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.

ICAA New England’s gala

This weekend, the New England chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art celebrated its ambitious new Bulfinch Awards program. For the first time we invited competition entries from across the nation for work performed in New England. This, … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Landscape Architecture, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A modern sculptor’s lament

The grassy triangular plot of land at the corner of Kennedy Plaza and Burnside Park in downtown Providence – officially Parcel 12 of Capital Center – is unofficially called Bad Sculpture Park. A hotel is going to be built there, … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Humor, Providence, Providence Journal, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Fascism, modernism paired

Mother’s milk flowing from her gentle soul, a good friend expressed at lunch yesterday her dismay at the fascist tendencies of modernist architect Philip Johnson. She is no fan of his buildings (there are two in Providence), but she was … Continue reading

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The reactionary avant-garde

The epitome of a contradiction in terms, the idea of a reactionary avant-garde is a most appropriate description of what the theorist Nikos Salingaros calls the “cult” of modern architecture. Charles Siegel uses the term in the title of his … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Book/Film Reviews, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Your brain on architecture

Here’s another scientific study about architecture. Look through the methodology and your eyeballs may roll furiously at its conclusion that “contemplative” buildings cause contemplative activity in the brain. Showing pictures of such buildings (old and new) to a dozen architects … Continue reading

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Shubow speaks this Saturday

Reminder: Still possible to hear Justin Shubow’s lecture in Boston this Saturday. Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society and a leading proponent of classical architecture, is also a leading opponent of modern architecture. He and his organization, … Continue reading

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Techno-narcissist Kunstler’d

James Howard Kunstler’s latest Eyesore of the Month, which I reprint from his blog Clusterfuck Nation, had to be the winner of this year’s ridiculous eVolo Magazine architecture contest. And so it was. Only the ugliest and the stupidest entries … Continue reading

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Kley: Trials of the pedestrian

This sketch, called “The Train,” by Heinrich Kley was probably etched in about 1910 to judge by the auto, by the fashionable attire of the alligator, or by the era in which Kley was publishing his more curious work. The … Continue reading

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Beauty and the bore

Several people have sent me “The Psychological Cost of Boring Buildings,” by Jacoba Urist in New York Magazine. The title hooked me, of course, but her essay hardly went down like an oyster. First, I am distrustful of “studies,” especially … Continue reading

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Skandalkonzert vindicated?

A post on the website Artlark, “Skandalkonzert: The Battle for Modernism,” describes a riot that had classical concertgoers in Vienna battling amongst themselves in the pits and with the musicians and the even the composers. Pieces by Schonberg, Weber and … Continue reading

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