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.

Trying to like this building

Capital Properties has proposed and the Capital Center Commission has apparently approved the design above for the parcel next to the almost supernaturally ugly Capital Cove, on land at Canal and Smith streets along the Moshassuck River. Here is what … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Providence, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Architecture and Mozart

It would have been difficult for Geothe’s line “Architecture is frozen music” not to float into mind after I stumbled across this passage in Mozart, by Wolfgang Hildescheimer, another fabulous Christmas gift from my friend Steve, who I forgot to … Continue reading

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Wexford, save 195 corridor

Coincidentally, I read that Wexford Science + Technology signed the dotted line on its purchase of land in Providence’s I-195 corridor just after I’d read the final passage in the conclusion of Brent Brolin’s The Failure of Modern Architecture. Brolin … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, I-195 Redevelopment District, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Brolin on vandalizing Yemen

I have raised this subject many times as modern architecture works to wipe out indigenous cultures around the world. In his 1976 book The Failure of Modern Architecture, Brent Brolin provides a vivid account of the arrogance of modern architecture’s … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Other countries, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Happy design, happy toaster

We are all critics of product design. Recently our toaster bit the dust and we bought a new one. Our old Cuisinart gave way to a shiny new Hamilton Beach. But we soon realized that our bagels were no longer … Continue reading

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

Adele C-T at PPS in Prov.

Adele Chatfield-Taylor will speak at tonight’s annual meeting of the Providence Preservation Society. It will be at 5:30 p.m. this evening in the Providence Public Library. Last night, trying to finally decide whether to attend or to train up to … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

My new blog at TB and PH

My new blog is now up on the remodeled websites of two leading trade journals, Traditional Building and Period Homes,  published by the Home Group of Active Interest Media. The blog is called Architecture Old and New, a recasting of … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Is that moss on the roof?

Above is an aerial photo of what some consider Scotland’s most significant modernist building. Is that moss on the roof? What’s left after water seeped (or gushed) in, sparking problems that led to the almost obligatory debate between owner and … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Bill & Hugh, together again

Here is my July 20, 1995, column from The Providence Journal about my father and his best friend, who both were city planners. The images are photographed from an old copy of the column, so I apologize if the expressions … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

City planning now and then

My friend Steve’s father Hugh Mields and his friend William K. Brussat (my dad) were city planners. Steve, who is both a philatelist and a fenestration cleanliness engineer, recently sent me an envelope postmarked Washington, D.C., Oct. 2, 1967, and … Continue reading

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