Category Archives: Architecture History

Salem’s Chestnut Street

Posted on September 14, 2014 by David Brussat

Yesterday I took a house tour on Chestnut Street in Salem, Mass, sponsored by the New England chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. Founded in 1626, Salem was the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The tour took us … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Photography, Preservation | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Column: Nameless building on Dorrance Street

Posted on September 11, 2014 by David Brussat

Last week’s column, “The mathematician vs. the modernists,” was my last hurrah as an employee of the Providence Journal. I didn’t know that as I finished writing it around 9 on Tuesday morning. Otherwise I might have written something decked … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Glasgow fire update

Posted on September 3, 2014 by David Brussat

The good news is that in addition to money flowing in to repair the Glasgow School of Art that nearly burned down this spring, school officials seem firmly inclined to restore to the original state both the school building, most … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Preservation | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

UNESCO urbanicide?

Posted on August 26, 2014 by David Brussat

DOMUS, a magazine about cities and culture, has published an infantile essay, “Urbanicide in all good faith,” excoriating UNESCO’s World Heritage program as an assassin of cities. The author, Marco D’Eramo, doesn’t call a spade a spade. Only briefly does … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Preservation | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

How to capture territory

Posted on August 22, 2014 by David Brussat

The classical revival has been expressed, in numerous threads over several years on the TradArch listserve discussion of classical architecture, as a matter of “recapturing territory” captured by modernism from classicism decades ago. Andres Duany, rightly famous for successfully leading … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Column: Help save history and Peter Pan

Posted on August 21, 2014 by David Brussat

Winchester, a city 68 miles southwest of London, was the seat of government in England until the 12th century, and the center of its trade in wool. The town figures as Kingsbridge in Ken Follett’s novel “The Pillars of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Books and Culture, Development, Other countries | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Column: Traditional building in a modernist world

Posted on July 31, 2014 by David Brussat

[This post is the continuation of my blog’s recent “Trad building conference” thread to No. 5. It may be read in The Providence Journal. Because the Journal online images do not “click to enlarge” I am going to run the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Brown engineering virus

Posted on July 28, 2014 by David Brussat

Brown University’s proposed new engineering school on Hope Street is to be designed by the modernist firm that designed the abominable new U.S. embassy in London, Kieran Timberlake. This is almost surely a disaster in the making, but not certainly … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Development, Preservation, Providence | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Federalism

Posted on July 17, 2014 by David Brussat

The New Federalism, circa 1960-70 – the best modernism the most (of your) money can buy. Photographed and compiled by Benny Johnson. This, by the way, is sheer Brutalism (a style of modernism). Here is a comment from Erik Bootsma, … Continue reading →

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Postcard from Providence 1997

Posted on July 15, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is the 1992 column mentioned in today’s post “Let’s ruin Kennedy Plaza” in which I suggest merging the plaza with Burnside Park to form a Central Park for Providence. I also placed the bus hub under “Kennedy Park.” On … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , | 4 Comments