Category Archives: Preservation

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 , , , , , | 19 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 →

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

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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Really saving New York City

Posted on January 19, 2022 by David Brussat

Authorities in the Big Apple, including, it now seems, the state’s new governor, Kathy Hochul, have bought into a vision of Manhattan’s future that privileges the greedy moguls of high finance and their camp followers in high office. So what … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Notre-Dame falls to Disney?

Posted on November 27, 2021 by David Brussat

Officials overseeing reconstruction of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame announced, on Sept. 18, that the landmark would open in time for the Paris Olympics in 2024. Good! However, the UK Telegraph has just run an article based on leaked plans to … Continue reading →

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Why no windows or doors?

Posted on November 24, 2021 by David Brussat

Not long after neighborhood opposition prevailed over insensitive development proposals for historic Fox Point and College Hill in Providence, a new developer and a different architect have arisen to propose a new house on the vacant land just east of … Continue reading →

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Update on Mack restoration

Posted on November 12, 2021 by David Brussat

With bigwigs and celebs jetting away at last from Scotland’s global climate summit, what else is afoot in the city of Glasgow? The famous 1909 Glasgow School of Art by Charles Rennie Mackintosh has not been rebuilt after its near … Continue reading →

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Two visions of New York City

Posted on October 13, 2021 by David Brussat

Two recent panels held by the Empire Station Coalition discussed rebuilding Penn Station in its original 1910 design and growing opposition to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Empire Station Complex, which would clog the area around Penn Station with glass-box skyscrapers. … Continue reading →

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Liverpool loses heritage status

Posted on August 8, 2021 by David Brussat

Seventeen years after its bestowal, Liverpool has lost its status as world heritage site by an act of Unesco, the United Nations’ chief cultural agency. Sixteen years ago, in June 2005, I attended a symposium at RISD, which had partnered … Continue reading →

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