Frank Gehry’s Beekman Tower, in Manhattan. (guillaumegaudet.photoshelter.com)
I here inaugurate a “Blast from the past” feature based on my newly discovered ability to find posts from my lapsed Providence Journal blog, also called Architecture Here and There. I have created a page called Archives From My Old Journal Blog that contains material written between 2009 and 2013. This blogger’s appreciation for the courtesy of the Journal in making this archive available is considerable. The type is quite small but can be bumped up, if need be, on your computer screen.
The subject of this inaugural archival post is the idea that you could have buildings that meld modernism’s novelty and classicism’s tradition in ways that bring charm and even beauty to the city. The idea returned to me when I wrote a positive review of Frank Gehry’s Beekman Tower in Manhattan in 2011. It suggests a modus operandi for modernists and classicists to just get along. My conclusion, however, was that modernist architects don’t really want to get along.
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About David Brussat
This blog was begun in 2009 as a feature of the Providence Journal, where I was on the editorial board and wrote a weekly column of architecture criticism for three decades. Architecture Here and There fights the style wars for classical architecture and against modern architecture, no holds barred.
History Press asked me to write and in August 2017 published my first book, "Lost Providence." I am now writing my second book.
My freelance writing on architecture and other topics addresses issues of design and culture locally and globally.
I am a member of the board of the New England chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, which bestowed an Arthur Ross Award on me in 2002.
I work from Providence, R.I., where I live with my wife Victoria, my son Billy and our cat Gato.
If you would like to employ my writing and editing to improve your work, please email me at my consultancy, dbrussat@gmail.com, or call 401.351.0457.
Testimonial: "Your work is so wonderful - you now enter my mind and write what I
would have written."
- Nikos Salingaros, mathematician at the University of Texas, architectural theorist and author of many books.
Architecture Here and There 