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22 Times Buildings Were Renovated And Some Say They Now Look Worse Than They Were Before
Beauty is subjective, beauty is in the eye of the beholder—most of us were taught to never judge a book by its cover. Or, more simply put, to not be superficial. However, scientists argue that aesthetic appreciation of beauty is hard-wired into our brains—we can't escape it. Subconsciously or consciously, we all like to look at beautiful creatures, be it an animal, or a building.
Therefore, some people that are more leaning towards traditional architecture are worried that the notion of beauty in buildings is fading away. As cities all over the world are experiencing globalization, the newly designed buildings can sometimes look awfully alike, even if they were built thousands of miles apart. We're all familiar with the glass boxes in the prestigious areas of cities, that, according to some, are lacking that certain kind of charm, or je ne sais quoi, that makes them unique in their own way. But before we get all judgy, we want to let you decide what you think of these building renovations. Bored Panda has made you a list of before and after pictures of some buildings around the world that were renovated in a way that didn't sit right with some people. Do they look good to you? Scroll down below to see them all and tell us your opinion!
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Samantha Lomb 5 years ago
Also Russia, but this cladding just clips on so it could be removed and the oдвук building is still under there
#7
Tabernus 5 years ago
Birmingham central library .... There's a reason the style is called 'brutalist'
Joonscrab 5 years ago
I'm crying at how beautiful the Gothic one looks 😭😭 brutalism isn't one of my favourites for sure
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Emyo Jennifer Nakayama 5 years ago
I hate the trend towards everything as "modern". The old styles were often exquisite examples of art and craftsmanship.
Octavia Hansen 5 years ago
City council out to lunch when this was approved by the cleaning staff?
Tabernus 5 years ago
Partly because a lot of Birmingham was bombed in WW2 and they came up with a new plan for the city and knocked a load of the rest down
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Rainclouds Radio 5 years ago
I know architects who are obsessed with Brutalism. It's like a dark humour thing or something but they use words like "irony" to describe their love for it... *eye roll*
Joan OConnor 5 years ago
This looks like those East Communist Bloc styles that were popular in the late 60s.
Vickie Johnston 5 years ago
Oh wow... lived in Brum for 30 years, didn’t realise such a beautiful building stood there before! 😭
H Edwards 5 years ago
This is Birmingham, in the UK. This was done in the 1970s, absolutely criminal.
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Jeffrey Tustin 4 years ago
Thankfully we do not have to endure this anymore. The Library has been demolished and the whole area re-developed
Hugh Walter 4 years ago
To be fair - I think the Luftwaffe might have had a hand in later planning decisions on this one?
Valerie Page 5 years ago
But to be realistic, These ornate old buildings were worn out and impossible to heat properly. Our councils can't afford to keep them up without increasing local taxes to a level which isn't acceptable to the paying population who prefer better schools, infrastructure and services. As my old Granny used to say "He who pays the piper calls the tune" And we elect our councils
Onion rings like to make your breath smelly 5 years ago (edited)
why did they take that away??? it was so pretty!
mermaidgirl960 5 years ago
I see they tried to keep the centerpiece but I'm mad that they completely changed all of the buildings around it. Victorian buildings are so beautiful yet hard to renovate :(
Loraine MacGinness 5 years ago
Absolutely awful. Leave all this abominable building to the Americans. Old Character to the UK. They are destroying London too trying to be clever ??
Steve Cruz 5 years ago
The "Then" photo appears to have been taken in the 1800s. Who knows what happened to the original buildings in the course of two world wars and global financial collapse. The "new" building was erected in the 1950s.
Ole Peder Amrud Hagen 5 years ago
That's not a renovation. This brutalist building is pretty nice, but has unfortunately been town down itself.
I'm lay sheep in China 5 years ago
1st one look like something from Fantasy world 2nd one is plain as Bread
Jacki Hamer 5 years ago
The pretty buildings are still there - the second pic is taken from the opposite side and the ugly library is long gone!
Neva Nevičica 5 years ago
Why didn't they just build a similar/same one in the same place, if it was ruined in bombings. Dresden was rebuilt in the same style, so it is possible. The goth building would make a great library, like from Harry Potter :)
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Popcorn Colonel 5 years ago
OMG! The first pic was really cute! Why would ANYONE do such a thing?
#11
ShawtyCantComeToThePhone 5 years ago
hey janice let's replace this beautiful building with a yellow block
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Tabernus 5 years ago
This is a pretty lazy list - many of the original buildings were either bombed or cleared after WW2. In many instances the replacement buildings were put up quickly and cheaply, or were genuinely believed to be cutting edge in the '60's
Kendra Miller 5 years ago
Thank you for clarifying that. Usually in architecture you can see bones and remnants left from the original, but many of these were clearly different.
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Kel Gal 5 years ago
I imagine that so many of the before buildings were in such bad condition that it was less expensive and safer to tear them down.
Harley Hoglin 5 years ago
Every photo that shows a building destroyed in WW2 and what replaced it needs to be removed. Comparing what became a bombed out pile of rubble to a new building is bullshit.
Ivan Wahl 5 years ago
If we were misled on even one of the photos it negates the entire premise of the post. Replaced is not renovated and if a major portion of the original building was destroyed and replaced with something else entirely that does not qualify as a renovation either.
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Russell Ellwardt 5 years ago
Many of these are not renovations but replacements. This "list" is no list. Totally useless.
Paulina 5 years ago
The title of this post is so misleading 😠 Those are NOT renovations! Most of the pictures show what was in that spot decades ago and then what's there now. Given most of those are from Europe it's safe to say that "before" buildings no longer exist because of the bombings in WW2 or were torn down not much later due to damages.
mph seti 5 years ago
A lot of the time, this is done because there's really no other choice. An old building is falling apart and otherwise unsafe/unusable as is. We don't t know the full stories, here. That said, turning something charming and comfortable into something Brutalist or Minimalist isn't usually a good idea. Especially when it's a result of gentrification driving out people in favor of new, wealthier, people.
Petra Schaap 5 years ago
i kinda like Brutalism... its so ugly and weird that its fascinating... its a part of history now, but I dont understand they thought it was a good idea back then.
Load More Replies... Olivia Agave 5 years ago
Most of these were either damaged or destroyed in WW2, or the original structure was unstable after being abandoned for years. Now, if you want something gross that doesn't come under these conditions - Maidstone Museum, listed old mansion house that they cut a hole in and slapped a burning gold and glass structure on the side of. maidstone-...f1baca.jpg 
StardustRainO8 5 years ago
I don't know any historcial facts or storys behind these bulidings, but people shuld take a look back and appericate the buliding thats aleready there.
WilvanderHeijden 5 years ago
A lot of the old buildings got bombed so that's a valid reason to replace them with was considered modern architecture. Sadly even today beautiful buildings get destroyed because a council wants to "step into the future" by building ghastly concrete towers. That's why a lot of cities are so terrible depressing. Grey pavement, grey buildings, black tarmac.
Jungkook Hbdhgs 5 years ago (edited)
Sad. Before old building look beautiful and interesting. Lazy after new build. I hate new build like modern buildings. I like vintage and cozy old things.
fainasKeturatis 5 years ago
"renovation" is not building from the foundation on the remains of last building but renewing or "making something look new again". Half of those are not "renovations".
no_name 5 years ago
Let me just point out that not every building survives hundreds of years intact and very often they need to be demolished, and sometimes it happens that during wars buidings (and not just buildings) are destroyed. In those cases, noone creates an exact replica of something once built, but tries to come up with new modern ideas, not necessarily better of prettier, but that's the way it is.
lara 5 years ago
In Russia this type of architecture is called "Stalinist." The horrific monster buildings he had built in Moscow are called "The Seven Ugly Sisters".
person (i think) 5 years ago
Dumb list. Most of these are re-builds, not "renovations". Two totally different things.
El muerto 5 years ago
many of these are down to destruction during war...but too many horrible examples of bad taste
H Edwards 5 years ago
The Birmingham city centre one was done in the 1970s. From the 1950s to the 1980s there was a lot of this in the UK.
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Eliyahu Rooff 5 years ago
It's also worth remembering that many old buildings have deteriorated to the point where restoration is prohibitively expensive, even if the original was beautiful. They often don't meet modern safety standards, and would require that builders tear them down to bare bones to retrofit them so they are energy efficient and safe.
Steve Cruz 5 years ago
Photos a century old don't show what state the property was in when it was renovated or replaced. The Regency-era (early 1800s) buildings where the Birmingham City Library (built in the 1950s) had been bombed.
Łukasz Markuszewski 5 years ago
As Tabernus said - the WW2 is responsible for most of this devastations. We must also remember, that a lot of old buildings, especially housing, was not very nice to live in - lack of toilets, dark patios, narrow backstreets, lack of elevators - many of them looked nice but during '50 and '60 they were considered unlivable and obscure. This is why they were demolished and replaced with modernist blocks, even though some of the demolishings were controversial back then. In Poland we have a lot of very modern demolishings (the reason is corrupted governments allowing developers to destroy original urban structure), one of the most known is "renovation" of 14th century Dzialdowo Castle. They put styrofoam on it and then colours. Luckily it was stopped and reversed by the old monuments protection institution. See below: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/DR3tIdFbbUWaxCEasghRxhjHn1kgQXRn654uPjS1ogq2k79wbT9TyPuCJ9Vw6pXt5TIxY4_pjTyvr-SSsw
marianne eliza 5 years ago
Now now. I'm sure if the author actually knew what renovation means, they would have chosen differently. But it is so hard to learn new vocabulary.
