Monthly Archives: October 2015

“Never fear, Prov. is here!”

Posted on October 20, 2015 by David Brussat

Apropos of apparently nothing in particular beyond the sheer deliciousness of it, the Providence Journal’s longtime food critic Gail Ciampa wrote a piece in today’s paper on movies where Rhode Island scenery shines. “Check it out: Five Hollywood movies that … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Book/Film Reviews, Humor, Providence, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Names of feelings we’ve felt

Posted on October 19, 2015 by David Brussat

The article “23 Emotions We all Feel But Don’t Know the Names of” is a list of made-up words for inchoate or unsettling thoughts we’ve all had (mostly). It is quite interesting, more in the feelings author Bobby Popovic identifies … Continue reading →

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Fie on a million years!

Posted on October 18, 2015 by David Brussat

For his latest piece in CityLab, “Making the Case for Symmetrical Cities,” peripatetic architecture critic Anthony Flint, housed at the Lincoln Institute in Cambridge, does a very nice job adding up the evidence for the superiority of classical and traditional … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Architect, bury your mistake

Posted on October 17, 2015 by David Brussat

Yesterday I ran some passages from the late critic Lewis Mumford and thought I recalled having written a column on him years ago after reading a biography. I cannot find it. But here is one column from June 1994 in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mumford’s words of warning

Posted on October 16, 2015 by David Brussat

Here is a passage from Lewis Mumford’s essay “The Case Against ‘Modern Architecture’” in the April 1962 issue of Architectural Record: In so far as modern architecture has succeeded in expressing modern life, it has done better in calling attention … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Downtown living tour, 2015

Posted on October 15, 2015 by David Brussat

This year’s Downtown Living Tour, operated genially, as usual, by Joelle Kanter of the Providence Foundation, is on Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. By shuttle and pedicab – Sol Chariots have become a delightful fixture locally – you can … Continue reading →

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Portland’s imposing Old Port

Posted on October 14, 2015 by David Brussat

Portland’s Old Port Exchange district was bustling with tourists on Sunday morning as Billy and I drove up and down its streets in search of parking. Finding no place, we ended up touring Congress Street on foot instead, taking too … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, I-195 Redevelopment District, Photography, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning, Video | Leave a comment

Portland’s revival booms

Posted on October 13, 2015 by David Brussat

Two decades after my first visit to Portland in 1994, its enviable vitality seems to defy comparison with that of Providence. Portland is not its state capital anymore – not since 1832, when, 12 years after achieving statehood, the capital … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Photography, Preservation, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Portland’s phoenix resurgent

Posted on October 10, 2015 by David Brussat

Billy, Victoria and I are driving up to Augusta, Maine, for the long weekend to visit friends. We plan to visit Portland on the way or on the way back. The Journal column below reaches back two decades to compare … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Preservation, Providence, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Paying for Berliner Schloss

Posted on October 9, 2015 by David Brussat

Audun Engh of INTBAU kindly noted, after reading my last post, that the figures next to architectural elements and statuary in drawings of a Berliner Schloss façade near the end of the Extrablatt PDF represented not the cost of those … Continue reading →

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