• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

TOWERS

Austin city life since 2007.

  • News
    • Condo Projects
    • Neighborhoods
  • Listings
    • Austin Condo Guide
  • Newsletter
Search
You are here: Home / News / What’s Austin’s ‘Evilest’ Building?
Search suggestions: condos for sale • rainey street

What’s Austin’s ‘Evilest’ Building?

James Rambin November 24, 2021 Comment

Looking north on Congress Avenue in 1978, when the black bank monolith now known as Bank of America Center was still the tallest in the city — and in this shot, it’s looking downright sinister. In the present, those buildings to the left are now occupied by the 100 Congress office tower and the good ol’ Austonian condo tower. Image: Austin History Center

As fans of buildings everywhere, it stands to reason that we also enjoy the more sinister-looking buildings discussed on the famous r/EvilBuildings subreddit, which catalogues structures that happen to look particularly like the hangout of a supervillain, crooked sci-fi megacorporation, or otherwise, well, evil.

Brutalism, red lighting, and other severe architectural flourishes generally score the most upvotes, but you’ll find a lot of skylines just look inherently sinister at night, especially shrouded in fog or perhaps with some lightning crashing in the background, even though we think that’s kind of cheating — the real stars of the show are the buildings that look pretty haunting even in broad daylight.

With that in mind, we’re curious to see which Austin buildings our readers think are the most evil-looking, though we have some ideas of our own. You’ll find a survey at the bottom of this paragraph, where we’d like all of our aspiring villain readers to name their personal preference for the most evil building in Austin. Don’t get clever on us and say “the Governor’s Mansion” — the building actually has to look evil.

If you’re having trouble coming up with an evil building, here’s a few deep thoughts of our own to get you started:

Frost Bank Tower

Image: Pexels

The Frost Bank Tower actually shows up a lot on the subreddit, with a frustrating number of people repeating the urban legend that the building’s resemblance to an owl from some angles thanks to its eye-like glowing Frost Bank logos near the crown was an intentional gag, a sly effort by some alleged Rice University graduate that designed the building to force an effigy of their school’s wise mascot on an unsuspecting city. This is entirely untrue, even though we’ve heard it repeated by countless downtown tour guides bent on printing the legend — for one, Turan Duda went to Yale. Anyway, we don’t think the Frost tower looks all that evil. Light the crown red and we’ll talk.

Bank of America Center

Bank of America Center, towering over Congress Avenue. Image: Stream Realty Partners

Oh yeah, now we’re talking. We love downtown’s giant black monolith, as one of our fair city’s best examples of the so-called International Style of modernist architecture, but you must admit it’s got that evil je ne sais quoi. We’d personally like a lot more buildings downtown to go in such a bold direction in terms of color and form, but a lot of people would probably put this tower near the top of their evil lists.

The AT&T Murder Emporium at 10th and Colorado

Okay, so it’s actually called a “switching station,” a piece of telecommunications exchange infrastructure you’ll find in cities all over the country, processing the data of millions of network users and thus built with security in mind — potentially even meant to withstand earthquakes and  nuclear blasts. The brutalism of Austin’s own station along with larger examples such as New York’s famed AT&T Long Lines Building already puts it on the evil list, but the added possibility that this local building is part of the partnership between AT&T and the NSA enabling mass domestic surveillance might bump it up a little more.

J.J. Pickle Federal Building

Image: Wikimedia Commons

You’ll notice there’s a lot of concrete in this list, but the Pickle building really takes the cake in downtown Austin, with a grid-like exterior and massive paved plaza where it’s nearly impossible to find shade most of the day.

It’s a great specimen of midcentury-era federal architecture, but it’s undeniably evil-looking — this part of Austin has more than a few examples of this style, so it’s kind of like a little evil neighborhood.

Related

Filed Under: News Tagged With: 78701, architecture, city life, history

About James Rambin

James is an Austin native and fifth-generation Texan, but tries not to brag about it. Email him anything at james@towers.net.

603 Davis Street #604
Austin, TX
Photo of 603  Davis Street #604, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 2434110)
$649,900
10
  • Lot Size
    214 sqft

  • Home Size
    1,136 sqft

  • Beds
    2 Beds

  • Baths
    2 Baths

Previous Post: « Hundreds of Apartments Headed for South Lamar’s ‘Chicken Wing’
Next Post: West Sixth and Rio Grande’s Getting Taller, but Watch That View Corridor! »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  •  Schedule a showing

FEATURED Listings

603 Davis Street #604
Austin, TX
Photo of 603  Davis Street #604, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 2434110)
$649,900
10
  • Lot Size
    214 sqft

  • Home Size
    1,136 sqft

  • Beds
    2 Beds

  • Baths
    2 Baths

44 EAST Avenue #2310
Austin, TX
Photo of 44  EAST Avenue #2310, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 9418770)
$1,425,000
40
  • Lot Size

  • Home Size
    1,260 sqft

  • Beds
    2 Beds

  • Baths
    2 Baths

View Virtual Tour
44 East Avenue #1607
Austin, TX
Photo of 44  East Avenue #1607, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 3439383)
$1,250,000
36
  • Lot Size

  • Home Size
    1,221 sqft

  • Beds
    2 Beds

  • Baths
    2 Baths

View Virtual Tour
608 Brentwood Street #A
Austin, TX
Photo of 608  Brentwood Street #A, Austin, TX 78752 (MLS # 3202099)
$989,608
33
  • Lot Size
    4,356 sqft

  • Home Size
    1,959 sqft

  • Beds
    3 Beds

  • Baths
    3 Baths

501 West Avenue #2103
Austin, TX
Photo of 501  West Avenue #2103, Austin, TX 78701 (MLS # 4503529)
$2,895,000
40
  • Lot Size

  • Home Size
    2,822 sqft

  • Beds
    3 Beds

  • Baths
    4 Baths

austin condo report

Featured Buildings

  • 360 Condos
  • Austin City Lofts
  • The Independent
  • The Shore Condos
  • 70 Rainey

Footer

LEGAL NOTICE

TREC Information About Brokerage Services (pdf)

Texas Real Estate Commission Consumer Protection Notice


TOWERS realty

Austin Condos For Sale

Agents

Downtown Buildings

Luxury Towers

  • Four Seasons Residences
  • W Hotel & Residences
  • The Austonian
  • 5 Fifty Five at Hilton

Most Popular

  • The Shore
  • 360 Condos
  • Seaholm Condos
  • Spring Condos
  • Milago Condos

New Construction

  • The Independent
  • 70 Rainey
  • Austin Proper
  • Fifth & West

Loft Style

  • Austin City Lofts
  • Brazos Place
  • The Sabine
  • Plaza Lofts
  • Avenue Lofts
  • Brazos Lofts
  • Brown Building

Resources

  • Austin Condo Guide
  • Condos For Sale
  • Condo Buyer FAQ
  • Property Search

Featured

Archives

Newsletter · About · Contact Us · DMCA · Privacy Policy · SLAPP · Copyright © 2007-2022 TOWERS.net · All Rights Reserved
 

Loading Comments...