Data1001 5 years ago
In addition to the point several other comments made, I think a lot of these were gradual changes, as well. It wasn't like overnight they went from a beautiful gothic building to some ugly modern cookie-cutter design. Not to mention that at the time when many of them were built, that style was very common, and probably wasn't thought of as anything outrageously special, so when updates needed to be made, little thought was given to keeping the style of the previous build, which was probably thought to be outdated at the time of the renovation.
David Donaldson 5 years ago
For a contributor that studied English linguistics their understanding of the word "Renovated" leave a lot to be desired.
Rob Chapman 5 years ago
Sometimes this happens in reverse. The Chronicle Building in San Francisco (built in the 1890's), was damaged in the 1906 earthquake & rebuilt by 1915 (very close to it's 1890's appearance). It was modernized in 1962 with an aluminum & glass exterior, and then restored back to it's 1915 appearance in 2014.
Sandij D 5 years ago
This happens all over especially as real estate/rental costs increase. It is mostly not due to war damage or the inability to renovate. Often the facades of the 'new' buildings are put on top of, next to and over the old building in order to increase the space and, therefore, the $$$ made off each site. Several that I am very familiar with were supposed to be heritage sites - before someone with money and connections came in and snatched the property up.
Julie Johnson 5 years ago
Some people wouldn’t recognise beautiful architecture if it fell on them or the skill and craftsmanship it took to create it.
Lærke Littlebird 5 years ago
It's not renovating if you replace old with new. Renovating means keeping at least some part of the old.
ISpiltLipstickInYourValentinoBag 5 years ago
I loved the old buildings! Idk why anyone would want to get rid of them but it would probably be because to make more stuff :(
Leigh Hogan 5 years ago
Most of the time they are in disrepair to the point of dangerous.
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Dorothy Cloud 5 years ago
I just quit looking. The new designs were just so unattractive, ugly and truthfully just plain disrespectful!
Petra Schaap 5 years ago
or maybe a bomb distroyed the building in the war...
Load More Replies... Tabernus 5 years ago
This is a pretty lazy list - many of the original buildings were either bombed or cleared after WW2. In many instances the replacement buildings were put up quickly and cheaply, or were genuinely believed to be cutting edge in the '60's
Kendra Miller 5 years ago
Thank you for clarifying that. Usually in architecture you can see bones and remnants left from the original, but many of these were clearly different.
Load More Replies... Kel Gal 5 years ago
I imagine that so many of the before buildings were in such bad condition that it was less expensive and safer to tear them down.
Harley Hoglin 5 years ago
Every photo that shows a building destroyed in WW2 and what replaced it needs to be removed. Comparing what became a bombed out pile of rubble to a new building is bullshit.
Ivan Wahl 5 years ago
If we were misled on even one of the photos it negates the entire premise of the post. Replaced is not renovated and if a major portion of the original building was destroyed and replaced with something else entirely that does not qualify as a renovation either.
Load More Replies... Russell Ellwardt 5 years ago
Many of these are not renovations but replacements. This "list" is no list. Totally useless.
Paulina 5 years ago
The title of this post is so misleading 😠 Those are NOT renovations! Most of the pictures show what was in that spot decades ago and then what's there now. Given most of those are from Europe it's safe to say that "before" buildings no longer exist because of the bombings in WW2 or were torn down not much later due to damages.
mph seti 5 years ago
A lot of the time, this is done because there's really no other choice. An old building is falling apart and otherwise unsafe/unusable as is. We don't t know the full stories, here. That said, turning something charming and comfortable into something Brutalist or Minimalist isn't usually a good idea. Especially when it's a result of gentrification driving out people in favor of new, wealthier, people.
Petra Schaap 5 years ago
i kinda like Brutalism... its so ugly and weird that its fascinating... its a part of history now, but I dont understand they thought it was a good idea back then.
Load More Replies... Olivia Agave 5 years ago
Most of these were either damaged or destroyed in WW2, or the original structure was unstable after being abandoned for years. Now, if you want something gross that doesn't come under these conditions - Maidstone Museum, listed old mansion house that they cut a hole in and slapped a burning gold and glass structure on the side of. maidstone-...f1baca.jpg
StardustRainO8 5 years ago
I don't know any historcial facts or storys behind these bulidings, but people shuld take a look back and appericate the buliding thats aleready there.
WilvanderHeijden 5 years ago
A lot of the old buildings got bombed so that's a valid reason to replace them with was considered modern architecture. Sadly even today beautiful buildings get destroyed because a council wants to "step into the future" by building ghastly concrete towers. That's why a lot of cities are so terrible depressing. Grey pavement, grey buildings, black tarmac.
Jungkook Hbdhgs 5 years ago (edited)
Sad. Before old building look beautiful and interesting. Lazy after new build. I hate new build like modern buildings. I like vintage and cozy old things.
fainasKeturatis 5 years ago
"renovation" is not building from the foundation on the remains of last building but renewing or "making something look new again". Half of those are not "renovations".
no_name 5 years ago
Let me just point out that not every building survives hundreds of years intact and very often they need to be demolished, and sometimes it happens that during wars buidings (and not just buildings) are destroyed. In those cases, noone creates an exact replica of something once built, but tries to come up with new modern ideas, not necessarily better of prettier, but that's the way it is.
lara 5 years ago
In Russia this type of architecture is called "Stalinist." The horrific monster buildings he had built in Moscow are called "The Seven Ugly Sisters".
person (i think) 5 years ago
Dumb list. Most of these are re-builds, not "renovations". Two totally different things.
El muerto 5 years ago
many of these are down to destruction during war...but too many horrible examples of bad taste
H Edwards 5 years ago
The Birmingham city centre one was done in the 1970s. From the 1950s to the 1980s there was a lot of this in the UK.
Load More Replies... Eliyahu Rooff 5 years ago
It's also worth remembering that many old buildings have deteriorated to the point where restoration is prohibitively expensive, even if the original was beautiful. They often don't meet modern safety standards, and would require that builders tear them down to bare bones to retrofit them so they are energy efficient and safe.
Steve Cruz 5 years ago
Photos a century old don't show what state the property was in when it was renovated or replaced. The Regency-era (early 1800s) buildings where the Birmingham City Library (built in the 1950s) had been bombed.
Łukasz Markuszewski 5 years ago
As Tabernus said - the WW2 is responsible for most of this devastations. We must also remember, that a lot of old buildings, especially housing, was not very nice to live in - lack of toilets, dark patios, narrow backstreets, lack of elevators - many of them looked nice but during '50 and '60 they were considered unlivable and obscure. This is why they were demolished and replaced with modernist blocks, even though some of the demolishings were controversial back then. In Poland we have a lot of very modern demolishings (the reason is corrupted governments allowing developers to destroy original urban structure), one of the most known is "renovation" of 14th century Dzialdowo Castle. They put styrofoam on it and then colours. Luckily it was stopped and reversed by the old monuments protection institution. See below: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/DR3tIdFbbUWaxCEasghRxhjHn1kgQXRn654uPjS1ogq2k79wbT9TyPuCJ9Vw6pXt5TIxY4_pjTyvr-SSsw
marianne eliza 5 years ago
Now now. I'm sure if the author actually knew what renovation means, they would have chosen differently. But it is so hard to learn new vocabulary.
Data1001 5 years ago
In addition to the point several other comments made, I think a lot of these were gradual changes, as well. It wasn't like overnight they went from a beautiful gothic building to some ugly modern cookie-cutter design. Not to mention that at the time when many of them were built, that style was very common, and probably wasn't thought of as anything outrageously special, so when updates needed to be made, little thought was given to keeping the style of the previous build, which was probably thought to be outdated at the time of the renovation.
David Donaldson 5 years ago
For a contributor that studied English linguistics their understanding of the word "Renovated" leave a lot to be desired.
Rob Chapman 5 years ago
Sometimes this happens in reverse. The Chronicle Building in San Francisco (built in the 1890's), was damaged in the 1906 earthquake & rebuilt by 1915 (very close to it's 1890's appearance). It was modernized in 1962 with an aluminum & glass exterior, and then restored back to it's 1915 appearance in 2014.
Sandij D 5 years ago
This happens all over especially as real estate/rental costs increase. It is mostly not due to war damage or the inability to renovate. Often the facades of the 'new' buildings are put on top of, next to and over the old building in order to increase the space and, therefore, the $$$ made off each site. Several that I am very familiar with were supposed to be heritage sites - before someone with money and connections came in and snatched the property up.
Julie Johnson 5 years ago
Some people wouldn’t recognise beautiful architecture if it fell on them or the skill and craftsmanship it took to create it.
Lærke Littlebird 5 years ago
It's not renovating if you replace old with new. Renovating means keeping at least some part of the old.
ISpiltLipstickInYourValentinoBag 5 years ago
I loved the old buildings! Idk why anyone would want to get rid of them but it would probably be because to make more stuff :(
Leigh Hogan 5 years ago
Most of the time they are in disrepair to the point of dangerous.
Load More Replies... Dorothy Cloud 5 years ago
I just quit looking. The new designs were just so unattractive, ugly and truthfully just plain disrespectful!
Petra Schaap 5 years ago
or maybe a bomb distroyed the building in the war...
Load More Replies... 
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