The Building Voted Ugliest in Maine is Getting a Renovation
We've all seen it. The round building on the corner of Deering and Brighton Avenue in Portland on the University of Southern Maine campus. It looks more like a water tower than a law school, and the University's Finance/Facilities/Technology Committee is meeting this week to address that...sort of.
USM's School of Law building has made several lists of some of the ugliest buildings in the country, including being chosen in 2018 as the ugliest building in Maine by Business Insider. That hasn't gone unnoticed by The University of Maine System.
In an agenda for a meeting on May 5 of the University's Finance/Facilities/Technology Committee, they make mention of the reputation the building has gotten: "The facility also has been named among the 8 ugliest university buildings in the nation. This is obviously a challenge, rather than an advantage, to law student recruitment."
Not only does the law building have an image problem to overcome, it's also almost 50 years old and needs $20 million in renovations to be able to support the needs of students today. A lease on a building on Fore Street is being looked into for the law school while the work is done to bring the water tower looking building into the 21st century.
We're not sure if the building will change its look on the exterior though, but I kind of think it should stay the same. Sure, it's not pretty, but it's got character. What do you think?