Monthly Archives: September 2016

The architecture of music

And vice versa, with painting thrown in. This is the subject of a fascinating essay written a decade ago by Steven Semes, author more recently of one of my bibles, The Future of the Past: A Conservation Ethic for Architecture, … Continue reading

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Explore the world with AIA

The American Institute of Architects has announced its sponsorship of a new set of tours that even I would be happy to take. They are not the tours I would expect the AIA to host, not with its almost exclusively … Continue reading

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Will the real Seagram Building please stand up?

On Sunday I posted “Tom Wolfe and Henry Reed,” and to my mortification was informed by a reader that the Seagram Building was not the building in the photo I used to illustrate the piece. I plead guilty. Who could … Continue reading

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Paris, in danger, needs you

Here is a video, “SOS Paris: Notre capitale a besoin de nous,” running four and a half minutes of mostly still shots adding up, in a most piquant manner, to the danger facing Paris if its mayor has her way. … Continue reading

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Tom Wolfe and Henry Reed

I have been finishing up my book Lost Providence, girding my loins on the adrenaline rush of Tom Wolfe’s 1981 bestseller From Bauhaus to Our House. How to select a great passage to quote? Well, one way is to quote … Continue reading

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Bodell estate shenanigans

So, a little dip into the tall grass of small development. Question of the day: Where is the line between a major and a minor property subdivision? On Tuesday night there was again no quorum at the City Plan Commission … Continue reading

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No surrender to Gehry Ike

News that the Eisenhower family has been flipped and now supports the design of a proposed memorial to their patriarch by celebrity architect Frank Gehry is depressing, and maybe even predictable, but it’s too early for opponents of the monstrosity … Continue reading

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“We’ll always have Paris”?

Mary Campbell Gallagher is the founder of the International Coalition for the Preservation of Paris (ICPP) and continues to work with SOS Paris to save the City of Light from the barbarians already inside its gate, such as Mayor Hidalgo. … Continue reading

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Bodell subdivide on Tuesday

Just a reminder that the City Plan Commission is scheduled to have the proposed subdivision of the Bodell estate on its agenda this coming Tuesday at 4:45 p.m., at the planning department on 444 Westminster Street. The address of the … Continue reading

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Lovely Rita, meter maid!

Parking meters on blocks of shops in Providence are not only purging business. It seems as if lovely Rita the Meter Maid may be going the way of the Dodo. I hope not. Friday I drove downtown to shoot the … Continue reading

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