Category Archives: Architecture History

Next for the classical revival?

Posted on May 24, 2015 by David Brussat

What those who favor traditional architecture should do to promote its revival has been pretty much the subject of this blog since I started it in 2009. In fact, the strategy I favor has the advantage of being under way … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

“The city that makes Rome blush”

Posted on May 22, 2015 by David Brussat

“The City that Makes Rome Blush: Five Reasons Why Palmyera’s Ruins Are So Important,” by Caroline Miranda (what a name!) of the Los Angeles Times, wrote a fascinating piece in the days leading up to the ancient Syrian city’s capture … Continue reading →

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

Perspiring in Palmyra

Posted on May 22, 2015 by David Brussat

The Islamic State has entered Palmyra, site of Roman ruins in war-torn Syria. ISIS has destroyed several famous archeological sites in its brutal quest for a caliphate, mostly so far in Iraq. Its forces have been in Palmyra for only … Continue reading →

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

Cameron on Penn Station

Posted on May 21, 2015 by David Brussat

Richard Cameron, of the Brooklyn firm of Atelier & Co., went on Brian Lehrer’s TV interview show yesterday to discuss the great proposal to rebuild Penn Station. Lehrer leads Cameron through the thickets of how and why Penn Station can … Continue reading →

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Shubow shellacks Lamster

Posted on May 21, 2015 by David Brussat

The latest piece by National Civic Art Society president Justin Shubow for Forbes.com, “Why Can’t the New Urbanists Get a Fair Shake?,” is less a defense of the New Urbanism than an attack on Dallas Morning News architecture critic Mark … Continue reading →

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Save the Four Seasons!

Posted on May 20, 2015 by David Brussat

The owners of the famous Four Seasons restaurant in the famous Seagram Building want to renovate its Pool Room. No less an eminento than Robert A.M. Stern, America’s only classical starchitect, writes to defend its modern design. His piece is … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Landscape Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Speer’s Berlin described

Posted on May 18, 2015 by David Brussat

Here is another passage from Fatherland, a novel whose plot unfolds almost two decades after Germany has won World War II in 1946. The Fatherland stretches east of Moscow; most of Western Europe that is not part of the new … Continue reading →

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Michael Palin on London

Posted on May 17, 2015 by David Brussat

Here’s another passage, this one from Diaries, 1969-1979: The Python Years, about development trends in London. Sadly, this is from 43 years ago. I wonder what Palin would think about the same subject today. Friday, Oct. 27, 1972. From the … Continue reading →

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Ghosts at a school for girls

Posted on May 17, 2015 by David Brussat

Reading a novel by Robert Harris called Fatherland, published in 1992, about a Berlin detective who gets caught up in crimes, circa 1964, arising from the protection of deep secrets in a Germany that had not lost World War II, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Other countries | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Naked Times Square, cont.

Posted on May 14, 2015 by David Brussat

This blog, bloviating before its vacation, wondered whether anyone could tell what is underneath the electronic billboards of Times Square. Close examination suggests that few if any buildings there warrant exposure from billboard removal. The clear fact is that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , | 2 Comments