Category Archives: Preservation

Film of Charleston in 1934

Posted on January 12, 2015 by David Brussat

Here is a film of Charleston, S.C., taken three years after the city passed its landmark preservation law, first of its kind in the world. Its streets today are much more as they were then than in the recently posted … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Old Video, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Welcome to Warwick? Ha!

Posted on January 3, 2015 by David Brussat

The city of Warwick has made a big mistake permitting a developer to tear down the Elizabeth Mill near T.F. Green State Airport, in Warwick. Warwickers are always miffed that airline captains say “Welcome to Providence” upon landing in Warwick. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

The granularity of cities

Posted on January 2, 2015 by David Brussat

The University of Oklahoma’s Institute for Quality Communities has developed a website that offers superimposed maps of major American cities. The maps cover identical territory in each city, and you can slide a line in the middle to reveal the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Raise the BAR, Duany

Posted on December 23, 2014 by David Brussat

It is extremely encouraging to read in the Charleston Post and Courier that Andrès Duany has been hired to help advise the city on how to improve its Board of Architectural Review. By approving a provocative modernist Clemson building in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Cuba libre, let us hope

Posted on December 20, 2014 by David Brussat

Other commentators can and will masticate the president’s new Cuba policy, but let me shed a few tears for the Cuba of yesterday known as the Cuba of today that might not last far into the Cuba of tomorrow. Havana … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Other countries, Photography, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

“Change” at Chartres

Posted on December 19, 2014 by David Brussat

That change is the only constant is one of my least favorite aphorisms. And it is among the least inimical of lessons to be drawn from the ongoing “restoration” of Chartres Cathedral, off the west coast of France. The job … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Other countries, Preservation | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Blackstone blitzkrieg

Posted on December 17, 2014 by David Brussat

The Granoff proposal to split their land at Blackstone Boulevard and Rochambeau Avenue up into 12 lots (the two largest would include their fine old house built in 1915 and owned by the Granoffs since the ’60s) was rejected by … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Browbeating Boston’s brand

Posted on December 13, 2014 by David Brussat

Marty Walsh has taken over as Boston mayor after 20 years of Tom Menino, who used to decide what sort of hat new buildings would wear – most famously, the “tiara” of a glitzy tower called R2-D2, near the Pru. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Development, Preservation, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

The Granoff showdown

Posted on December 11, 2014 by David Brussat

At Wednesday evening’s meeting of the Blackstone Neighborhood Organization, at the Central Congregational Church, some attendees reported they’d seen surveyors at the Granoff estate. This suggests that Paula and Leonard Granoff may attempt to complete their supposedly incomplete application for … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Placemaking under siege

Posted on December 9, 2014 by David Brussat

Audun Engh, of INTBAU, the International Network of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism, recently sent to TradArch readers an update by Ellie Violet Bramley on the work of Jan Gehl, the pioneer of city livability. Bramley’s article in the Guardian, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments