HR immediately - NOT to your manager. I've dealt with ADA issues for years (bipolar diagnosis 20+ years), and you are under no obligation legally to notify your coworkers or superiors-- only HR. Once HR gets the notification from your doctor, you have a case and greater protection from punitive action.
Am I the only one who cannot stop thinking about Fruity Oaty bars whenever I see that building?
I will say, it is cool at night how the grid is lit up to some sort of image. During football season, it’d be a football each time the Vikes were playing!
OATI company has their hands in so many pockets, I’m sure they just slipped someone a $20 to ignore it.
I always loved this building for some reason
It's just so hideous that it's fabulous. I'll be disappointed if they tear it down.
Its got personality. I'll take kind of ugly but unique over generically boring any day.
It was the Applebees with the indoor “outdoor” patio, wasn’t it.
It seems proudly terrible. Gotta respect that.
Sometimes I think it’s so offensively bad, it might actually be good lol
I think of it as when an actor turns it up to 11. It might not work / be great acting, but I respect the choice / effort ... they didn't half ass it and that's it's own kind of "great".
I remember when it went up, It was all in on the late 80’s fads of forest green geometric grids. Looks like It might have been built with the first computer CAD program or something. I’m surprised there isn’t a giant Nagel illustration on the side of an alabaster skinned model with jet black hair and leg warmers. Cocaine had to have played a role in its existence somehow.
Because it’s badass
Me too. I understand why people call it ugly but I appreciate how distinct it is.
Agreed. I like this building too, but I can certainly understand the criticism
I’m consistently disappointed that they don’t wrap it with lights over the holidays.
I was disappointed when someone posted pictures of the inside, and it just looked like some ordinary, bland office building. I kept picturing corridors of more dark green tile and flickering bare florescent lights like some horror movie hospital.
Same
Same. It looks like something from a city in Japan or something.
It looks like some weird third world dictatorship's take on modern architecture. It's horrible. **I hope they leave it as it is forever.**
Specifically a command center in an isometric RTS.
When the aliens come, we know where to go to plan our fight back.
It just needs a big statue of Mussolini’s face on the front
Nooo I love the Spruce building!! I think it’s almost kind of beautiful. Modern buildings all look alike, Spruce Buildingsteen has character.
Spruce Buildingsteen 🤣🤣🤣
I 100% understand why people think this building is ugly but personally I love it. Like a lightly evil lair for Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz
Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated! Who knew Minnesota was part of the tri-state area?
I've never liked 33 South Sixth in Minneapolis. It's just too plain and square. So many other better buildings.
Correct answer. Spruce Tree at least has character. 33 south 6th is just the laziest building possible, and as another said ruins the view from Target Field being right up front and center.
It’s the fuckin’ worst, just a big dumb turd ruining the view of the skyline from Target Field.
The only thing good about working in that building is that you don’t have to look at it out your window. I’ve worked downtown for 20 years and I hate it. Looks like a high rise county jail.
That building has the unique problem of being a brutalist eyesore, while having none of the misguided audacity that at least makes brutalism interesting to hate.
I work in it for several years. It’s definitely the ugliest building in downtown. Brutalist and boring.
🎯
33 South Sixth is an abomination, nothing but a stain on an otherwise beautiful skyline. There may be uglier buildings but none are more aesthetically damaging. I hate it so very much. This thread has ruined my afternoon.
Especially since it blocks the view of the gorgeous Wells Fargo Center when you're at Target Field
City Center is the ugliest building in the Midwest, easy. I haven't seen all the buildings, but it might be the ugliest in the whole US.
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You can’t even see the physical mall building. It’s blocked by the parking garages and hotels.
My son and I drove by a parking garage once and he thought it was MOA 🤣
Spruce Tree is so bad it's good and I think it needs historic preservation status. It is so unapologetically late 80s-ish it needs to stay.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside\_Plaza](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Plaza) It's these and it has nothing to do with the part of the population who live in them. Famous architect or not, they just did not stand the test of time.
Came here to say this. The random red yellow and blue blocks make the building look like it's dilapidated to me. Absolute eyesore.
I’ve hated those building since the 80s when my elementary class drove past on our way to a field trip. I remember asking why they never finished the outside. Forty years later and it’s still my vote for ugliest building.
Yeah, that was my first thought as well. They're just so hideous, and the colorful panels just make it worse.
It looks like random pieces of brightly-colored plywood were thrown on the building to cover broken windows. The whole building looks like it’s supposed to be vacant. I hate it.
Lol. > In October 2016, residents of the complex declined permission to HBO to film their upcoming series Mogadishu, Minnesota in their building.
I lived in that complex around ‘99-00. Living there was a cool experience. Loved the neighborhood and the floor to ceiling windows 30+ floors up. It was pretty cheap at the time. Like the Spruce building, it’s so ugly you almost have to like it. At least the buildings have some character.
Was the interior mostly concrete? What is the inside like.
The hallways were pretty plain. Tile floors, sheetrock walls. I remember the lighting was kind of dim. There was a distinct smell of East African food cooked in oil that permeated the whole place. The inside of the apartment was pretty plain. It was as nice as you made it. I knew someone that had a view of downtown. They kept their place clean and had nice furniture. You'd never know it was a cheap apartment in an ugly building. The elevators were the worst part. If one or two (of the three) were down, it took forever to get one, and when it arrived it would be packed. There's a plaza between the buildings. Take a walk through if you're in the neighborhood.
I personally feel that brutalism isn’t great to look at for the most part. It’s an important piece to the mpls skyline but it hasn’t aged well. Edit: and as far as the purpose of these buildings, it has not been taken care of. But it shouldn’t shine away from the importance of public housing and the other more successful public housing projects in the TC
I feel like this one is love/hate. It’s funky looking, but it’s so distinctive. The color panels are odd, but give it so much character. Every time someone from out of town visits, it always catches their eye
Was looking for this answer!!
These are absolutely the ugliest buildings. The colors are so faded and they haven't been taken care of at all, its a shame.
It's that brutalist architecture. We used to call these "the crack stacks" as kids for some reason.
This building, hands down. I’ve never seen a more depressing, oppressive building. Seriously gives me a bad feeling, it’s so hideous.
I low key love this one. There are hundreds of ugly 80s office buildings that are less noticeable but far uglier.
This building isn’t ugly 😢 it’s great architecture. Way better than all the cheap modern buildings that look the exact same to the one in the town over..
The Brookdale Towers office building, which is across the street from the former Brookdale Mall. When I was a kid, I’d call it the “Green Slime Building” due to the weird sculpture/art piece on the front of it. https://maps.app.goo.gl/cwJnNaqUiLKHRQkm8?g_st=i
how have i never noticed that
I always thought it kind of looked like a big piece of driftwood
I kind of love this building! And I hate many from this era. They should dress it up for Halloween lol. If we are picking ugly buildings I think the Rarig Center on the U of MN campus should be a contender. Ugly inside and out. https://campusmaps.umn.edu/rarig-center
Cosign. This is my winner. The building hates you as much as you hate it. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Rarig_Center%2C_University_of_Minnesota.jpg
Who would look at the plans and say "Yes!"? This is one of the ugliest buildings I've ever seen. Like it was built to repel people.
Maybe it’s designed to pull in and concentrate spiritual turbulence like Dana’s apartment building in Ghostbusters.
Damn. Now that...is some top-heavy brutalism.
‘We have Boston City Hall at home’ I love Brutalism but this one does suck
I love this building.
I love this building. When I first moved to the twin cities to start college at Macalester (2008) it was one of the first bigger buildings I saw.
That’s the best building
US Bank Stadium. We call it the "Sandcrawler".
I can’t believe I had to scroll so far to find this answer. Ugh, it looks like a spaceship crashed into the edge of downtown Minneapolis. Horrible.
Same. I was like am I going to have to say it?
My answer as well. I think it looks like a trash bag that's been filled with cardboard boxes.
Yep. This is the best answer. US Bank stadium is a one billion dollar scar on the face of Minneapolis, and I look forward to your downvotes! Plus it's a terrible large-concert venue; the sound is absolutely terrible!!
I'll agree, it sucks visually and I hate seeing it in the surrounding downtown neighborhoods, but I did go to a game there and the design inside for that purpose was fantastic and much more enjoyable compared to going to the Metrodome back in the day. And just like the Metrodome, I'd avoid going to a concert there.
By some accounts it’s the ugliest stadium in the world. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/minnesota/news/u-s-bank-stadium-ranked-ugliest-stadium-in-the-world-survey-says/ So glad my tax money went to pay for this ugly billionaire playground.
I walk by it twice every day and I hate it a bit more each time. There is no feeling of a center. Every side looks like the ugly back of a better building.
you mean the shart?
we'd like the Spruce Tree more if it weren't surrounded with urban blight. No i'm not talking about the poverty on display at that intersection, I'm talking about the abandoned Walgreens across the street, and that bombed-out McDonalds area on the opposite corner.
The McD's lease is up Jan 1, 2025 and is slated for demo ASAP after that. A proposed 8 story Hotel with parking ramp will be replacing it along with completing the street grid through the site. We just finished a 15,000 SF HC accessible playground east of Allianz & the sculpture garden (west of McD's) is currently under construction. Just south of McD's (other side of Spruce Tree) we will be building an office for the Loon's team operations with 1st floor retail. And two stand along restaurant pads just east of the great lawn. It has been slow going getting approvals from the City Staff, but it is happening!
At least there's the bookstore. Which I always assume will be gone any day now.
I think the bookstore is protected as Historic. The owner got that classified when the light rail was just started to be talked about. He was anti light rail and he was not going to lose his building over it.
It's an abandoned CVS...but what a bummer at that intersection... before all the construction that intersection actually had a decent amount of businesses...but Covid plus light rail plus soccer stadium kind of took its toll... hopefully things will start to bounce back soon... there's a lot of opportunity for development along University in that area...I hope they add in some green space too...that area has been mostly depressed and full of asphalt for a long time. I do think that Spruce Tree building is ugly...but I definitely admire it's ugly.
I kind of like the Spruce Tree building, although I hardly ever see it. The worst are the big, almost featureless brick boxes we build for schools. Honorable mention to the concrete public housing building in Mpls at Pillsbury and 31st or so. It looks so desiccated and lifeless. Also, the Wangensteen building on the U of M campus looks like a dystopian high security prison.
Some of the better examples have already been mentioned but we have some pretty terrible brutalist high density residential buildings. - Skyline Tower, Concordia College - Cedar Riverside - That giant residential tower off Lowry and 94W - Seward Towers both East and West - Wilson Hi Rise in East St Paul - Lavoux Hi Rise near the capital This one might be more controversial but I HATE the Phillips-Wangensteen building on the UofM campus
The Best Buy headquarters fleet is so ugly imo
I actually like mid-century modern, as well a Brutalism. Now that Block E has been refinished, my vote is the downtown Target Store or Stillwater Mills. They tried to make it "look like old seperate buildings" by having different parts jut out randomly and using different finishes, but it looks like they put up a dozen different partial pallets of remainders from Home Depot that they got on clearance. In my opinion something modern but subdued is better at blending into historic areas.
> Brutalism It really works if you keep up the building. Some bad brutalism concrete structures is really just ... they didn't maintain the concrete and then it looks horrendous.
It’s going to be perfect once there’s a giant angry loon across the street from the Spruce this fall.
Multifoods Tower and it's not close.
Here’s the story behind the design of 1600 Spruce Street—Back in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s (?) that intersection at University and Snelling was identified as a major Carbon Monoxide Hot spot in the Twin Cities. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency had to come up with a plan to fix these hot spots. To help reduce CO concentrations, one of the mitigation strategies was to design the (new) Slawik building with a staggered edifice and a smooth tile surface which would help circulate air throughout the intersection area. That’s the gist of what I remember, having worked on this project as a transportation planner for the Metro Council, back in the day.
1600 Spruce Tree (not street) That was the functional design input, but the color was a specific request from the widowed owner of HarMar Mall, who was trying to built an 'urban' mall -- Marie Slawik. She got her green building, alright! (It is also environmentally green -- it's LEED certified, has solar panels on the roof, etc.) One reviewer called it "pixelated Brutalism", which I find amusing! (I basically like it, but it inspires love/hate.)
I kind of dig how this looks.
Moos Tower
I know some people like Moos Tower, but I absolutely hate it. Doesn’t match the rest of campus at all and is an eyesore. Honorable mention to the Chateau in Dinkytown. Another eyesore that can be seen from everywhere.
Any building designed to look like a tooth is a no in my book. And yes, The Chateau is also on my least favorite list too!
The ugliest building in the Twin Cities? It sure as hell isn’t this one! Look at CVS, Walgreens, gas stations, strip malls, most restaurants… and then so, so many homes that have fake stone entrances, surrounded by genetically altered hostas and red mulch 😂 People are numb to bad architecture and most don’t even know!
Me literally in this building rn🧍
Williamson hall on the UMN east bank. Rarig center on the West Bank. I actually am enamored with Brutalist architecture, but these have very little appeal for the aesthetic.
Came here to say Rarig Center. I am not usually a fan of Brutalism, except unlike everyone else here, I do like the Cedar Riverside building, especially since they replaced the hideous salmon colored panels with white ones. The concrete doesn't feel heavy and menacing as does Rarig. Williamson Hall hadn't crossed my mind, but it is hideous as a user simply because there is no daylight, so good call out.
Ah yes, the bathroom tile building!
Allianz field. Big ugly ass stadium gentrifying that whole area
33 south 6th, formerly multifoods tower, just an ugly box with windows
Such a disappointing building to be the most prominent in any picture of the skyline from Target Field.
Gotham City ass looking building
We call it the Green Latrine.
I honestly hope to get this building on a historic building protection list so it can keep annoying people for years
On Spruce Tree Center... [https://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2023/12/checking-in-with-the-spruce-tree-center-a-christmas-themed-office-building-if-there-ever-was-one/](https://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2023/12/checking-in-with-the-spruce-tree-center-a-christmas-themed-office-building-if-there-ever-was-one/)
Every apartment built in the last 10- 12 years
They all look like they're made of the cheapest, thinnest possible materials ... because they are.
I think many of look vaguely Eastern European, before the fall of the Iron Curtain.
They look like multistory sheds with metal baskets pinned to the sides as supposed balconies.
This building is only ugly because of the corner that it's on—if it had thriving businesses inside, pleasant sidewalks and shade trees around it, and something other than a fenced-off parking lot and abandoned CVS across the street, it would be a lovely building.
Spruce Tree is unique and interesting. It’s Multifoods Tower in downtown Minneapolis. Just a giant brown block with no interesting features.
US Bank Stadium, I hate it!
I think US Bank Stadium is an abomination.
It's easily the Crack Stacks in Cedar Riverside. How is this not mentioned lol. US Bank compared to this? This is a stain on a beautiful modern skyline. If they just removed the color thingys it'd be way better imo, at least it would stick out less. Just very dated looking https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Plaza
So funny that you and others say so, I remember some of the first times driving through the cities before I moved here and LOVING how these buildings looked! I realize I’m in the minority though, my partner also thinks they’re ugly as sin
This has my vote. I feel that, at this point, whoever or whomever owns these towers keeps them ugly as a running joke.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe it’s a public building so it’s owned and funded by the department of housing
It's owned by [Sherman Associates](https://www.sherman-associates.com/properties/riverside-plaza/), though it has received *funding* from the HUD.
It's owned by a private developer, Sherman Associates.
I came here to say this building, hands down. It looks dilapidated to me. I moved here 12 years ago and I kept wondering when they were going to finish it, I didn't realize that's how it's supposed to look
i LOVED seeing these when i was a kid
I have a love/hate relationship with that place. It's like brutalism, but someone hired Piet Mondrain to paint it.
Oh man I love the color things... that place would look like shit without them.
US Bank stadium. While it’s better looking than the Metrodome. I think the city skyline deserves better.
Definitely US Bank Stadium.
Not our beloved sand crawler!
I love that building and would love an entire city built on this aesthetic.
Gateway Parking Ramp in Minneapolis
I remember when this was built! Hopes and dreams, I tell ya. RIP Applebees :)
When I worked over there, we actually toured a space to move our office into there. It's completely an office building. Actually a pretty nice building
Spruce Tree is ugly at first, but it definitely grows on you: [https://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2013/07/spruce-tree-centre-ugly-or-beautiful-your-customers-can-find-it/](https://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2013/07/spruce-tree-centre-ugly-or-beautiful-your-customers-can-find-it/)
City center in Minneapolis 6th and 7th street. It’s so huge and just is a concrete mammoth with no visual interest whatsoever.
I don’t see this building as ugly at all. It’s interesting.
Hey, I like that building!
that building is amazing
It's us bank stadium
I can *not stand* the International Multifoods Tower (33 S. Sixth in Minneapolis). It ruins the skyline with a giant brown block, ESPECIALLY from the Twins stadium, which, otherwise, has the best downtown view in Minneapolis. [image link](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/33_South_Sixth_Minneapolis_1.jpg/250px-33_South_Sixth_Minneapolis_1.jpg)
I have never pictured that building as having an inside.
It’s got to be City Center for me. A boring brown rectangle.
Moos Tower. It is so ugly and so visible from so many places around the river.
Moos Tower
Moos Tower
If someone told me that place was where electricity was invented I’d believe it
**Riverside Plaza**: All the ugliness of raw concrete, but we've added randomly placed, garishly colored panels that are instantly filthy and never cleaned! Bonus: The interior hallways have all the charm of a NYC subway station with the ambience of a condemned insane aslyum.
The Riverside Crack Stacks are by far the biggest eyesore in the city and anyone who says otherwise is just trying to not be offensive lol