Category Archives: Development

Mission impossible in R.I.?

Here is a 10-story Marriott hotel scheduled for October groundbreaking in downtown Spartanburg, S.C. It is lovely, and it is being proposed, designed and built by people quite as human as those who do such work in downtown Providence, R.I., … Continue reading

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Save market in Porto, Port.

The blog Old Portuguese Stuff is crusading to save the interior of the Mercado do Bolhäo, in Porto, one of Portugal’s most storied cities. It is home to the British architect and engineer Malcolm Millais, author of Exploding the Myths … Continue reading

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Take modernist bull by horns

The recent announcement of the Palladio Awards reminds me of how rare it is to find an active pursuit of self-interest, let alone boldness, in carrying out the classical revival since the death, in 2013, of Henry Hope Reed Jr. … Continue reading

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Eyesore vs. eyesore

The Providence Journal ran an editorial yesterday, “Activity vs. eyesore,” that takes a conventional attitude toward economic development that could ensure that Providence’s economy will never be as robust as it ought to be. The editorial supports razing the city-owned … Continue reading

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Tiverton pulls plug on “Glen”

“$100M Glen project dealt blow after residents rally” is the headline on Patrick Anderson’s story in today’s Providence Journal reporting that the Tiverton City Council voted 5 to 2 not to grant its developer, the Carpionato Group, a slew of … Continue reading

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Bibliotopia in Tiverton

Tiverton, which faces the twin threat of a mega-retail/residential development and a new casino amid its charms, may rejoice that it has a beautiful new public library under its belt. When the design was shown to me several years ago … Continue reading

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Save Europe’s oldest street

I blogged on the fate of Winchester, England, Europe’s oldest main street – home of the Winchester Cathedral made famous in song – several years ago. Since then the activist group Winchester Deserves Better has been fighting the scheme (they … Continue reading

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Hari-kari for Ha-Ha bowl

Zaha “Ha-Ha” Hadid’s design for an Olympic stadium for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo has been controversial since Japan was selected to host the games in 2013. Now Hadid’s proposal has been axed by Japanese officials. You might almost … Continue reading

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“Up from Ugliness” at NYT

Here is what I wrote about a New York Times column before learning it was published not recently but in 2011. Sigh. Well, the points do remain valid. * * * Ross Douthat, a regular columnist at the New York … Continue reading

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Redesign this awful garage!

The proposed garage above is part of a project that is to feature a Rhode Island state nursing school housed in a Beaux-Arts former electric plant. South Street Landing, as the project is known, will also have offices for Brown … Continue reading

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