Dante examines balustrade of John Hay Library at Brown University.
Here are a few shots I’ve taken over the years during and after snowstorms in downtown Providence. To read the text accompanying the photos, please visit my slide show at GoLocalProv.com, entitled “Dr. Downtown’s Snowy Providence.” I’m not sure I’m allowed to reproduce its text here, but I can reproduce my own photographs. (For those readers who don’t yet know, I write a weekly column for GoLocalProv.com, mostly about the intersection between architecture and economic development.)
The point of my slide show for GoLocal is that classical architecture, and in particular the place of rest it offers to snow, takes what many people would consider a problem and turns it into a blessing: beauty. The photos make the case by themselves. The text is there mainly to have something to go with the photos in the slide format, though some might deem the text a blessing, too. (Dr. Downtown is an alter ego for your devoted correspondent’s lighter side that goes back to his years at the Journal.)
Architecture Here and There 
David, isn’t it wonderful how snowfall masks modernity, and brings out the aesthetic charm and civility of old?! The snow is ageless. We see what our 19th Century predecessors saw. These storms are like time machines.
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Absolutely right, Michael. Whereas traditional architecture allows nature to be at her best even in problematic snowstorms, modern architecture offers snow little or no opportunity to put on a show.
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Wonderful pictures. If you ever want a superlative wintertime experience, walk Old Montreal in the winter after a snow. Magical. This winter has been a pain, but the aesthetics can’t be beat. Plus snow muffles traffic roar.
Tim
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I’ve been to twice to both Montreal and Quebec City, Tim, the latter on my honeymoon with Victoria, but to neither in winter. How would you compare Montreal to Quebec City as winter wonderlands?
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here’s a man who really knows how to stop and smell the snowflakes!
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