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.

Leon Krier (1946-2025), R.I.P.

Léon Krier died Tuesday in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, aged 79. Krier was born in the capital city of Luxembourg after World War II, and observed its degradation thereafter at the hands of modernist architects. His design education was very … Continue reading

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

CNU returns to Providence

Mark your calendars for June 11-14, which is when CNU-New England returns to Providence for CNU33. A full agenda may be viewed here. (The agenda lacks information of where its sessions will be located.) CNU last landed in Rhode Island’s … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Paul Revere’s Ride, on piano

William Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, set to piano music, written and played by the Rhode Island pianist Benjamin Nacar. Ben’s playing brings to life most beautifully the cadence of Paul Revere’s famous ride and its memorialization in poetry. It was performed … Continue reading

Posted in Art and design, Rhode Island, Video | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Rebuild Penn Station

Big news: President Trump has agreed to take over the job of building a new, classically-inspired Pennsyvlania Station. He has given the boot to the inept Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), and has put Amtrak – which owns the facility – … Continue reading

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Our Rube Goldberg world

Or, the Architecture of our Lives By this title I refer to the structures of the lives that we Americans, most of us, lead. Notwithstanding all the other things we all have going on in our lives, much of our … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Humor, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Newport Cottages: 1835-90

This excellent volume is the second describing the splendid dwellings of the summer colony of the City by the Sea, by architectural historian Michael C. Kathrens. It is subtitled “1835-1885: The Summer Villas Before the Vanderbilt Era.” His first volume … Continue reading

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Notre-Dame de Weybosset St.

It’s a bit late to be hailing the rebuilt Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. How beautiful it looks, inside and out. For a deeper analysis of both efforts I will await word from those more knowledgeable than I. Still, it … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Development, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Miriam Hospital: 1984

I was planning such a takedown of Miriam Hospital, known as The Miriam Hospital, or, now, Brown University Health. My hospital system was until recently called Lifespan. Lifespan is now out. It is now Brown University Health. Well, this was … Continue reading

Posted in Humor | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

The mush slated for Parcel 5

The Route 195 District Development Commission has just released a set of nine proposals submitted at its request for Parcel 5, the largest remaining unbuilt, unsold or not yet “under agreement” bit of I-195 land east of the Providence River, … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Development, I-195 Redevelopment District | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Rubik’s Cube of life sciences

Brown has released the design of its umpteenth medical research center in Providence’s Jewelry District. It looks just like every other building of its sort, a bland, inoffensive glass and steel nonentity designed by TenBerke, with interiors by Ballinger, encumbered … Continue reading

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