Category Archives: Architecture

Congress to legislate beauty!

Posted on July 1, 2023 by David Brussat

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 →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nix on new archives building

Posted on June 28, 2023 by David Brussat

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

Posted on June 8, 2023 by David Brussat

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!

Posted on June 2, 2023 by David Brussat

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?

Posted on May 27, 2023 by David Brussat

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 →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A tour of new Penn Station

Posted on May 18, 2023 by David Brussat

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 →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

The white cliffs of Carrara

Posted on May 16, 2023 by David Brussat

Architect magazine has an interesting piece about the world’s most famous marble quarry. The town of Carrara, on the west coast of Italy, has been mining Carrara marble for at least two millennia. Carrara marble – the Romans called it … Continue reading →

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

R.I.H., a place for healing?

Posted on May 7, 2023 by David Brussat

Rhode Island Hospital’s Southwest Pavilion, 1900, Stone, Carpenter & Willson. (PPS) Editor’s note: Two days ago I received a pacemaker at Rhode Island Hospital. I was discharged yesterday, and just by chance I happened upon this old post from 2016 … Continue reading →

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

Lessons from the Fane ouster

Posted on April 22, 2023 by David Brussat

The so-called Hope Point Tower threat is gone, done in by inflationary costs and a dodgy market. Lessons from this interlude abound, chiefly that neighborhood opposition to poorly conceived proposals works. Jason Fane’s proposal for a 550-foot tower in a … Continue reading →

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

Providence lost, regained IV

Posted on April 16, 2023 by David Brussat

Editor’s note: This is the final segment of the epilogue of my book, Lost Providence, entitled “Providence Lost, Providence Regained.” Published in 2017, the book is a history of the design of the modern-day capital of Rhode Island, specifically of … Continue reading →

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