The ugliest public buildings in the country? Two are here in New Jersey

I have traveled quite extensively throughout this great country of ours and have seen some of the most striking public and municipal buildings.

The architecture and majestic stonework contribute to the beauty of these buildings. When looking at a building like that, you can almost feel the pride that the city or town put into the structure. It creates the tone of the business that goes on inside.

On the other hand, I have seen public buildings that either fade into the background of a cloudy sky or are so hideous that their appearance presents an awful eyesore.

What was important to a town in building its public buildings in the 1700s and 1800s is, of course, so much different than after the 1900s.

Pride, craftsmanship, and aesthetics were paramount in the early construction of these buildings.

Cost efficiency, bureaucracy, and deadlines now beat out the aesthetics every time.

Robert Dekanski of RE/MAX 1st Advantage and his team put together a panel survey using over 3,000 respondents, along with other population data steps, and used a two-step process for a stratified sampling to take a good look at some ugly public buildings.

The Robert Dekanski Team produced some interesting results. There are some ugly public buildings out there.

What is ugly in New Jersey?

Atlantic City

Coming in at No. 7 in the country is our own Atlantic City Municipal Court Building. When heading over to the Atlantic City Municipal Court Building website, they have a beautiful shot of the Atlantic City coastline. Only pictures of the building exist on Google.

The story of the building is one of consolidation and “modernization.” There were changes in 1976 when services from two buildings were combined into one municipal building. Additions to existing structures made this building look like a Lego project gone wrong!

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Passaic

Squeaking into the top 25 of the ugliest public buildings in the country is the Passaic County Administration Building.

The original construction of the Passaic County Administration Building goes back to 1899 and was the courthouse, which was a piece of architectural history. It was majestic and fitting for the town, making for a great backdrop of American history. The building was repurposed in 1936 as a municipal building.

The building is now part of the National Register Historic District and received extensive renovations to preserve its historic integrity from 2017 to 2021.

In 1994, the county administrative offices moved to a new building, which looks like a grey box with windows. There is no character to the building. It is that building which gets the nod for the 25th ugliest public building in the country.

We have beautifully designed and constructed public buildings throughout this state. Turns out we have a couple of ugly ones, too.

For the complete result, click here.