Category Archives: Architecture History

Ancient progress in concrete

Posted on January 9, 2023 by David Brussat

The Pantheon, in Rome, is thought to be almost 2,000 years old. (getyourguide.com) A number of publications have run stories describing the recent discovery of how the ancient Romans made their concrete structures last so long. For example, the dome … Continue reading →

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Moholy-Nagy: Hitler’s Revenge

Posted on July 20, 2022 by David Brussat

Here, responding to an email thread on classical architecture and racism in which her essay is invoked, is my post from 2016 about Sibyl Moholy-Nagy and “Hitler’s Revenge.” She regrets that the “genius” architects who had fled Nazism inflicted modern … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History | 1 Comment

Architectural Freemasonry

Posted on June 20, 2022 by David Brussat

I open this blog post with not a little trepidation, given the extraordinary level of disapprobation from historian James Stevens Curl for those who are not quite up to speed on or serious connoisseurs of Freemasonry, Masonic architecture, its symbolic … Continue reading →

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Thos. Gordon Smith, R.I.P.

Posted on July 1, 2021 by David Brussat

Classical architect Thomas Gordon Smith died peacefully in his sleep near the South Bend, Ind., campus of the University of Notre Dame, age 73. His many admirers have adorned pages with encomiums to his commitment to classical architecture, to its … Continue reading →

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Providence now and then

Posted on May 7, 2021 by David Brussat

Among the most fascinating places I’ve recently discovered on the web is the Instagram site of Mike Ferguson, which takes new photographs of Providence and places them next to one or more old photographs of what used to be there. … Continue reading →

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How architecture evolves

Posted on March 16, 2021 by David Brussat

Here is a quotation about the evolution of architecture from “The Biological Fallacy” of Geoffrey Scott’s The Architecture of Humanism (1924): Decadence is a biological metaphor. Within the field of biology it holds true as a fact, and is subject … Continue reading →

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Do people really feel beauty?

Posted on February 18, 2021 by David Brussat

I recently received an interesting comment from a frequent visitor to my blog. John the First, as he styles himself, quoted from my January 31 post, “Learn more about classicism,” that “Europeans are surrounded by beauty.” He wrote: I live … Continue reading →

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Before the London fire, 1666

Posted on October 1, 2020 by David Brussat

An engraver by trade, John Thomas Smith trod this earth two centuries ago (1766-1833), and was also known as “Antiquity Smith.” He etched buildings in London that had survived the Great Fire of 1666, many of which were being demolished … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture History, Art and design, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Lost Providence still giftable

Posted on December 24, 2019 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 →

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A view of Providence in 1808

Posted on November 15, 2019 by David Brussat

The Rhode Island Historical Society yesterday displayed its amazing 1809 drop curtain, owned by the society since 1833 and depicting the town as it appeared in 1808, twenty years before the Providence Arcade was built in 1828. It is thought … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture History, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments