We kick off another semi-regular feature today called “What Were They Thinking?,” which is something that will be limited only by our own ability to shoot enough photos and to get enough reader submissions. “What Were They Thinking?” buildings come in all sizes, shapes and forms. The only thing that qualifies them is that they be hideous beyond a reasonable doubt, so ugly that it’s almost inconceivable that someone will look at them and say, “Oh, that’s not so bad.” (Well, they’re buildings that are extraordinarily hideous to us and to what we believe will be an awful lot of our readers.) In other words, they’re the kind of building that you look at and say, “What Were They Thinking?”

We begin with the building that created this Light Bulb Moment, as it were. It’s 152 Beard Street in Red Hook, a building so atrocious that it made us stop and wonder why we hadn’t photographed and published the pic before, and why, in fact, we weren’t featuring some of the awful structures that pass for Brooklyn architecture. It’s hard to know where to begin with good old 152: The hideous front door? The monstrous balconies? The inexplicably offensive setback? Or those screamingly bad metal garage doors?

Eh. The garage doors as definitely the most striking thing. Is it a condo and auto repair garage?

What were they thinking?