That’s the dubious honor that Esquire has just bestowed on North Korea’s unfinished Ryugyong Hotel. Construction began on the hotel in 1987 and ended in 1992, though safety concerns and financial problems caused the building never to be completed.
The monstrous, unoccupied hotel reportedly cost more than two percent of North Korea’s GDP to build, and it has become one of the country’s most notable embarrassments. In fact, as the Esquire article notes, “the Communist regime routinely covers it up, airbrushing it to make it look like it’s open — or Photoshopping or cropping it out of pictures completely.”
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Like the author of the article, I’ve never been impressed with the aesthetics of the hotel. To me, it’s always resembled the legs of a woman lying on her back to give birth. Anyone else see that? Please say yes, otherwise that’s a little weird.
Finally, the article mentions that it’s strange that such a massive hotel would even be built in North Korea’s capital: “After all, who the hell travels to beautiful downtown Pyongyang?”
Gadling’s own Neil Woodburn, that’s who. Check out his “Infiltrating North Korea” series here, especially his post on Pyongyang’s architecture and his photo gallery of the Ryugyong Hotel.