Category Archives: Architecture

Pevsner’s archiperversity

Posted on April 20, 2018 by David Brussat

What are the sources of modern architecture? I recently completed Nikolaus Pevsner’s The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design, published by the famous German-turned-Brit architectural historian in 1968. Rarely have so many underlinings arisen in protest against so much dubious … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Video: Restored in Frankfurt

Posted on April 19, 2018 by David Brussat

Leon Krier has sent a brief video, 57 seconds in all, of the recently completed restoration, in Frankfurt, Germany, of that city’s Huhner Markt area, Almost as pleasing as what the video reveals is what it replaces – in Krier’s … Continue reading →

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

M. Laugier’s pilasterphobia

Posted on April 18, 2018 by David Brussat

An Essay on Architecture was published anonymously in 1753 by the Abbé Marc-Antoine Laugier, who soon after quit the Jesuitical order, enabling his name to appear on the next edition. It’s the most amazing book. In Chapter 1, “General Principles … Continue reading →

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

Chicken, egg, preservation

Posted on April 15, 2018 by David Brussat

Steven Semes is head of the new master’s program in historic preservation in the School of Architecture at Notre Dame, about which I wrote last year in “Preservation at Notre Dame.” Semes writes in the latest issue of Traditional Building … Continue reading →

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

Update: Vandals versus Paris

Posted on April 14, 2018 by David Brussat

Mary Campbell Gallagher, founder and president of the International Coalition for the Preservation of Paris and U.S. liaison to SOS Paris, has issued a shot over the bow of the vandals at the city’s gates. Her shot, in the form … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Hand-to-hand fight for 195

Posted on April 12, 2018 by David Brussat

The Battle of I-195 East did not erupt last night but the night before. The I-195 Redevelopment District Commission planned to hear two new proposals vying for land up for grabs east of the Providence River. But the meeting was … Continue reading →

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

Scary skylines of the future

Posted on April 10, 2018 by David Brussat

The March edition of my blog for Traditional Building, “Modern Architecture and the Administrative State,” arose from some chilling passages quoted in an essay from the Claremont Review of Books called “How the Ruling Class Rules,” which was a review … Continue reading →

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

L’Apogée, here we come!

Posted on April 9, 2018 by David Brussat

This afternoon’s meeting of the Downtown Design Review Committee was cut short when one applicant, the developer of a second ugly building on Canal Street next to the first one now under construction, begged off till next time. In its … Continue reading →

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

While we’re still on Corbu …

Posted on April 8, 2018 by David Brussat

Came across a passage in James Crawford’s fascinating Fallen Glory, a collection of mini-histories of famous buildings, many ancient, and the societies that grew up around them and their implications for societies today. The chapter “Modernism’s Labyrinth” follows archaeological digs … Continue reading →

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

This joke’s on you, Corbu!

Posted on April 7, 2018 by David Brussat

Of course the Corbusier who designed this church was not “Le” Corbusier. Too bad for the rest of us! Would that the pictured church were Corbu’s chapel at Ronchamp, and would that it were now as forgotten as the church … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment