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.

Throop Alley & other tidbits

An agenda item for an upcoming meeting brought home to me the sadness and even the anger attending some of the more pernicious projects being sold around here as “economic development.” The agenda for the Tuesday, Feb. 20 meeting of … Continue reading

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Providential hand on sea rise

The Jewelry District Association invited Barnaby Evans to speak about the future of WaterFire. That sent a shiver up my spine. Was the end nigh? No, Evans did not say WaterFire was doomed. He did suggest that sea-level rise might … Continue reading

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Olympic venues, 2018: wow

To judge by my online Google search under “2018 olympic architecture,” the athletic venues and other structures built for this year’s Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, failed to capture the interest of the major architectural media. Maybe this professional … Continue reading

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Poetic justice in Portugal?

In what may be the first major demolition based on aesthetic considerations, Viana do Castelo, a city in northern Portugal, plans to demolish a modernist residental tower that, in 1973, deflowered the character of its historic center. Not surprisingly, the … Continue reading

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Wild wood Scottish palace

Here’s a passage from Three Sisters, Three Queens, Philippa Gregory’s historical novel set in Tudor England and, mainly, Scotland that unfolds – or unravels – as Henry VIII breaks with the pope over annulling his marriage to Katherine of Aragon … Continue reading

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Talk the talk on buildings

An essay by Marianela D’Aprile, “What We Talk About When We Don’t Talk About Buildings,” on the website Common\Edge, gathers together some strands of discourse about architecture that I’ve posted on recently. Most particularly, I refer to a post called … Continue reading

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Lost Prov to debut in Boston

After a dozen or so events last fall to promote my book Lost Providence, I thought maybe I could relax and live, if not like a king then maybe a duke or earl, off my royalties. Ha ha! Those familiar … Continue reading

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Stern’s 250 W81st tops out

Robert A. M. Stern’s latest Manhattan apartment building at 250 West 81st St., on a corner of Broadway, recently topped out. That means the top of the building’s steel structure of girders has been achieved. It is 209 feet tall, … Continue reading

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When is a folly not a folly?

What’s in a name? I’ve always loved a folly, but some follies are not as useless as their definition suggests. The London Times has an article about follies called “It’s not bonkers to be fond of a folly,” by Norman … Continue reading

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“White tower with curves”

Providence awaits its “white tower with sculptured curves.” That’s how developer Jason Fane, of New York City, now envisions his “iconic” building of 46 stories (no pics yet) as described to Providence Journal reporter Mark Reynolds in “Land sale gets … Continue reading

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