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.

Scary skylines of the future

The March edition of my blog for Traditional Building, “Modern Architecture and the Administrative State,” arose from some chilling passages quoted in an essay from the Claremont Review of Books called “How the Ruling Class Rules,” which was a review … Continue reading

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L’Apogée, here we come!

This afternoon’s meeting of the Downtown Design Review Committee was cut short when one applicant, the developer of a second ugly building on Canal Street next to the first one now under construction, begged off till next time. In its … Continue reading

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While we’re still on Corbu …

Came across a passage in James Crawford’s fascinating Fallen Glory, a collection of mini-histories of famous buildings, many ancient, and the societies that grew up around them and their implications for societies today. The chapter “Modernism’s Labyrinth” follows archaeological digs … Continue reading

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This joke’s on you, Corbu!

Of course the Corbusier who designed this church was not “Le” Corbusier. Too bad for the rest of us! Would that the pictured church were Corbu’s chapel at Ronchamp, and would that it were now as forgotten as the church … Continue reading

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We dodged the HQ2 bullet

Providence would have been slaughtered if Amazon had decided to build its second headquarters – HQ2 – in Rhode Island and its capital city. So for the loss of 50,000 well-paid jobs and sundry other benefits, we should not blame … Continue reading

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Carpionato’s latest 195 plan

A few days ago I received, at my request, the latest iteration of plans for a large development on the east embankment of the Providence River by the Carpionato Group. The company had made a presentation of its plan to … Continue reading

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Catesby Leigh on Penn Sta.

The National Civic Art Society, in Washington, has named the critic Catesby Leigh, one of its co-founders and early board chairmen, as its research fellow for 2018-2019. This salutary honor will enable Leigh to continue studying the phenomenon of monuments, … Continue reading

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Krier on designer hypocrisy

Léon Krier, the architectural theorist and master planner of Prince Charles’s new town of Poundbury and of Guatemala’s new town of Cayala, commented on my recent blog post “Före och efter lådmodernism” (“Before and after box modernism”). Krier refers to … Continue reading

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Nailing art at the Hammer

Actors Will Ferrell and Joel McHale have helped to produce a hilarious six-minute advertising spot for the Hammer Museum, at UCLA, in which they pretend to be baffled by works of art at the museum’s latest exhibit, “Stories of Almost … Continue reading

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Före och efter lådmodernism

“Stockholm före och efter lådmodernism” – “Stockholm before and after modernism” – displays the deadly effect on the urban fabric of the Klara district of Sweden’s capital city after decades of urban renewal and modern architecture. Except for the lonely … Continue reading

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