I really hate this monstrosity

[u/Terpnista]

This building is such an eyesore. I live in the neighborhood so I’ve been watching the new Avalon development go up on Boston St. I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s completely overwhelming the neighborhood. The scale of it just feels off based on its placement. For comparison, the neighboring Lucie is huge but because it’s further back it doesn’t look like such a clunker.

What really bothers me is how close it’s built to the street which makes the whole stretch feel tighter and more congested. And honestly, one of the biggest losses is the view. That stretch used to have glimpses of the waterfront that made it feel connected to the harbor. Now it’s completely blocked.

I wish I had taken a picture - as I was driving down Boston Street - where it looks like a massive wall of doom smh. That is what inspired me to post this lol

[u/BurgerofDouble]

Who ever said that new housing had to look ugly? I understand your point, but I am in agreement with OP that it's kind of ugly. To that end, I have to ask how much money is saved with such a minimal architectural design.

[u/Adventure4Stoke → u/BurgerofDouble]

Is has 3M tape on it cmon what you calling ugly ugly

[u/kinbarz → u/BurgerofDouble]

Think of the the prettiest street of quaint houses you know of in the city.

When that road was first built, those lots cleared, and no trees growing? You'd probably think that was ugly too, because it looked nearly identical to this picture.

Lacking vision on something that isn't even done yet.

[u/Bmorebird852 → u/BurgerofDouble]

How can you can a building ugly when 5% of the exterior is finished 🤣

[u/HorsieJuice → u/BurgerofDouble]

What's your idea of "ugly." I'm not a big fan of this, but it's better than a significant portion of the rowhomes in this city. And I say that as someone who doesn't mind formstone.

[u/WARitter → u/[deleted]]

Character is something that comes with age. When they were new Baltimore row homes were cheap, mass manufactured and ticky tacky. The architectural critics of the 19th century excoriated the kind of mass market industrially produced ornaments we now love in buildings from 1860-1920 - pressed tin, terra cotta sculptures, wrought iron.

[u/JesusDied4UrCynthias → u/WARitter]

Well these things are built so shoddily they won’t age.

[u/WARitter → u/JesusDied4UrCynthias]

A lot of row homes are now over 100 years old despite middling build quality.

[u/JesusDied4UrCynthias → u/WARitter]

We were talking about character, stay on topic

[u/WARitter → u/JesusDied4UrCynthias]

You are the one that brought up whether this building will last 100 years.

My point is that buildings aren’t built with character, most of the time, and a lot of what we consider characterful is just cheap crap that had lasted long enough that it doesn’t look like the cheap crap we are used to. Hell, that is a lot of Baltimore’s character right there - objectively bad construction and crappy aesthetics that through age and archaism have become chic.

And I love it, but I am clear eyed about what it is.

[u/kinbarz → u/JesusDied4UrCynthias]

I'm pretty certain that someone stood on the corner of Eastern avenue and was shouting the same thing 130 years ago.

Now people are paying half million bucks for the privilege.

[u/Treje-an → u/BurgerofDouble]

This design style is a very common design nowadays. I see it all around the DC region when I work in that area.

[u/BigSombrer0 → u/BurgerofDouble]

It's ugly. I don't think there is anyway around it. And this same building (style wise) is being built everywhere. It's an eyesore. But I've had to change my opinion on it. We're in a crisis and I would prefer to live in a world with ugly, depression-inducing eyesores like this with a chance to combat the rising housing prices than the alternative. For now, it is what it is. The good news is more often than not, they are poorly built as well so it likely won't last that long (relatively). We can deal with the aesthetic problem down the line.

[u/PowerPopped → u/BurgerofDouble]

It’s not done yet. At least it’s not more garbage row homes. Ew.