Category Archives: Architecture

Corbu’s rant at Neimeyer

Posted on June 21, 2018 by David Brussat

Oscar Niemeyer, the Brazilian architect who died in 2012 at age 104, is best known for designing Brasília, the sterile über-modernist new capital city that arose in the Brazilian outback in something like three years in the late 1950s. Its … Continue reading →

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Devastation in Glasgow

Posted on June 19, 2018 by David Brussat

Shattering news from Scotland, where architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art, completed in 1909, has just suffered a catastrophic fire, just as its restoration after a catastrophic fire in 2014 was nearing its final stages. No! … Continue reading →

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

The battle of the Frick

Posted on June 17, 2018 by David Brussat

The question of how to expand the Frick Gallery, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, without threatening its architectural integrity continues following a May 29 hearing of the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission. Four hours of testimony for and against the … Continue reading →

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Newport’s newest cottage

Posted on June 15, 2018 by David Brussat

Yesterday’s ribbon-cutting for the Welcome Center at The Breakers unveiled a tourist attraction in its own right. That’s saying a lot in Newport. It is that beautiful. In the weeks leading up to its completion, I kept trolling online for … Continue reading →

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Taking wing on Westminster

Posted on June 14, 2018 by David Brussat

Arnold “Buff” Chace, Providence’s pioneering redeveloper of downtown, has another major project in mind for Westminster Street. He has announced the renovation of the Lapham, Wit, and Trayne buildings, erected in 1904, 1925, and 1893, respectively. To the Trayne will … Continue reading →

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Cover-up on Canal Street!

Posted on June 13, 2018 by David Brussat

Some people might think the “cover up” in the headline refers to the legally dubious swap of air rights for extra height that would have enabled 15 stories for Phase 2 of the proposed Edge College Hill apartments on Canal … Continue reading →

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Atlanta strives for beauty

Posted on June 11, 2018 by David Brussat

Not many cities in America house a philanthropist dedicated to beauty the way Rodney Mims Cook Jr. strives to beautify Atlanta. Cook established the National Monuments Foundation in 1996 to build classical monuments in Atlanta, among other places. And frankly, … Continue reading →

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Singapore fling at Raffles

Posted on June 10, 2018 by David Brussat

Trump has landed in Singapore and so have we, courtesy of Expedia. I’ve noted the virtuosity of Expedia’s travel videos, which tend to focus on cities’ historic districts and ancient architecture, leaving the modernist kudzu to shock you once you … Continue reading →

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Kamin: So long, Trib Tower!

Posted on June 6, 2018 by David Brussat

Blair Kamin, the architecture critic of the Chicago Tribune, longtime occupant of the Tribune Tower, used his column to lament his departure, with the rest of the newspaper, this Friday, from the Trib’s historic home in the Gothic pile since … Continue reading →

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Millar on Harrison in Prov

Posted on June 4, 2018 by David Brussat

John Millar has sent me some contextual thoughts about his attribution of some famous old Providence buildings to architect Peter Harrison (see my post “Harrison’s excellent career,” written after his lecture at the Boston Athenaeum last Thursday). His attribution to … Continue reading →

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