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.

Let’s vote on Penn Station

Rebuilding Pennsylvania Station, built in 1910 and demolished in 1963, is the single act that can best help bring beauty in architecture back to the United States and the rest of the world. It would directly boost the beauty of … Continue reading

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Industrial Trust lit up again!

I don’t know how long this has been going on behind my back, but it sure does make me happy. After visiting a friend this evening and driving home in the dusk down Route 95, heading south, I got off … Continue reading

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

Bad advice for Wayland Sq.

Wayland Square, named for Brown University’s fourth president, on land owned long ago by one of its founders, Moses Brown, is one of the most delightful neighborhoods in the city of Providence. It has fine shops and restaurants, and hundreds … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Classic movies to the rescue!

It seems that Turner Classic Movies is at risk of being canceled. A trio of superheroes (mega movie stars and producers) has ridden to the rescue, for now, of the channel for people who like old and relatively old films, … Continue reading

Posted in Art and design | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Congress to legislate beauty!

Washington, D.C., should be built in a manner that seeks to exalt Americans’ reverence for the principles of our founders, as embodied in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. Congress seeks to accomplish this lofty … Continue reading

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Nix on new archives building

By proposing to build itself a new headquarters, the Rhode Island State Archives has revealed itself capable of the self-aggrandizement conventional in most government bureaucracies. Granted, there has never before been a designated state archives building in Rhode Island. The … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

How modernism got square

Editor’s note: Here is a post from December 2013, almost a decade ago, shortly after the Providence Journal booted my Journal blog from its roster of staff-written web logs, which is where the word “blog” comes from. I used to … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Blast from past | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Move over, historic character!

New and dubious projects (the only kind permitted in Providence, it seems) have crossed my desk, perhaps belatedly. One is for an 11-story residential building in the Jewelry District, appalling in its design as is apparently now mandatory under official … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

Can high court ban copying?

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the other day in a decision about art that could have a negative influence on classical architecture. The 7-2 decision in a case involving the art (I use the term out of politeness) of Andy … Continue reading

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A tour of new Penn Station

It remains possible that the Pennsylvania Station completed in 1910 and infamously demolished in 1963 – “We once entered the city like gods, now we scuttle in like rats” (Vincent Scully) – will be rebuilt to its original design by … Continue reading

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