Monthly Archives: January 2018

Shaping a Canal St. ethos

Posted on January 29, 2018 by David Brussat

Even as a new apartment tower arises on Canal Street, another of similar size and design, just south of it along the eastern edge of the Providence River, faces a harder slog through the city’s development process. It may be … Continue reading →

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Modern architecture is crazy

Posted on January 28, 2018 by David Brussat

Among the most recent revelations of science in the service of architecture is that three of the most eminent founders of modern architecture suffered from mental illness. Le Corbusier was on the autism spectrum while Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies … Continue reading →

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Two attacks on the East Side

Posted on January 27, 2018 by David Brussat

These two really ugly new buildings on Providence’s storied East Side reveal a thoughtlessness and lack of consideration on the part of two highly respected private schools. People walking or driving by Moses Brown or the Lincoln School must wonder … Continue reading →

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Don’t maul the Mall, cont.

Posted on January 26, 2018 by David Brussat

The good news out of Washington is that the Fine Arts Commission has expressed reservations about the latest iteration of the Bjarke Ingels Group plan to renovate the Mall near the Smithsonian’s crenelated, betowered headquarters. Good, but not good enough. … Continue reading →

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Architecture’s deadly lingo

Posted on January 24, 2018 by David Brussat

The model above illustrates an invitation to a lecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design called “Architecture Before Speech: A Conversation.” I thought it must be a discussion of how humans built early habitation prior to the development of spoken … Continue reading →

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At last, the old state arsenal

Posted on January 23, 2018 by David Brussat

Christopher Martin, who edits the indispensable blog Quahog.org (a quahog is a clam), notes that on my Lost Providence book page I bemoaned my inability to locate a more substantial image of the arsenal attacked by Thomas Wilson Dorr at … Continue reading →

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Each state’s “ne plus ugly”

Posted on January 22, 2018 by David Brussat

Architecture is a form of art. When a city constructs a new building, it should add beauty to its streetscape. The above quote, unattributed, introduces an article in MSN.com’s Business Insider entitled “The Ugliest Building in Every US State, According … Continue reading →

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Reed award honors Dresden

Posted on January 20, 2018 by David Brussat

Henry Hope Reed, one of my heroes, the original classical revivalist, lives on in the Henry Hope Reed Award handed out in association with the Richard H. Driehaus Prize. The Driehaus, rewarding achievement over a lifetime by classical architects, comes … Continue reading →

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Driehaus for the Breitmans

Posted on January 19, 2018 by David Brussat

The annual Driehaus Prize, named for Chicago philanthropist Richard H. Driehaus and administered by the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, recognizes the career of work in the classical style by living architects. It has been handed … Continue reading →

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Q. of Scots takes Edinburgh

Posted on January 17, 2018 by David Brussat

Here is Margaret, Queen of Scots, entering Edinburgh in 1503, riding with new husband James of Scotland, as seen through the lens of historical novelist Philippa Gregory in her Three Sisters, Three Queens (2016): The day of our entry into … Continue reading →

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