Monthly Archives: June 2018

Hazlitt magazine: a mystery

Posted on June 30, 2018 by David Brussat

This is not about architecture. Unlike some off-topic posts I write, there is no way to fabricate a link to this post’s normal subject matter. So far as I know, William Hazlitt, the critic of early 19th century London, friend … Continue reading →

Posted in Art and design, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Signs of a city walkabout

Posted on June 28, 2018 by David Brussat

My friend Maria Ruggieri and I went walkabout – as Crocodile Dundee would say – in downtown Providence yesterday evening. We popped into a number of new restaurants, the first being Layali, a restaurant/bar (opened by owners of the late … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Yo! Brutalist website design!

Posted on June 26, 2018 by David Brussat

Russell Jenkins, who has an accurate sense of where my funny bone is located, sent me a link to a website about Brutalist web design. “The disease spreads beyond architecture,” he noted. Yes, but that strikes me as old news. … Continue reading →

Posted in Art and design | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Carlo Scarpa’s modernism

Posted on June 24, 2018 by David Brussat

The identity of my favorite modernist architect has always eluded me. I am not familiar with the work of every modernist. But modern architecture is by its nature inferior to traditional architecture. At its heart is a rejection of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Bulldoze or rebuild Mack?

Posted on June 22, 2018 by David Brussat

A horrific second fire in four years at Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art, completed in 1909, has elicited predictably cockamamie calls to demolish rather than to again rebuild the Scotsman’s masterpiece. Its restoration had been 80 percent complete … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Corbu’s rant at Neimeyer

Posted on June 21, 2018 by David Brussat

Oscar Niemeyer, the Brazilian architect who died in 2012 at age 104, is best known for designing Brasília, the sterile über-modernist new capital city that arose in the Brazilian outback in something like three years in the late 1950s. Its … Continue reading →

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Devastation in Glasgow

Posted on June 19, 2018 by David Brussat

Shattering news from Scotland, where architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art, completed in 1909, has just suffered a catastrophic fire, just as its restoration after a catastrophic fire in 2014 was nearing its final stages. No! … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

The battle of the Frick

Posted on June 17, 2018 by David Brussat

The question of how to expand the Frick Gallery, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, without threatening its architectural integrity continues following a May 29 hearing of the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission. Four hours of testimony for and against the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Newport’s newest cottage

Posted on June 15, 2018 by David Brussat

Yesterday’s ribbon-cutting for the Welcome Center at The Breakers unveiled a tourist attraction in its own right. That’s saying a lot in Newport. It is that beautiful. In the weeks leading up to its completion, I kept trolling online for … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Taking wing on Westminster

Posted on June 14, 2018 by David Brussat

Arnold “Buff” Chace, Providence’s pioneering redeveloper of downtown, has another major project in mind for Westminster Street. He has announced the renovation of the Lapham, Wit, and Trayne buildings, erected in 1904, 1925, and 1893, respectively. To the Trayne will … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments