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.

Des “passages” de Paris

In the late 1800s, long after Baron Haussmann supposedly transformed the Paris of rabbit warrens into a Paris of bowling alleys for cannoneers, the protagonist (if you can call him that) of Umberto Eco’s novel The Prague Cemetery (2010) – … Continue reading

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Eyesore vs. eyesore

The Providence Journal ran an editorial yesterday, “Activity vs. eyesore,” that takes a conventional attitude toward economic development that could ensure that Providence’s economy will never be as robust as it ought to be. The editorial supports razing the city-owned … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Preservation, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Tiverton pulls plug on “Glen”

“$100M Glen project dealt blow after residents rally” is the headline on Patrick Anderson’s story in today’s Providence Journal reporting that the Tiverton City Council voted 5 to 2 not to grant its developer, the Carpionato Group, a slew of … Continue reading

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Gehry’s Ike vs. the nation

The New York Times’s editorial “Battle Over Eisenhower in Washington” falsely poses the debate over Frank Gehry’s proposed memorial for Dwight Eisenhower as pitting Ike’s grandchildren against World War II veterans. This is not so. The Gehry design is at … Continue reading

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Bibliotopia in Tiverton

Tiverton, which faces the twin threat of a mega-retail/residential development and a new casino amid its charms, may rejoice that it has a beautiful new public library under its belt. When the design was shown to me several years ago … Continue reading

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Save Europe’s oldest street

I blogged on the fate of Winchester, England, Europe’s oldest main street – home of the Winchester Cathedral made famous in song – several years ago. Since then the activist group Winchester Deserves Better has been fighting the scheme (they … Continue reading

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Hari-kari for Ha-Ha bowl

Zaha “Ha-Ha” Hadid’s design for an Olympic stadium for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo has been controversial since Japan was selected to host the games in 2013. Now Hadid’s proposal has been axed by Japanese officials. You might almost … Continue reading

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“Up from Ugliness” at NYT

Here is what I wrote about a New York Times column before learning it was published not recently but in 2011. Sigh. Well, the points do remain valid. * * * Ross Douthat, a regular columnist at the New York … Continue reading

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Redesign this awful garage!

The proposed garage above is part of a project that is to feature a Rhode Island state nursing school housed in a Beaux-Arts former electric plant. South Street Landing, as the project is known, will also have offices for Brown … Continue reading

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Lincoln Center blowback

New York’s mammoth Lincoln Center has in recent years seen the demise of the New York City Opera – after its director cancelled a season of popular operas and replaced it with “modern” operas – and the near demise of … Continue reading

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