# Bad Copies of Great Architecture



## Avian001 (Aug 26, 2005)

Document bad copies of really good buildings.

This is the example that inspired this thread:

The exceptional IDS Center in Minneapolis (1972), by Philip Johnson:






Uploaded with ImageShack.us

*The bad copy: Thanksgiving Tower in Dallas(1982):*


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## ThatOneGuy (Jan 13, 2012)

Most postmodernist buildings are guilty of badly imitating art deco.

The Dallas Tower still looks good.


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## UjaiDidida (Dec 18, 2009)

dat one remind me of menara ing in kl









http://www.streetdirectory.com.my/m..._raja_chulan_main_view/my_11583059350695/311/


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## Kiboko (Nov 30, 2011)

^^I don't see any resemblance


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## RegentHouse (Sep 2, 2012)

Manhattan Municipal Building, 1914:









Moscow State University, 1953:


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## Skopje/Скопје (Jan 8, 2013)

I don't believe that Moscow State University is a copy of the Manhattan Municipal Building (mostly because in the time when Moscow State University was built, USA and USSR were strong rivals), but even if it is, it's a good one.


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## ThatOneGuy (Jan 13, 2012)

You are all posting *good* examples... hno:

Chrysler Building,NY








Al Kazim Towers, Dubai


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## Mike____ (Mar 15, 2009)

^^ That's pure horror!


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## Highcliff (May 4, 2006)

ThatOneGuy said:


> You are all posting *good* examples... hno:
> 
> Chrysler Building,NY
> 
> Al Kazim Towers, Dubai


very hideous....I am upset....


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## dexter2 (Apr 5, 2009)

Las Vegas. 
Thank you, good night.


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## Archaean (Apr 27, 2013)

Those Dubai towers are hideous. Theyre an insult to the Chrysler Building.


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

ThatOneGuy said:


> Most postmodernist buildings are guilty of badly imitating art deco.
> 
> The Dallas Tower still looks good.


Those tacky towers you're talking about only make up a small part of post-modernism, luckily. But indeed they are truly awful.

==


La Tour Eiffel de Slobozia! by Dorel, on Flickr

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Eiffel_Tower_replicas


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## xfogus (Mar 26, 2006)

ThatOneGuy said:


> You are all posting *good* examples... hno:
> 
> Chrysler Building,NY
> 
> ...


Here's an example in a Toronto development called "NY Towers".









http://www.flickr.com/photos/ash2276/2963271056/


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## Marathaman (Jul 24, 2007)

Bibi Ka Maqbara (1660). Bad copy of you guessed it.


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## RegentHouse (Sep 2, 2012)

Skopje/Скопје;102812167 said:


> I don't believe that Moscow State University is a copy of the Manhattan Municipal Building (mostly because in the time when Moscow State University was built, USA and USSR were strong rivals), but even if it is, it's a good one.


Too bad USSR and its satellite states were twenty to thirty years behind the United States, West Germany, and Japan. At the time Moscow State University was complete, the Western world was building International Style, which didn't pick up until the 1970s in communist countries.


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## edxor (Sep 18, 2011)

RegentHouse said:


> Too bad USSR and its satellite states were twenty to thirty years behind the United States, West Germany, and Japan. At the time Moscow State University was complete, the Western world was building International Style, which didn't pick up until the 1970s in communist countries.


:cripes: Russia and the other soviet states are filled with pre-war modernist buildings (functionalism etc.) It was under Stalin that the traditional style - "Stalinism" - was created and that the Moscow State University and the other "seven sisters" of Moscow was built in. It had nothing to do with USSR being a stone-age country technologically, it was rather an ideological view on architecture imposed by a crazy dictator.


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## RegentHouse (Sep 2, 2012)

^^Well pre-war modernism outside of the Bauhaus is much different compared to what's usually defined as "modernism," so I still affirm my stance. Furthermore, most of Stalin's plans were around since the 1920s, but still took over thirty years to carry out less than a quarter of the vision. Yeah, so much for competing with America by ripping off its architecture and taking forever to build.

Also, Lenin was much crazier than Stalin.


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## vittorio tauber (Jul 30, 2008)

The Cathedral of Our Lady in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.

Like Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome - only bigger.


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## castillo2008 (Oct 28, 2008)

The "Big Ben" of Dubai and Mecca hno:


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## Rockmont (Feb 28, 2006)

ThatOneGuy said:


> You are all posting *good* examples... hno:
> 
> Chrysler Building,NY
> 
> ...


I like these Toronto Twins. They look nice.


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## Maxl (Aug 23, 2012)

Empire State Building (NY)









Torre Latinoamericana (Mexico City)


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## CNB30 (Jun 4, 2012)

You should see the kind of junk they have built in china

Paris









London Bridge









Lower Manhattan









and Notre Dame Du Haut


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## Ribarca (Jan 28, 2005)

RegentHouse said:


> Manhattan Municipal Building, 1914:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


La Giralda. Most modern architecture is a derivative.


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

the Giralda came about when a Moorish mosque's main minaret was converted into a cathedral. And subsequently became one of the most copied buildings ever:

Almohad left, medieval Christian right, and Renaissance final centre:










The original, Seville Cathedral:









www.essential-architecture.com, 


Manhattan Life Insurance Building








www.nyc-architecture.com


Glasgow City Hall








www.clas.wayne.edu


Warsaw Palace of Culture








http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com

Red Gates, Moscow









Electric Tower, NYC








www.saudiaramcoworld.com

Cleveland Terminal Tower









Manhattan Municipal Building










Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow








www.yourlocalweb.co.uk

Second Madison Square Garden









Country Club Plaza, Kansas City









Ferry Building, San Francisco









Railroad Depot Tower, Minneapolis









Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables









Wrigley Building, Chicago


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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

^^However, I forget to mention, these aren't bad copies theyre mostly brilliant (shame many of them have since succumbed to the wrecking ball). My personal favourite, and improvement on the original is the Terminal Tower in Cleveland.


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## DaiYon (Apr 26, 2013)

CNB30 said:


> You should see the kind of junk they have built in china


I'm not surprised -after all, China is great at copying.

The Wangjing SOHO in Beijing is by starchitect Zaha Hadid:









And this one in Chongqing by a copycat:









Addition, the copy is finished before the original, what an insult!
More about it: http://www.dezeen.com/2013/01/02/zaha-hadid-building-pirated-in-china/

And let us not forget that China copies a whole Austrian village, Hallstatt, down to the least detail. The inhabitants of the original village is certain not happy. You can just google it.


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## UnHavrais (Sep 19, 2010)

Paris ???? No, Hangzhou (China)


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## ikops (Jun 12, 2008)

Why would one want to copy Hallstatt?


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## DaiYon (Apr 26, 2013)

ikops said:


> Why would one want to copy Hallstatt?


Because they can copy? It's sort of an entertainment, so the people wouldn't need to travels to Europe, if there're same thing in their backyard, which can be a pity because of two things:
- Every penny is worth to experience the real thing
- China has a lot of history and culture, better on preservation them (aka not razing the historic hutongs for a shopping mall's sake)


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## ikops (Jun 12, 2008)

But it stays a copy. Like you say, you can only experience these icons in their own environment.


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## Sarcasticity (May 21, 2005)

I understand maybe copying or copying some architectural elements of certain famous buildings, but blatant copy of a city or town is just too much. It just seems so fake and out of place.


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## Kiboko (Nov 30, 2011)

I love the Paris of Hangzhou. It looks very detailed. Will they also build an Arc de Triomphe?



DaiYon said:


> And let us not forget that China copies a whole Austrian village, Hallstatt, down to the least detail. The inhabitants of the original village is certain not happy.


Why are they not happy? It is on the other side of the world, so they never have to see it. Stop whining.


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## Miguel13 (Apr 8, 2009)

Copy & Made in China


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## Miguel13 (Apr 8, 2009)

And Las Vegas, but this one for fun!


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## tanklv (Mar 14, 2009)

the spliff fairy said:


> the Giralda came about when a Moorish mosque's main minaret was converted into a cathedral. And subsequently became one of the most copied buildings ever:
> 
> Electric Tower, NYC
> 
> ...


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## CNB30 (Jun 4, 2012)

Kiboko said:


> I love the Paris of Hangzhou. It looks very detailed. Will they also build an Arc de Triomphe?
> 
> Why are they not happy? It is on the other side of the world, so they never have to see it. Stop whining.


It Insults their town in a way, also, I have seen pictures of the "Paris" from close up. It is hideous, and not intricately detailed, as you say.


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