Category Archives: Architecture

Canonicus Square betrayed?

Posted on March 22, 2020 by David Brussat

Hoyle Square, in Providence’s West End, where Cranston St. branches off Westminster, was renamed for Canonicus, the Narragansett sachem who in 1636 gave tribal land to Roger Williams for Providence Plantations. I could not learn the year the square’s name … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Tale of a Greek villa rebuilt

Posted on March 20, 2020 by David Brussat

I was recently sent a novel, Villa of Delirium, about the lives of the historical inhabitants of a villa on the Côte d’Azur built at the turn of the last century as a copy of a palace in ancient Greece. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Deconstructing the church

Posted on March 17, 2020 by David Brussat

I’ve just finished reading a curious and compelling book called Living Machines: Modern Architecture and the Rationalization of Sexual Misbehavior, by E. Michael Jones. It makes a strong case for what has become a notable cliché: that modern architecture symbolizes … Continue reading →

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

A few minutes in Stockholm

Posted on March 13, 2020 by David Brussat

This eight-minute tourism video of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is part of an excellent series of such films produced by Expedia, the booking agency. For some reason, modernists seem infatuated by Stockholm, even though very little modern architecture appears, … Continue reading →

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

Comparing Italy and Britain

Posted on March 11, 2020 by David Brussat

What makes a good society? Part of the answer is good architecture. Yet the good that is done by good architecture reaches well beyond beauty. Good architecture does much to create the conditions in which health, prosperity and happiness grow. … Continue reading →

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New England’s “Windy City”

Posted on March 9, 2020 by David Brussat

Boston is the Windy City of New England partly because of its proximity to the North Atlantic but also its funnels of street gusts caused by its dreadfully metastasizing skyscrapers. Wind tunnels are raising eyebrows (and skirts) in the Hub, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

EO: The two paths ahead

Posted on March 4, 2020 by David Brussat

The draft executive order that is stirring within the Trump administration is forcing classicists in the field of architecture to choose one of two paths forward. The path that goes through the E.O., if it is not already throttled in … Continue reading →

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Video of Manhattan in 1911

Posted on February 28, 2020 by David Brussat

This is, I am pretty sure, the best video of old New York City that I’ve come across. At eight and a half minutes, it is among the longest, with crisp photography and a wide range of locations. Ladies and … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Prospect Terrace renewed

Posted on February 26, 2020 by David Brussat

Landscape architect Sara Bradford led the recent restoration of Providence’s Prospect Terrace, in its College Hill neighborhood near Brown University. Her late husband, RISD professor of architecture and modernist Derek Bradford, was my nemesis as I covered the city’s Capital … Continue reading →

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

America’s favorite buildings

Posted on February 23, 2020 by David Brussat

For its 150th anniversary, the American Institute of Architects commissioned a double-blind survey of American citizens to discover their favorite American buildings. To the dismay of the AIA, which is modernist to the core, the survey confirmed what everyone already … Continue reading →

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