Category Archives: Architecture History

Semes on Paris and our cities

Steven Semes, head of the Rome program for the school of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, and the author of The Future of the Past (one of my bibles) has written a long and, I am sure, brilliant … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Other countries, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Christmas card community

Tom Low responded to a request on TradArch from architect Steve Mouzon for comment, thumbs up or down, on a new neighborhood in Bentonville, Ark., featured in Architect magazine, voice of the AIA (which traditionally hates traditional architecture). Low replied … Continue reading

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Lovely house on N.J. coast

David Rau has sent to TradArch his sketch of a house he has designed along the intercoastal waterway of New Jersey. I am assuming that the grayed-out structures to the left and the rear are the neighbors of the eventual … Continue reading

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So sue me, Louis, I like it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lawDDPuz_b0 Matthew Hardy sends to TradArch a video flacking a newly constructed house, said to be the world’s most expensive new house, called Le Château Louis XIV. And it looks like Versailles. And it’s near Paris. And I like it. … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Landscape Architecture, Other countries, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Haussmanhattan Paris

The architectural historian and urbanist John Massengale, author of Street Design, sent to TradArch a most provocative email, with a photograph of the Municipal Building of New York City superimposed on a photo of the district of central Paris near … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Other countries, Photography, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

My new TB and PH blog

Starting on New Year’s Day my blog joins forces with the online website blogs at Traditional Building and Period Homes. Architecture Old and New will combine new essays with posts from Architecture Here and There. My monthly blog on the … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Respite for an old hospital?

Providence’s City Plan Commission voted unanimously last week to reject Rhode Island Hospital’s plan to demolish the oldest remaining structure on the hospital campus, its Southwest Pavilion. That’s not the end of the story, unfortunately; the hospital (owned by the Lifespan … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture History, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Flashmob lasers supertalls?

The rise of supertallsuperthins in Manhattan has driven upward the angst over skyscrapers, but who has given much thought to what it might be like to live in one – if anyone actually does. I see a run on the … Continue reading

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Update on Parcel 12 hotel

The civic leadership of Rhode Island and its capital, Providence, is using taxpayer dollars to initiate a series of development projects that may or may not be economically viable but will certainly undermine the city’s beauty – one of the … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Where eagles darechitecture

This startling proposal of a supertallsuperthin residential tower showed up on TradArch the other day, sent by David Rau, who objects to the machined element of its ornament. His email set off a long debate about natural and unnatural materials … Continue reading

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment