Category Archives: Art and design

St. Florian does Parcel 12

Disappointment has generally reigned over the proposal by First Bristol to erect a hotel on Parcel 12 in downtown Providence. It has neither enough traditional chops nor the unabashed modernist ugliness to emerge from the slough of suburban schlock. But … Continue reading

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Lovely N’Awlins proposal

Michael Rouchell, a New Orleans architect who frequently participates in the TradArch conversation, sent this design of his for an apartment building there. In allure, it is far and away beyond anything that has been proposed in Providence for decades. … Continue reading

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Modernist GMO architecture

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of appearing on WPRO’s Coalition Radio with Pat Ford and David Fisher (6 p.m. Saturdays, 630 AM and 99.5 FM). I was preceded on the air by Elizabeth Guardia of Right to Know RI, … Continue reading

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See Paris while it lasts

Many years ago I marveled at the Art Deco building that houses La Samaritaine department store along the Seine. And I recall eating at the café behind the giant letters on top. That end of the building will survive, at … Continue reading

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Xroads for Prov ped bridge?

Pressure to delay or even kill the proposed Providence River pedestrian bridge has reached such a level that news of it has been reported in the Providence Journal. “The oft-delayed pedestrian bridge over the Providence River, to connect the city’s … Continue reading

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Updating Gehry’s Ike again

Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, has a detailed report out on the situation facing the proposed memorial for Dwight Eisenhower designed by Frank Gehry. “House Appropriators Call for ‘Reset’ on Eisenhower Memorial Plans” paints a picture of a … Continue reading

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Liberate drones for photos

If an argument is to be made to exempt photography from the gathering global wave of bans on the use of drones for commercial purposes, it is in “Illegal drove photos of the most beautiful places on earth,” a collection … Continue reading

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Karam at Triangle Gulch

James Karam, head of First Bristol Corp., walked into a buzz saw on Tuesday morning when he showed his proposed design for an extended-stay hotel in downtown Providence to the design review committee of the Capital Center Commission. Karam’s proposal … Continue reading

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Flemish “park” on Bellevue

I was invited by Arthur Mark, chairman of the Bill Warner Bridge Coalition, to a “meeting” in Newport of the U.S. affiliate of the Royal Society of the Arts, an organization based in London. Arthur is a Fellow, and so … Continue reading

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Inside Lisbon’s new garage

Sebastião Durão has sent me two photos from inside the new Coach Museum in Lisbon. He adds: “You should illustrate your post with some pictures of the inside of the new garage, sorry, museum. Isn’t it lovely?” His point and … Continue reading

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