An Eyeful of Washington Eyesores

Lauinger Library, Georgetown University 37th and N streets NW

As you drive inbound across the Key Bridge and look to the left at the beautiful campus across the river, you can see the spires that are iconic to the university, but right in front of the Gothic Healy Hall sit those two atrocious towers of the library that are so out of place and taint the picture. What were they thinking?

-- Marc Hinson, 29, Falls Church

Let's say it's the late 1960s and you're Georgetown University. You want your new library "to harmonize with the other buildings facing the quad," like the stately and dignified Healy Hall, whose majestic spires are visible from across the city. But how? Here's an idea: Don't hire John Carl Warnecke to design a Brutalist reinterpretation of it, pairing Healy's cathedral of academia with a bludgeoned hulk of exposed concrete. Things aren't so hot on the building's interior, either, as a recent editorial in the campus paper, the Hoya, makes clear. "Changes must reflect the need for expanded study and meeting space, and for the development of a more inviting learning environment," the editorial states. "Lauinger must become a destination, not a mark of shame on our campus."

Ballston Center, Marymount University 1000 N. Glebe Rd., Arlington

Multicolored blue panels scream out to cars and passersby, "Tacky, tacky, tacky!" Did a bright blue building ever seem like a good idea? And to think: Marymount University actually paid someone for it. (They should ask for their money back.) This building was beaten with an ugly stick.

-- Garrett Peck, 40, Arlington

Have you ever seen a blue goose? Neither have we, but we can imagine that it would be a sleek, aerodynamic and probably darn cute bird. The Blue Goose, the actual official name of the structure that houses Marymount University's School of Business Administration, is none of those things. From its exterior panels to its shades, it matches the color of your grandpa's 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Built in 1963 and purchased by Marymount in 1992, the Blue Goose sits at an intersection bordered by buildings that have been criticized in the past by architects. "When you put them all together, it can be really monotonous," Anthony Fusarelli, an urban designer with Arlington County, told The Post last year. In that regard, the Blue Goose certainly stands out, but in all the wrong ways.