25 Buildings to Demolish Right Now

When proportion, balance, form and function come together in a delicate harmony, architecture is nothing short of an art form. But when, on occasion, those principles clash, the results can be eye-searingly awful. We asked 15 architects and our own staff to weigh-in on what buildings, given the chance, they'd take a wrecking ball to.

Editors of California Home and Design

Photo credit: It's Our City, Flickr

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I-95 Freeway in Philadelphia, PA

It may not be a building, but Andrew Dunbar of San Francisco's Interstice Architects says that the City of Brotherly Love could stand to ditch this monstrosity. The I-95 was built along Philadelphia’s waterfront when the car was a welcome guest in our cities. Sadly, Philadelphia is missing out on an opportunity that cities like San Francisco and New York have taken advantage of: making the waterfront a green zone for people. Currently, the only way to see Philadelphia’s waterfront is speeding past in a car.

Boston City Hall in Boston, MA	Barbie’s Dream House in Malibu, CA	Portland Building in Portland, Oregon
Meadowlands Xanadu in East Rutherford, NJ	EMP Museum in Seattle, Washington	The Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY
Marriott Marquis Hotel in San Francisco, CA	Thomas Kinkade Homes in Vallejo, CA	The Ascent in Covington, KY
The J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington D.C.	I-95 Freeway in Philadelphia, PA	Kaden Building in Louisville, KY
Mall of America in Bloomington, MN	Trump Tower in New York, NY	New Mint in San Francisco, CA
MetLife Building in New York, NY	Daly City in San Mateo County, CA	The Ziggurat Building in West Sacramento, CA
AT&T Central Office in Houston, TX	8500 Melrose Ave., in Los Angeles, CA	Morris A. Mechanic Theater in Baltimore, MD
Oakley Headquarters in Orange County, CA	Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco, CA	Geisel Library at the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, CA
Denver Public Library in Denver, CO