Belgium’s 5 ugliest famous buildings

There’s a lot to like about Belgian architecture: Bruges’ rows of stepped gables help make it a fairy-tale city, Brussels’ and Leuven’s city halls are marvels of the Gothic age, Antwerp’s central train station regularly makes it onto lists of the most beautiful stations in the world, even the Justice Palace with its perpetual scaffolding is beautifully imposing.

But it’s not all cobble stones and gothic towers. Over the decades and centuries, Belgian architects have been known to make some questionable choices. Plenty of attention, for example, has been given to the sometimes unfortunate taste in housing design, brought to the public’s attention thanks in large part to the popular blog Ugly Belgian Houses.

Of course, beauty is a construction of one’s culture – in Brussels in the mid- and later twentieth century, many an intricate Art Nouveau building that we would consider beautiful today was torn down because contemporary standards viewed it as old-fashioned. So, one day, we might look back at these chunks of concrete and glass in awe and deference.

But for today, here are five important buildings around Belgium that despite, at times, the noblest of intentions, encourage us to turn and look away…and enjoy the ancient, the well-crafted and the innovative designs standing on the other side of the street.

1. Antwerp Tower, Antwerp

This rather uninspiring testament to 1970s architecture on Antwerp’s Frankrijklei doesn’t offend so much due to its design, which is dull at best, but because of its location — sticking out like an 87-metre sore thumb along an otherwise charming stretch of Antwerp’s old city centre.

Standing 24 floors high, this tower, built in 1974, is the second tallest building in the city and serves as a shopping and office complex in a city with far more charming places to shop and work.

2. Boekentoren, Ghent

Conceptually, Ghent’s Boekentoren, or “Book Tower”, (pictured) is a beautiful thing. Commissioned in 1933 to architect Henry van de Velde, it was erected to be the “Tower of Wisdom”, a fourth structure to join Ghent’s three mediaeval towers – Saint-Nicolas’s Church, the Belfry and Saint Bavo’s Cathedral – dedicated to holding and sharing knowledge as Ghent University’s main library. However, aesthetically, what graces Ghent’s skyline today is an enormous block of incongruous, modernist concrete in one of the most beautiful cities of the world.

But we shouldn’t be too hard on the Book Tower. It does, after all, contain some 46 kilometres of books, and inside it can be a beautiful spot to study (not to mention give great views of the city).  Currently, it’s undergoing a major restoration that, while it won’t change the look of the tower (which is a protected site), will update the building’s facilities and modernise its interior.

3. Cité Administrative, Liege

So far only Flanders has been called out for its ugly buildings, but Wallonia has its share of architectural mishaps. A shining star among these is the Cité Administrative building in Liege. As its name suggests, this busy collection of concrete squares, modelled in the style of the United Nations building in New York City, serves as a building for public service offices for the city of Liege.

It’s saving grace is its famous “tache” (stain), an inscrutable, Rorschach-like black blot on one side of the building, which leaves you thinking that the otherwise lacklustre edifice might be worth a longer look than thought at first glance.

4. AC Portus, Ghent

While few know the official name of this building on Keizer Karel Street in Ghent, many Gentenaars will agree that it is among the ugliest buildings in town. It does seem to be designed to be almost purposefully unattractive with its two shades of industrial grey and cream and its narrow windows peaking covertly out from their sides, unwilling to let more than a single sliver of natural light enter.

However, AC Portus will soon be getting a makeover. What the final outcome will be, no one knows – different architect bureaus are currently presenting their plans in a competition. But we can assume that its looks can only improve.

5. Royal Palace, Brussels

Being old does not excuse you for being ugly, a principle exemplified for many by the Royal Palace in Brussels’s city centre. In 2009, this 1904 monolith was voted the third ugliest building in Belgium, beating out some of the other contenders on this list. And it’s true that, while impressive in size, its grey blandness makes the palace lack a certain regal air. Perhaps that is why the Belgian royal family prefer making the less visible Castle of Laeken their permanent residence.

However, the Royal Palace has some redeeming features, like one of Brussels’ coolest museums beneath it, the Coudenberg, which lets you walk the ancient streets of Brussels buried well below current street level, as well as a ceiling made entirely of beetles.

Photo © Michiel Hendryckx / Wikimedia Commons