Is This The Ugliest Building London Was Cursed With In 2017?

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 78 months ago
Is This The Ugliest Building London Was Cursed With In 2017?

"Crass, over-scaled and a hideous mess". Not a quote about a former Mayor of London, but Nova Victoria — which scooped the 2017 Carbuncle Cup.

Image: Mace

Anyone who's been around Victoria lately can't have failed to have clocked the iceberg-with-gout, that is Nova Victoria.

"Distinct and architecturally daring," is how the building's architects describe Nova Victoria. The judges of the Carbuncle Cup — which seeks out the UK's ugliest new build — see it another way. They say it's "a crass assault on all your senses from the moment you leave the tube station."

To wit, it has the prestigious honour of being awarded the 2017 Carbuncle Cup.

Image: Mace

There are some — including those at Londonist — who feel that Circus West was a shoe-in for the 2017 prize. After all, this is essentially a glass blanket full of rich people, shrouding one of London's most beloved industrial behemoths, Battersea Power Station. The architectural equivalent of crowing "it's mine now".

Image: Mace

Anyway, if the angry red spikage of Nova Victoria doesn't make you want to have a little vom on the pavement, some of the vernacular used to sell it possibly will: "A world of exquisite luxury awaits atop our most exciting sky-high destination, where each beautifully crafted penthouse features every singular detail for modern life." runs the website copy.

It's almost enough to make you want to impale yourself on that spike.

Last Updated 06 September 2017