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.

Assault on history at Brown

This afternoon, Providence’s City Plan Commission heard Brown University officials propose to move one and raze four historic buildings to make way for a new performing arts center with a concert hall rumored large enough to swallow the nearby Granoff … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Trad and not so trad, cont.

Classicism over thousands of years has developed an architectural language that modernism has not even sought to construct. A language would suggest a reliance on precedent. Among those who have criticized my admiration for Stan Weiss’s interior decor, Eric Daum … Continue reading

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

Trad and not so trad

An architectural designer with a background in preservation and traditional design, who asked to be posted anonymously, joins a host of commenters criticizing my praise for Stan Weiss’s interior design. They include Eric Daum, Seth Joseph Weine, Nikos Salingaros, Patrick … Continue reading

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

Behold the classical disorders

The other day I got word that the British architectural historian James Stevens Curl – with 40 books under his belt – had written another, Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism. Due out next August from … Continue reading

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

Stan Weiss’s house divided

For decades until a year or two ago, Stan Weiss’s antiques collection graced the graceful, gilded the lily so to speak, by residing in downtown’s Tilden-Thurber Building. Then he sold Tilden-Thurber to former Providence Mayor Joe Paolino Jr. Weiss also … Continue reading

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

“Aware now of its dullness”

Early in Girl With a Pearl Earring, Tracy Duvalier’s novel set in 17th century Holland, is a passage that launched several thoughts about architecture and design. The teenage girl has just become a maid in the household of the successful … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Paolino vs. Industrial Trust

According to GoLocalProv.com, former mayor and longtime property owner Joseph Paolino Jr. wants to tear down Providence’s beloved Industrial Trust Building – widely known as the Superman Building – vacant since 2013. Who does the PR for this guy? The … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

The telescope as sculpture

Years ago I was wandering through a naval equipment store in Provincetown, on Cape Cod, and found a telescope of high quality and elegant appearance. It was too pricey for me, $500 or so. I wanted something through which I … Continue reading

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Don’t fob off cheap, easy link

Friedrich St. Florian and Dietrich Neumann, RISD and Brown architectural illuminati both, have concocted what may be the most interesting, perhaps the best, idea for a new bus terminal to replace the one at Kennedy Plaza. In a Providence Journal … Continue reading

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

Another totally giftable book

Lost Providence, by yours truly, would make a great gift for anyone keen on the history of Providence, the blessing of traditional architecture, or the bane of modern architecture. Or, dear reader, get it for yourself. Most bookstores in Providence … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Lost Providence, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments