Category Archives: Preservation

Move over, historic character!

Posted on June 2, 2023 by David Brussat

New and dubious projects (the only kind permitted in Providence, it seems) have crossed my desk, perhaps belatedly. One is for an 11-story residential building in the Jewelry District, appalling in its design as is apparently now mandatory under official … Continue reading →

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Gebreyohanes to the rescue!

Posted on October 3, 2022 by David Brussat

Restore Trust’s Zewditu Gebreyonhanes discusses the National Trust’s policies with Peter Whittle for New Culture Forum. (Restore Trust) In Britain, a new organization has arisen to push back against the backsliding of an old organization. Restore Trust believes that the … Continue reading →

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Latest wrinkle at Notre-Dame

Posted on August 14, 2022 by David Brussat

Paris’s mayor Anne Hildago has announced a proposed visitors center in an abandoned garage beneath Notre-Dame cathedral. Since visitors centers are notoriously ugly, this one qualifies as an odd duck. Its location underneath the cathedral’s large plaza hides it away … Continue reading →

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Save the Library of Congress

Posted on July 30, 2022 by David Brussat

The spirit of the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress trembles as the institution’s leadership proposes $60 million in renovations, including the removal of the circulation desk in the middle of its Main Reading Room. The D.C. Preservation League … Continue reading →

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Ah, the gentle old streets!

Posted on July 16, 2022 by David Brussat

Weybosset Street, just as it curves into its merger with Westminster Street, in downtown Providence, surely is the apex of beauty in this historic city. On a fall day in 1984 I emerged for the first time from the Providence … Continue reading →

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D.C.’s Union Station upgrade

Posted on June 30, 2022 by David Brussat

Last week the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and the Federal Railroad Administration released images of a planned expansion of Washington’s Union Station, which sits just east of the U.S. Capitol grounds. The Beaux Arts station was designed by Chicago … Continue reading →

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Flub at Brick School House

Posted on June 11, 2022 by David Brussat

I drove up downtown’s beautiful Westminster Street yesterday and saw director Brent Runyon of the Providence Preservation Society sitting outdoors at a café around noon. I wanted to scream at him: “WTF are you guys doing!” PPS plans to add … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation, Providence | Tagged , , , , , | 22 Comments

FLW’s house in Pawtucket

Posted on June 7, 2022 by David Brussat

Frank Lloyd Wright would be 155 years old if he were alive on this June 8 date of his birth. A hundred and fifty years ago he spent the age of five in Pawtucket, where for a year his family … Continue reading →

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New life for Industrial Trust?

Posted on April 14, 2022 by David Brussat

On Tuesday, officials gathered in the State House to announce a plan to renovate the Industrial Trust Bank Building (ITBB), Rhode Island’s tallest tower, known also as the Superman Building. It has been vacant since 2013, and sits on the … Continue reading →

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College Hill settings preserved

Posted on March 10, 2022 by David Brussat

Three battles pitting neighbors and applicants for new construction on Williams and John streets appear, after recent meetings of the Providence Historic District Commission, to have been preservationist victories. What? How can three new houses (one actually a new addition … Continue reading →

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