Monthly Archives: July 2019

Save the Crook Point Bridge

Posted on July 31, 2019 by David Brussat

Call me a stick in the mud, but climbing the 111-year-old Crook Point Bascule Bridge stuck in the up position since 1976 is not on my bucket list. However, since the last train chugged across the Seekonk River, pimpled daredevils … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

The real Minnette de Silva

Posted on July 29, 2019 by David Brussat

Sometimes it seems like open season on female architects as long as they are in cahoots with the roving eye of Le Corbusier, one of the founding fathers of modern architecture. There is the recurrent hullaballoo over Eileen Gray, whose … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A mere moment of beauty

Posted on July 26, 2019 by David Brussat

These two shots of the John Carter Brown Library on the College Green of Brown University were taken as my son Billy and I paused on College Hill, waiting for Victoria, his mother and my wife (whose birthday is today), … Continue reading →

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

For one- or two-way streets?

Posted on July 22, 2019 by David Brussat

On a recent sojourn in (and above) Manhattan, Steve Mouzon sparked a Facebook conversation about the merits and demerits of one- and two-way streets. It unfolded at such a high level of thoughtfulness about streets (of either ilk) from so … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Art of the Olive Oyl skyline

Posted on July 19, 2019 by David Brussat

This amazing (and scary) shot of Manhattan snapped (if you can say that about photos these days) from a helicopter hovering over Central Park was taken the other day by Miami architect Steve Mouzon. He and others may very well … Continue reading →

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

Mayor nips Foster’s Tulip

Posted on July 17, 2019 by David Brussat

On July 15, London Mayor Sadiq Khan nipped Lord Foster’s proposed Tulip in the bud. Fine. But why? It does not “represent world-class architecture,” quoth the mayor. “Mayor rejects ‘unwelcoming, poorly designed’ Tulip,” stated Architects’ Journal. One study declared it … Continue reading →

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

Future of buildings revealed

Posted on July 14, 2019 by David Brussat

Nir Buras, founder of the Washington chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, sent out to the Pro-Urb (New Urbanist) discussion group an article from the BBC that has much to say about buildings and which of them … Continue reading →

Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

The apology to Sir Roger

Posted on July 11, 2019 by David Brussat

The New Statesman magazine, a British rag, has apologized at last for using monkeyed quotes from an interview in April to defame Sir Roger Scruton, who lost an important government post as a result. Who knows whether Scruton would like … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

People’s Notre-Dame contest

Posted on July 8, 2019 by David Brussat

GoArchitect offers “The People’s Notre-Dame Design Contest,” supposedly as distinct from the international design competition announced by France after the cathedral fire in April. So far as I can tell, the announcement has not been followed up officially with a … Continue reading →

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

Songs of electric car silence

Posted on July 6, 2019 by David Brussat

One of the endearing features of electric and hybrid cars is the silence of their engines. So of course that feature is about to meet its maker. U.S. and E.U. regulators are calling for noisemaking electric engines for safety reasons. … Continue reading →

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