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.

Karam at Triangle Gulch

James Karam, head of First Bristol Corp., walked into a buzz saw on Tuesday morning when he showed his proposed design for an extended-stay hotel in downtown Providence to the design review committee of the Capital Center Commission. Karam’s proposal … Continue reading

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

Flemish “park” on Bellevue

I was invited by Arthur Mark, chairman of the Bill Warner Bridge Coalition, to a “meeting” in Newport of the U.S. affiliate of the Royal Society of the Arts, an organization based in London. Arthur is a Fellow, and so … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Landscape Architecture, Rhode Island | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Inside Lisbon’s new garage

Sebastião Durão has sent me two photos from inside the new Coach Museum in Lisbon. He adds: “You should illustrate your post with some pictures of the inside of the new garage, sorry, museum. Isn’t it lovely?” His point and … Continue reading

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Boogie nights in Providence

Saturday night saw the culmination of the first annual Providence International Arts Festival, and your roving correspondent was there. With son Billy and superbuddy Maria Ruggieri, we parked and set off down wild Washington Street on our way to WaterFire. … Continue reading

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Cellini’s stab at Turk daggers

I recently began to read the famous autobiography of the goldsmith Cellini (1500-1571), which he wrote from age 58 but concluded about a dozen years before his death. From the pages of the rambunctious Florentine artist we get perhaps the … Continue reading

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Propriety of prose and vase

Laura Heery sent me a few pages from Essays on the Nature and Principles of Taste, by Archibald Allison, published in 1832. Her communication arose from a discussion on Pro-Urb last month over the relationship of style to character in … Continue reading

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BIG copies the future!

It is alleged that Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the architect selected to design 2 World Trade Center, has engaged in copying the future. Mary Campbell Gallagher, the redoubtable defender of Paris against skyscrapers via SOS Paris, observes that Ingels’s 2 … Continue reading

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Update on Gehry Ike design

A press release summarizing the proposed U.S. House of Representatives’ appropriations bill for several departments says it zeros out funding for the Eisenhower Memorial Commission. According to Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society, Congress has eliminated federal … Continue reading

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Ungainly BIG steps skyward

Rumors of BIG’s taking the 2 World Trade Center job from Sir Norman Foster erupted as news today. Silverstein Properties, the owner of the WTC site, has hired Bjarke Ingels Group and has released a video to instruct the rest … Continue reading

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Kimmelman warns on Frick

Michael Kimmelman, in his “Critic’s Notebook,” has a generally sensible response to the question of what next for the Frick now that its proposed classical expansion has been withdrawn. After wandering around for a while and making some sensible suggestions, … Continue reading

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