Category Archives: Architecture

Saving historic pavement

Posted on March 15, 2017 by David Brussat

One of many fascinating narratives in Seven Ages of Paris was author Alistair Horne’s frequent return to the subject of how Paris’s streets evolved from muddy lanes awash in human waste to paved streets with gutters down the middle to … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Eulogies for Fogarty on tap

Posted on March 13, 2017 by David Brussat

Whether you are glad or sad to see it go, the Fogarty Building finally seems about to ruthlessly collide its chunky members, such as they are, for the last time. Demolition of the empty, forlorn 1967 building in the Brutalist … Continue reading →

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Plan to goof up Prov library

Posted on March 12, 2017 by David Brussat

The 1954 Moderne addition to the Providence Public Library’s original Beaux-Arts building, completed in 1900, already has much to atone for. Not the building itself – its architects and, more, the PPL board that canceled a classical addition (below) in … Continue reading →

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Oops! Wrong shot of hotel

Posted on March 11, 2017 by David Brussat

Thursday’s Providence Journal story, “Icon? Eyesore? Demolition to begin of Fogar- ty Building in downtown,” about the demise of the Fogarty Building and its replacement by a new hotel had the wrong picture of the hotel design. It shows the … Continue reading →

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TB: Ode to a Tuscan column

Posted on March 10, 2017 by David Brussat

Here is February’s post for my blog at Traditional Building, titled “Ode to a Tuscan column.” It chews on some erudite – some might say persnickety – conversation about how to transform the entablature of a Tuscan column into the … Continue reading →

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Arthur Ross Awards, 2017

Posted on March 9, 2017 by David Brussat

Back in 2013 I visited Chicago to attend the celebration of that year’s Driehaus Prize laureate, Thomas Beeby. Amid the festivities was a large landscape in oil that included work by all of the first ten Driehaus recipients, commissioned by … Continue reading →

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A lovely 3 minutes in Rome

Posted on March 8, 2017 by David Brussat

Here is a video of Rome, with some clips from Pisa and Vatican City, sent to me by Big Geek Daddy. Actually, they sent a video of Barcelona, but it was marred by too much focus on special effects, though … Continue reading →

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Good ideas for 6/10, I-195

Posted on March 7, 2017 by David Brussat

Perhaps this comes too late to affect either the Route 195 corridor project (now renamed the Innovation & Design District) or the plan to rebuild the Route 6/10 connector. The former has been advanced (if you can call it that) … Continue reading →

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Fate of the Fane skyscrapers

Posted on March 5, 2017 by David Brussat

Got my paper this morning and was startled to read the headline “Trio of towers never stood a chance” on the front page. The story in the Providence Journal, by Kate Bramson, seemed to indicate that the project had been … Continue reading →

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City devitalization in France

Posted on March 4, 2017 by David Brussat

Towns and small cities in France have experienced in recent years something similar to what happened to towns and cities in America during the last half of the 20th century. In France they call urban renewal and suburban sprawl by … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments