CINCINNATI -- Universities love to tout rankings they earn, but you're not likely to see the University of Cincinnati broadcasting this one.
Crosley Tower was just named one of the eight ugliest university buildings in the United States. While Crosley is the first building mentioned in this list of horror, we don't know for certain whether they are in order of hideousness.
"Crafted from a single pour of concrete, this 16-story building looks more like a Disney villain's lair than a part of the University of Cincinnati’s campus," wrote Hannah Huber in Architectural Digest magazine.
Although we can easily picture Aladdin's nemesis Jafar perched atop the tower plotting evil deeds, its design was intended to portray a "sophisticated, worldly and urbane" image for UC upon its completion in 1969, according to the UC Historical Walking Tour website.
The tower's foreboding appearance has prompted a host of campus legends, which the university attests are all false:
1. No worker is entombed within the walls, which were completed in one, giant pour of concrete. A variant of this urban myth claims a Volkswagen was dropped into the mix, but UC also says that is not true.
2. Chicken Littles have thought Crosley Tower is slipping downhill since the mid-80s, but UC denies any Leaning Tower of Pisa tendencies.
3. With restrooms located in stairwells, some students think numbskull designers must have forgotten them in the original design. False, UC says, denying they were retrofitted in afterward.
"Stairwells were the perfect place to situate ventilation, conduits and plumbing rather than creating shafts in the concrete. Consequently, the stairwells were also designed to accommodate the bathrooms," the university's rumors website says.
See the original ranking at Architectural Digest's website here.
Crosley Tower is the 2nd largest singularly-poured cement structure worldwide, behind the Hoover Dam #FunFactFriday pic.twitter.com/458eFhtde1
— UC MainStreet (@UCMainStreet) August 7, 2015
