Learning to love examples of architectural Modernism and Brutalism, and lamenting a missed opportunity to emulate Kaliningrad.

All the way back in 2014, I had a stunning Brutalist vision for our municipal overlords.

From Königsberg to Kaliningrad, but not back again, though maybe ...

The building to the rear, which never has been used, testifies to the vitality of one-party rule. Give Floyd County Democrats a chance to copy it, and it will be standing where the Reisz building is now.

Alas, they're far more brutal as bribe-engorged political hacks than architectural thinkers. It must be something in the water(y beer). Just imagine if Kaliningrad's unfinished House of the Soviets inspired Jeff Gahan's House of the Anchors. 

Ah, but I digress and proffer an apology to Brutalists who are sure to express outrage at being compared with New Albany's "Mayor for the Eternal TIF."

21 ‘Ugly’ Buildings That Aren’t Ugly at All, by Eric Grundhauser

Atlas Obscura readers share their love for specific structures they feel have been unfairly maligned.

IT’S EASY TO PUT TOGETHER collections of beautiful, soaring buildings that perfectly encapsulate today’s hottest architectural trends. But who will speak for the edifices that have gone largely out of favor since they were first constructed? The imposing behemoths and the strangely angled stars of yesteryear’s design fads? Atlas Obscura readers, that’s who. We recently asked members of our community to tell us about the “ugly” buildings they love, and you weren’t shy in sharing your appreciation for your favorite misunderstood structures.

While the style certainly doesn’t have a monopoly on unconventionally attractive architecture, the majority of the responses we received pointed to brutalist institutional buildings—especially those featured on college campuses. But overall, what all of your nominees ultimately have in common is a way of inspiring devotion in spite of (or sometimes because of) the way they appear on the outside ...

A sad story from Scotland:

Modernist ruin is an 'albatross around our neck' says church (BBC)

St Peter's Seminary in Cardross, near Dumbarton, was built in 1966 as a training college for priests.

It was once described as a "modernist masterpiece" but closed in the 1970s and lay empty until a plan emerged to turn it into a cultural centre.

However, that plan was shelved and the building is now set to remain a ruin.

Speaking personally, I've developed a liking for certain examples of Brutalism, some of which are just as deserving of preservation on grounds of "history" as the usual examples preferred locally. Personal evolution. Imagine THAT. 

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Related:

Brutalism: If we're intent on spending $10,000,000 ... might as well make it interesting.

1987 European Summer: "Skopje, capital city of Macedonia, is a dream world for lovers of cosmic concrete communist-era architecture."

But Black Sabbath: "Britain's Second City Fights to Save Its Brutalist Architecture."

More brutalism in sclerotic thinking than architecture, at least in Nawbony.

All about Kaliningrad, because "Königsberg is Dead."

Kaliningrad (née Königsberg) is an exclave, not an enclave. Lately much discussion has been devoted to NATO borders with a resurgent Russia in Estonia, Latvia and Finland, but not much is said about Kaliningrad, a Russian territory (and exclave) surrounded entirely by Lithuania and Poland.

Simply stated, Kaliningrad is a Russian (Soviet) city refashioned atop a German city, situated in what used to be East Prussia, and made possible by geopolitical adaptive reuse and ethnic cleansing following World War II.

Here's the short version of the documentary film's tale.

Königsberg, the ancient capital of East Prussia. Founded in 1255, Königsberg had been, in turn, the seat of the Order of the Teutonic Knights, the coronation place of Prussian kings and the birthplace of the philosopher Immanuel Kant. But that Königsberg no longer exists, its historic centre had been turned to rubble by the RAF in 1944, and subsequently occupied by the Red Army after one of the bitterest sieges of the Second World War. The remaining German population was driven out and the city, some to the West, some to exile and an early grave in the Russian East, and Oblast Kaliningrad created. In the official Soviet version, Kaliningrad's history only began in 1946. This documentary commemorates the 750th anniversary of the founding of Königsberg/Kaliningrad with interviews and extensive access to archive films, photographs and historical records. Former Königsberg residents now 'marooned' in the West, young Russians and one of the very few survivors of Königsberg's once-thriving Jewish population provide personal impressions of the city, both in its former glory as the jewel in East Prussia's crown and as a decrepit Russian outpost now incongruously situated within the EU.

The film is somewhat goofy in places, as with the recurring device of a wandering elk), and at places during the first half, the music is badly mixed, but it remains fascinating nonetheless. As a side note, the documentary was filmed beginning in 2004 and released in 2006, and as of 2016, first-hand witness and Königsberg native Michael Wieck is still alive at 88 years of age.

Kaliningrad was a place I couldn't even consider visiting during my 1980s East Bloc jaunts, as it was the port city of the USSR's Baltic Fleet and off-limits to foreign tourists. With appropriate visas these days, one can take the train from Berlin to Kaliningrad. I'd dearly love to do so.

How much is left of the original city, vast portions of which were obliterated during the closing stages of the war, and the initial years of Soviet occupation?

"This includes the ultimate insult to architecture anywhere – the multi-story House of Soviets at the site of the destroyed Königsberg Castle – a concrete apparition so excruciatingly ugly, it has been frequently referred to as the ugliest building in the world. Left unfinished for over 20 years, the exterior was painted light blue and windows were installed, for a visit by then-President Vladimir Putin in 2005. However, the interior remains unfinished and unusable."

Most people living in Kaliningrad today came there from somewhere within the former Soviet Union. In the decade since this documentary's release, younger residents increasingly see their lives and future prospects in terms of proximity to the European Union, not Russia.

This article from 2014 provides an update.

Resurrecting Königsberg: Russian City Looks to German Roots, by Susanne Beyer in Kaliningrad, Russia (Spiegel Online International)

The Allies bombed the Prussian city of Königsberg into the ground in 1944. Residents of what is today the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, a desolate Soviet landscape, are considering rebuilding the city center to reflect some of its historical German architecture.

From Königsberg to Kaliningrad, but not back again, though maybe ...

The building to the rear, which never has been used, testifies to the vitality of one-party rule. Give Floyd County Democrats a chance to copy it, and it will be standing where the Reisz building is now.

Given the pervasiveness of geographical ignorance, Kaliningrad's existence probably is unknown to most Americans. Given the ubiquity of historical ... well, that Kaliningrad once was Königsberg, and much of what is now Poland was Germany before WWII are two other facts obscured by the need to dine sumptuously at Zaxby's.

Never mind.

I mean, literally.

Resurrecting Königsberg: Russian City Looks to German Roots, by Susanne Beyer in Kaliningrad, Russia (Spiegel Online International)

The Allies bombed the Prussian city of Königsberg into the ground in 1944. Residents of what is today the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, a desolate Soviet landscape, are considering rebuilding the city center to reflect some of its historical German architecture.