Author Archives: David Brussat

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. My freelance writing and editing on that topic and others 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.

The mods’ survival explained

Posted on January 29, 2019

They cut the feedback loop. Nobody has done a better job of explaining the persistence of modern architecture than does Roger Scruton in his review of James Stevens Curl’s new book, Making Dystopia. In his review, Scruton sums up with … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Driehaus Prize goes to Culot

Posted on January 27, 2019

Maurice Culot, the Belgian architect and urban theorist who has won this year’s Richard H. Driehaus Prize, is described in an announcement by the University of Notre Dame as being “at the forefront of the creation of the modern traditional … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

In Waterbury, a sip of Conn.

Posted on January 24, 2019

Next Wednesday I’ll be visiting Waterbury, Conn., for the first time in a great many years, and even then I did not visit but passed through. For a New Englander (by choice, not by birth) I have relatively little experience … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture History, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Preservation bombshell!

Posted on January 23, 2019

In a very interesting article in the February issue of East Side Monthly (not yet up on its website) about Providence Preservation Society director Brent Runyon, titled “The Preserver,” staff writer Robert Isenberg elicits from the great director this description … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Kansas City vs. New England

Posted on January 20, 2019

Today, Kansas City, Mo., hosts the New England Patriots in their battle with the Kansas City Chiefs for the championship of the American Football Conference, at 6:40 p.m., and the right to represent the AFC (N.E. for the third time … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Bad trad and good trad

Posted on January 17, 2019

Two articles fished from today’s indispensable ArchNewsNow.com, the thrice-weekly free compendium of anglospherical articles on architecture, edited by Kristen Richards, show the use and misuse of classical traditions on opposite sides of the world. Guess which is which, above and … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

‘A future, or just history’?

Posted on January 14, 2019

A Sunday Globe story, “A Future, or Just History,” about Boston caught my eye. I was arrested by the headline, whose kicker and subhead only added insult to injury: “Trapped in Time” and “No, Faneuil Hall isn’t ‘Boston’ anymore. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Showdown on Blackstone

Posted on January 10, 2019

Next Tuesday’s 4:45 p.m. meeting of the City Plan Commission may tell whether Providence and its citizens can preserve its historical character. A developer wants to demolish the mansion, outbuildings and grounds of the Beresford-Nicholson estate on Blackstone Boulevard, and … Continue reading →

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

Box #1, Box #2 or Box #3?

Posted on January 9, 2019

The headline refers to the three proposals to build on three parcels along the banks of the Providence River in the I-195 corridor. I missed the I-195 commission’s truncated meeting on this matter just before Christmas. The panel left before … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Antelope Freeway is here

Posted on January 4, 2019

Last year the Rhode Island Department of Transportation announced that state and federal highway entrances and exits would be renumbered, under a new federal standard, to reflect not sequence but proximity to highway mile markers. I argued that this was … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments