Author Archives: David Brussat

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About David Brussat

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. History Press asked me to write and in August 2017 published my first book, "Lost Providence." I am now writing my second book. My freelance writing on architecture and other topics addresses issues of design and culture locally and globally. I am 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 employ my writing and editing to improve your work, 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.

In like a rat, out like Jonah

As I was searching for the original photo of old Penn Station hanging at the existing Penn Station, shown by Max Page at the Providence Preservation Society’s symposium on Friday, I stumbled across this hilarious cartoon on batmangotham city.net. It … Continue reading

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Why preserve? PPS speaks

I caught today’s “plenary” lecture by Why Preservation Matters author Max Page, and the “In the Moment” panel discussion that followed. Page kicked off a day of panels and tours for the Providence Preservation Society‘s “Why Preserve” symposium with an … Continue reading

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Transport official on beauty

On my ballot next Tuesday I will write in John Hayes for president. Dammit! He is ineligible. He is a member of Parliament, and now Britain’s minister for transport, newly appointed by Prime Minister Theresa May, successor to David Cameron … Continue reading

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Betsky’s boo-hoo blues

Aaron Betsky, the architecture critic for Architect, the journal of the American Institute of Architects, took to blubbering aloud this week that Americans don’t give American architects enough respect. In “Elevating the Discourse: Architecture Awards in the U.S. and the … Continue reading

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Save the Porto pavilions

A year ago plans emerged in Portugal to replace the old pavilions of the old market in Porto with new pavilions of a  high-tech appearance. The existing market stalls of the Bolhão should not be replaced but restored. A post, … Continue reading

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Review: “If Venice Dies”

By the time I was half finished reading If Venice Dies, I was proclaiming its virtues to anyone who would listen. It was to be another of my bibles. But, although the book, by Italian art historian Salvatore Settis, starts … Continue reading

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Symposium: Why preserve?

The Providence Preservation Society will be hosting a symposium on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 3-4, on the whys and wherefores of historic preservation. The focus will be, to some degree, on the empty Industrial Trust Bank Building, where the symposium … Continue reading

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More on Poundbury alive

A few days ago, in “Poundbury a tourist mecca?,” I posted on Sophie Campbell’s brave article in the Telegraph. I applauded a piece written by someone disinclined to like Prince Charles’s idea of a town, but who found it largely … Continue reading

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“If Venice Dies” at Brown

I went to hear the author of If Venice Dies, Salvatore Settis, at Brown this evening. On the way I took the picture above. During his lecture Settis noted that the world is spotted with copies of the Venice Campanile … Continue reading

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Venice author today, Brown

Salvatore Settis, the author of If Venice Dies, will speak at 7 p.m. today at Brown University’s Rhode Island Hall. That’s the stucco Greek Revival building facing the main campus green from just south of University Hall. I am about … Continue reading

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