Monthly Archives: July 2018

The stupidest profession …

Posted on July 31, 2018 by David Brussat

Localism calls to mind various slow movements such as slow food. There should be a slow architecture movement. Localism was taken up recently by the New York Times columnist David Brooks in “The Localist Revolution: Sometimes it Pays to Sweat … Continue reading →

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WWI’s monumental sorrow

Posted on July 30, 2018 by David Brussat

The National World War II Memorial opened in 2004 on the Mall with a classical design that has been wildly popular with WWII veterans. Had America regained its senses after decades of embarrassing modernist monuments? Alas, no. A nontraditional memorial … Continue reading →

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Curl to clobber “dystopia”

Posted on July 26, 2018 by David Brussat

Printing now in Britain at Oxford University Press is James Stevens Curl’s jeremiad against modern architecture, called Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism. A review copy is on the way. As I informed Professor Curl in … Continue reading →

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‘Dream of Venice in B&W’

Posted on July 24, 2018 by David Brussat

JoAnn Locktov, the editrix and impresaria of photographic essays of Venice in book form, sends me another of her beautiful works: Dream of Venice in Black and White, the third in her “Dream of Venice” series, published by Bella Figura … Continue reading →

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Our downtown writers’ club

Posted on July 23, 2018 by David Brussat

The other day I was invited to the What Cheer Writers Club to look around the premises and sign my book, Lost Providence. The club was on the second floor of 160 Westminster St., a muted classical building that sits … Continue reading →

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Modernist luxury mall fall

Posted on July 20, 2018 by David Brussat

Beautiful building, eh? Well, you won’t have to look at it anymore after viewing this video. The mall collapsed in Mexico City on July 12, some four months after opening amid controversy, said by the Associated Press to have involved … Continue reading →

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Old Journal Building, ho!

Posted on July 18, 2018 by David Brussat

Once developer Buff Chace started saving downtown Providence by rehabbing old buildings into lofts, no building seemed to elude his grasp more dishearteningly than the Old Journal Building, built in 1906. It was downtown’s holy grail, but for years its … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Insurance for Mack rebuild?

Posted on July 16, 2018 by David Brussat

Some spectacular good news about the Glasgow School of Art, whose main building, designed by Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, burned down a month ago. It seems the school’s insurance may be enough to pay for reconstruction after its recent … Continue reading →

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Fane tower = urban renewal

Posted on July 15, 2018 by David Brussat

I cannot attend Wednesday’s public hearing before the ordinance committee of the Providence City Council. The committee will hear testimony about whether to raise the height limit in the Route 195 corridor by a factor of six on behalf of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

The architecture of the eye II

Posted on July 13, 2018 by David Brussat

So whose eyes are these? Hint: She liked cat-eye glasses. Question: Is the beautiful pair of eyes behind these spectacles protected by lenses? Or could she have fun with her friends by wiggling her fingers through the frames? If so, … Continue reading →

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