Category Archives: Architecture

Unmocking mockup at Yale

Posted on December 22, 2017 by David Brussat

The other day the U.S. Mail produced for me a gift from RAMSA – Robert A.M. Stern Architects. The New Residential Colleges at Yale: A Conversation Across Time came with an inscription to me from the great architect himself: “To … Continue reading →

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Assault on history at Brown

Posted on December 19, 2017 by David Brussat

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.

Posted on December 17, 2017 by David Brussat

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

Posted on December 16, 2017 by David Brussat

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

Posted on December 15, 2017 by David Brussat

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 →

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Stan Weiss’s house divided

Posted on December 13, 2017 by David Brussat

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”

Posted on December 12, 2017 by David Brussat

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 →

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Paolino vs. Industrial Trust

Posted on December 11, 2017 by David Brussat

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

Don’t fob off cheap, easy link

Posted on December 7, 2017 by David Brussat

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

Posted on December 5, 2017 by David Brussat

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