Author Archives: David Brussat

Unknown's avatar

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.

Sniffing at Corbu and E-1027

Anthony Flint has an intriguing piece in Architect magazine, “Restoring Eileen Gray’s E-1027.” It’s about restoring the rather Corbusian seaside dacha designed by the Irish furniture designer (and lesbian) Eileen Gray. She had befriended the founder of modern architecture, Le … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Salingaros does Metropolis

Over the past few days, Nikos Salingaros has three new essays in Metropolis, the magazine of architecture, design and culture. His writing, with frequent literary partner Michael Mehaffy, has appeared in Metropolis before. These latest essays track his research and … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Art and design, Development, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The great cities after WWII

Today is the 50th anniversary of the day Japan’s surrender in World War II was announced – a holiday still celebrated in no U.S. state but Rhode Island. It is a day to remember those who died, those who sacrificed, … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Other countries, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

New HQ for classical revival

The School of Architecture at Notre Dame hosts the only major classical curriculum in the world, so far as I know. There are one or two schools and departments at the university level that offer a choice of curricula, such … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Movie news of the century!

Return of the White City! World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 recaptured in celloid! Beaux Arts classical architecture writ large as the silver screen! Sex, violence, megalomania and beauty? That too! Nothing excites me more than news from Curbed.com that one … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Books and Culture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Kingsley Amis bags a statue

The late Kingsley Amis wrote The Old Devils (1988) about a community of old art farts in Wales when one of their old school chums, “media Welshman” Alun Weaver, decides to end his long successful literary career in London and … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Books and Culture, Humor | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Modern is not a style”

Modern in Denver, a Colorado design magazine, has posted what I believe is the first installment of a regular column inviting local modernist architects to comment on design issues, with the hope of generating conversation among readers. Hats off to … Continue reading

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

Beauty plays the piano

As I’m pulled more and more under the influence of the musical blog of Kaz, YouTube videos of performances by the composers he highlights enchant me with greater and greater frequency. Here I offer his post on Franz Liszt, the … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Podcast: Shubow on Gehry

Here’s a podcast – a first on this blog – of Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society, appearing on US Modernist Radio to denounce Frank Gehry’s design for a proposed modernist memorial to Frank— oops! I mean … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Humor, Landscape Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Shots of Westminster Street

Victoria, Billy and I adventured to Westminster Street to see a friend, Elaine Ostrach Chaika, speak about her book, Humans, Dogs and Civilization, at a bookstore, Symposium Books. Afterwards, we walked up Westminster to Empire, where we dipped into the … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Photography, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments