Monthly Archives: January 2021

Learn more about classicism

Posted on January 31, 2021 by David Brussat

Alexis de Tocqueville discovered, during his visit to our country in the early 1830s, that we Americans form more associations to pursue civic goals than in Britain or, I suppose, in France, his native land, else he would not have … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Russia’s artful classicist – Da!

Posted on January 26, 2021 by David Brussat

Historian James Stevens Curl, the author of Making Dystopia (2018), the most comprehensive critical history of modern architecture, has sent me a marvelous video of the classical work of the Russian architect Mikhail Filippov. His work has been described as … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Don’t trifle with this building

Posted on January 22, 2021 by David Brussat

Opened in 1823 to a design by Thomas Hamilton, Edinburgh’s Old Royal High School has a stern and foreboding look. But surely a grin can be detected among its colonnades: It has recently dodged the bullet of redevelopment as an … Continue reading →

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

O’Brian’s game of composers

Posted on January 18, 2021 by David Brussat

Having just had a capital meal of lasagna to celebrate a removal of sutures from the gap left by an extracted tooth, I am reminded of a passage I marked years ago in Patrick O’Brian’s The Nutmeg of Consolation, 1991, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

On the Moynihan Train Hall

Posted on January 15, 2021 by David Brussat

News of the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Train Hall opening across 8th Avenue from Penn Station in Manhattan is rivaled only by news about the closure of The Vessel, the ridiculous tower of art at nearby Hudson Yards, because of its … Continue reading →

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

Why are post offices lovely?

Posted on January 10, 2021 by David Brussat

I speak out in praise of my friend and fellow Rhode Island architecture critic William Morgan’s “In Praise of the Post Office.” In this recent article for GoLocalProv.com, Morgan writes: The physical post office is the embodiment of the miracle. … Continue reading →

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

More trad buildings of 2020

Posted on January 4, 2021 by David Brussat

Since posting “Best trad buildings of 2020” on the last day of that eminently lamentable year, more buildings for my annual roundup have come to my attention, including several pointed out by diligent readers of this blog. I am publishing … Continue reading →

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