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.

Joint prize for dynamic duo

My Traditional Building just arrived and reveals that Nikos Salingaros and Michael Mehaffy have received this year’s Clem Labine Award from the magazine. Congratulations to them both. Much of my education regarding how science affects architecture and urbanism comes from … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

“Lost Providence” at age 1

My dear wife, Victoria, just a moment ago reminded me, for some reason, that today a year has passed since the publication of my first book, Lost Providence. It had sold 548 copies as of the end of last year. … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Lost Providence | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Bayley on Curl’s “Dystopia”

Stephen Bayley, critic for The (U.K.) Spectator, has written “Modernist architecture is not barbarous – but the blinkered rejection of it is,” the second review (that I’ve seen so far) of James Stevens Curl’s Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Book/Film Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

R.I. still has WaterFire

The PawSox may be goners, but Rhode Island remains chock full of excellent attractions. One list summarizing what to see or do in the Ocean State comes from Jim Gillis’s column in the Newport Daily News lamenting that “PawSox move … Continue reading

Posted in Providence, Rhode Island | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Preservation in Newport

Preservationists have a vital but relatively simple job that has been made more difficult, over the years, by preservationists. The purpose of preserving a historic building is to sustain the beauty it brings to its setting. How to do this … Continue reading

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Rome: Who are those guys?

Who are those guys? Good question. But first, I must point out that indecipherable notes on a recent lecture force me to leapfrog a topic I’d intended to address today and grab a quicky topic instead. I’ve chosen to simply … Continue reading

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

ProvSox spike smote PawSox

If the PawSox do decamp for Worcester in two years, as seems certain but is not, there is blame enough to go around. The team owners say Rhode Island did not really want them, and they got their first taste … Continue reading

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

Semes in Newport Thursday

Steven Semes will be speaking at 6 p.m. tomorrow, Thursday, at the Redwood Athenaeum & Library about various fascinating matters which, while international in scope, are of interest not just to preservationists but to those interested in architecture in Newport. … Continue reading

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Beyond translation indeed!

It takes an act of will to make it all the way through a passage of hilariously sublime bureaucratese – quoted from a university prospectus – sent recently by architectural historian James Stevens Curl to a group of his friends … Continue reading

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Lovely town main streets

Architectural Digest has posted “The 30 Most Beautiful Main Streets Across America,” and they are beautiful. I examined each photo and saw no buildings identifiable as modern architecture. For while civic beauty is primarily the presence of lovely old buildings; … Continue reading

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