Monthly Archives: June 2019

Latest from the I-195 circus

Posted on June 30, 2019 by David Brussat

Last week the I-195 commission publicly rejected the Spencer Providence proposal for Parcel’s 2 and 5 on the eastern half of the Route 195 corridor. Of three options presented more than a year ago, it was by far the most … Continue reading →

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Henry James inhales Nimes

Posted on June 25, 2019 by David Brussat

Here is a passage from A Little Tour in France, by Henry James, published in 1884. In this passage he is in Nîmes, a town in Provence best known for the Maison Carrée, a survivor from Roman days that inspired … Continue reading →

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Obama Center crisis solved

Posted on June 23, 2019 by David Brussat

Chicago can solve the crisis of its proposed Obama Presidential Center by transferring it from Jackson Park to the nearby Midway Plaisance, the strip of land best known as the sideshows of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. So say … Continue reading →

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Salingaros: How cities heal

Posted on June 19, 2019 by David Brussat

Globetrotting mathematician and theorist Nikos Salingaros hits the nail on the head in his recent analysis of urban ills in “A Schizophrenic Approach to Building Cities,” published on the Meeting of the Minds website. Actually he hits many nails on … Continue reading →

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Betsky barks at the Bauhaus

Posted on June 17, 2019 by David Brussat

Some might not realize that Aaron Betsky has added to his role as critic for Architect magazine that of director of Taliesin West, the architecture school founded in 1932 by Frank Lloyd Wright and his third wife, Olgivanna. Amid the … Continue reading →

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Graduate bilks the Biltmore

Posted on June 13, 2019 by David Brussat

The Biltmore Hotel, built in 1922 and still the oldest hotel in Providence, now fashions itself the Graduate – the Graduate Hotel Providence. It is the latest in a chain of hotels in college towns that hope to cash in … Continue reading →

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Dalrymple: Curl’s ‘Dystopia’

Posted on June 11, 2019 by David Brussat

Theodore Dalrymple, the British prison doctor, psychiatrist and social critic, has written several reviews of James Stevens Curl’s book Making Dystopia, the most detailed and penetrating history of modern architecture written thus far. Each of Dalrymple’s several reviews seems intended … Continue reading →

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Lovely Simon Hall at Indiana

Posted on June 9, 2019 by David Brussat

The other day I wrote of a quirky house whose architect, David Andreozzi, called it the Shingle style on acid. Well, maybe that’s an overstatement. Still, the house is a “dazzling example of how creative tradition can be.” For work … Continue reading →

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A deep dive into sculpture

Posted on June 7, 2019 by David Brussat

Sculpture is among the allied arts most closely associated with classical architecture. A set of stone figures along the cornice or flanking the entrance of a building is neither required of classicism nor exclusive to classicism, but it sure does … Continue reading →

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Streamline? No. Steamroll

Posted on June 4, 2019 by David Brussat

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio will hold a meeting later today – 4 p.m. in Room 313 – on his legislation to “streamline” the development process for projects on state land in every city and town in Rhode Island. This is … Continue reading →

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