Category Archives: Preservation

Don’t maul the Mall

Posted on December 2, 2014 by David Brussat

The National Mall in Washington has been undergoing renovation of its famous grass and the soil underneath. Decades of marches, concerts and festivals, not to mention the constant tramp, tramp, tramp of millions of tourists yearly on this hallowed ground … Continue reading →

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Thanks for this parade!

Posted on November 27, 2014 by David Brussat

Thanks for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, that’s what I say. I have been watching it this afternoon, and after a while it occurred to me that NBC had placed every one of its cameras so that the backdrop for … Continue reading →

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Conflict at the Frick

Posted on November 22, 2014 by David Brussat

  Andrew Reed, nephew of the classical revival’s late champion Henry Hope Reed, has asked me to post a petition to save the Frick Gallery from its proposed renovation. I wrote back that I was at odds with myself over … Continue reading →

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South Street Seaputz?

Posted on November 21, 2014 by David Brussat

Why does no one seem upset that the venerable South Street Seaport, in New York City, is about to be zapped and tricked out as a squat Miesian glass box, courtesy of SHoP, one of the world’s worst architectural firms? … Continue reading →

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Victory in Charleston

Posted on November 19, 2014 by David Brussat

On the heels of a major setback for modernism’s assault on Paris – its city council voted narrowly against it on Monday – comes an even bigger victory against a similar assault in Charleston, S.C., where Clemson University has withdrawn … Continue reading →

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Character versus reputation

Posted on November 19, 2014 by David Brussat

Last night’s City Plan Commission meeting over the fate of the Granoff estate pitted the Blackstone Neighborhood Association’s lawyer, Bill Landry, against the Granoff’s lawyer, Tom Moses, a former director of the city’s planning office. Does the law require more … Continue reading →

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

A city’s steepled horizon

Posted on November 17, 2014 by David Brussat

Shot these photos after penning a strategy for the beautification of Providence that ran last Monday, Nov. 10, at GoLocalProv.com (where I now do a weekly column). The basic thrust of the plan requires the demolition of the city’s 10 … Continue reading →

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Girding against the Granoffs

Posted on November 11, 2014 by David Brussat

A neighborhood meeting I had thought might blow up in anger last night instead displayed a steely determination to resist a sneaky subdivision of the Granoff estate behind a stone wall at Blackstone Boulevard and Rochambeau Avenue. Last week’s meeting … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Development, Landscape Architecture, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Legal on Blackstone Blvd.

Posted on November 6, 2014 by David Brussat

Even the Blackstone neighborhood of Providence can be relied on to prove that no place in the city is absolutely stereotypical. I didn’t realize the extent to which this was so until yesterday, when I went, ahem!, “jogging” up and … Continue reading →

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‘Our Vanishing Legacy’

Posted on November 2, 2014 by David Brussat

Making the revival rounds of historical organizations in New York City is a fascinating film not shown in decades. Originally released on Sept. 21, 1961, “Our Vanishing Legacy” was the first documentary promoting historic preservation in the city. This was … Continue reading →

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