Author Archives: David Brussat

About David Brussat

For a living, I edit the writing of some of the nation's leading architects, urbanists and design theorists. This blog was begun in 2009 as a feature of the Providence Journal, where I was on the editorial board and wrote a weekly column of architecture criticism for three decades. Architecture Here and There fights the style wars for classical architecture and against modern architecture, no holds barred. My freelance writing and editing on that topic and others addresses issues of design and culture locally and globally. I am a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, and a member of the board of the New England chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, which bestowed an Arthur Ross Award on me in 2002. I work from Providence, R.I., where I live with my wife Victoria, my son Billy and our cat Gato. If you would like to invest your prose with even more style and clarity, please email me at my consultancy, dbrussat@gmail.com, or call 401.351.0457. Testimonial: "Your work is so wonderful - you now enter my mind and write what I would have written." - Nikos Salingaros, mathematician at the University of Texas, architectural theorist and author of many books.

Stop Fane tower on Monday

Posted on October 18, 2018

The good guys will have another opportunity to denounce the bad guys on Monday at a 5:30 p.m. public hearing of the ordinance committee of the Providence City Council. I refer, naturally, to the proposed 600-foot Hope Point Tower by … Continue reading →

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

North vs. South on Benefit

Posted on October 16, 2018

After a couple of centuries dodging various bullets, including the College Hill Study of 1959, Benefit Street has come under the wing of a new organization called the Mile of History Association. It held its first annual meeting Sunday in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Learn from Lombard Pozzi

Posted on October 12, 2018

Thursday evening I attended a lecture on the late Bristol architect Lombard Pozzi, who died in 2013. Lombard Pozzi – what a great name! More than anyone else, Pozzi is responsible for Bristol’s having managed to remain true to its … Continue reading →

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

Nordstrom’s absquatulation*

Posted on October 10, 2018

Providence and its renaissance will survive the departure, announced yesterday, of Nordstrom from the Providence Place mall. Many local commentators are pulling their hair out in shock and dismay. Relax. Losing Nordstrom is a gut check, but hardly fatal. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Europe as museum for rich?

Posted on October 7, 2018

The late Walter Laqueur, who died last week after a long career cataloguing the sins of communism, terrorism and the Holocaust, was quoted in his New York Times obituary asserting that the “possibility that Europe will become a museum or … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Big vote tonight on Edge II

Posted on October 4, 2018

Edge College Hill II, the follow-on to the nearly complete Edge I residential tower on Canal Street, goes before the Providence City Council today for a huge wad of city cash. Under a tax stabilization agreement (TSA) up for final … Continue reading →

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

Humanities in Providence

Posted on October 3, 2018

Two of my favorite buildings will host humanities events on Thursday and Friday of this week. If you are attending the silent auction sponsored by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities tomorrow, you will see the Masonic Temple, now … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Shubow to U.S. arts board

Posted on October 1, 2018

In a truly exciting appointment, President Trump has placed one of the nation’s most talented advocates for beauty on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. Justin Shubow, who heads and will continue at the National Civic Art Society during his … Continue reading →

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

Architecture’s Three Stooges

Posted on September 30, 2018

Theodore Dalrymple, a British physician, psychiatrist and theorist of society, culture and design, has written a review of James Stevens Curl’s new book Making Dystopia for the New English Review. Dalrymple calls the book “essential, uncompromising, learned,” and especially devastating … Continue reading →

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

MVRDV’s Seoul Moby Dick

Posted on September 26, 2018

First I would like to petition for the creation of a mnemonic device for the name of the Dutch firm MVRDV. You can’t even get it right when you’re looking at it! Okay. So here’s a paragraph from Jesus Diaz’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments