the post-1958 blocks of depressingly uniform high-rise apartment buildings along most of the major streets only added to the meanness of the scene : they dominated the landscape in the downtown area and their ponderous facades , a legacy of the russians , almost completely obscured any view of the traditional hutongs and courtyards of the older neighborhoods , those sections earmarked by the government for destruction in its attempt to create new housing for the citys ever-expanding population .