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.

Monty Python’s architect skit

Originally posted on Architecture Here and There:
As a reward for making it through the last few posts I offer this skit, from YouTube, of Monty Python making fun of architects by speaking truth of them, perhaps – since humor…

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Issa beats wimp rap?

I may have to retract Rep. Darrell Issa’s Cosmic Wimp-Out Prize, doled out by this blog just a week or so ago. My original post, “Ike memorial update,” described the latest iteration of Frank Gehry’s proposed memorial to General Eisenhower. … Continue reading

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In defense of ‘starchitect’

I rise to defend not the practice of starchitecture or the starchitects who perpetrate its follies on an innocent public. But the word starchitect has come under attack for the very reason that I like the word and use it … Continue reading

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Column: Scotland back to its roots or nae

Scottish voters decide today whether Scotland will be independent or continue its 307-year relationship with Great Britain. Whatever it decides – and the last polls were too close to call – its cultural hegemony over its own appearance will remain … Continue reading

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On the Brown campus

This morning, an especially nice one, I happened after a meeting at the Wheeler School to wander through the campus of Brown University. I took some pictures. On top, however, is the main building on Hope Street at Wheeler. And … Continue reading

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Villa Graffarta Savoye

Without intending to pick on Le Corbusier (not that there’s anything wrong with that), artist Xavier Delory recently found the Villa Savoye in sad condition, even worse than in the photograph above, taken before his masterpiece in suburban Paris was … Continue reading

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‘Modernism and all that’

Michael Mehaffy, the architectural theorist from Portland, Ore., who used to work with Prince Charles, sent in this brief essay to the TradArch list, which he has kindly let me post on my blog. There’s a lot of good stuff … Continue reading

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Shot of Richmond Riverside

This shot of Richmond Riverside, completed in the mid-1980s near London and designed by Quinlan Terry, is on the latest edition of AVOE – A Vision of Europe. It is so lovely that I decided to post it after posting … Continue reading

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Beauty in Beirut

This photograph comes toward the end of a most beautiful website called AVOE. The site, sent to the TradArch list by Audun Engh, features the lovable urbanism that remains in Europe, and fights against modernism that has warred against beauty … Continue reading

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Corbusier in Providence?

This building design was sent by the famous Andres Duany – whose firm, DPZ, helped JWU masterplan its downtown Providence campus between 1994 and 2005 – under the subject line “This could have been the Johnson & Wales building.” He … Continue reading

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