Category Archives: Preservation

Mayor Riley in Providence

Posted on August 29, 2014 by David Brussat

To celebrate my discovery of A Vision of Civic Conservation, I have resurrected a column from 2007 in which I report on the visit of Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley to Providence for the annual meeting of the Providence Preservation Society, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation, Providence | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Capt. Hook’s Moat Brae

Posted on August 28, 2014 by David Brussat

Here are three images of the modernist plan for Moat Brae, in Dumfries, Scotland, whose garden inspired Neverland. It is now threatened with fairly typical additions in an unsympathetic style. I was unable to get my hands on these images … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Three Classicists

Posted on August 27, 2014 by David Brussat

This time-lapse video, called “Three Classicists,” shows three British classicists, including Quinlan Terry’s son, sketching a classical scene on a blank wall in about three minutes, to the dear strains of a dulcet cellist. It is several years old but I … Continue reading →

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

UNESCO urbanicide?

Posted on August 26, 2014 by David Brussat

DOMUS, a magazine about cities and culture, has published an infantile essay, “Urbanicide in all good faith,” excoriating UNESCO’s World Heritage program as an assassin of cities. The author, Marco D’Eramo, doesn’t call a spade a spade. Only briefly does … Continue reading →

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

Knockdown knockabout

Posted on August 14, 2014 by David Brussat

Many years ago, no later than the mid-90s, I was invited by Providence Preservation Society director Arnold Robinson to sit in on a meeting of the facilities planning staffs of Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design. By … Continue reading →

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

Column: New campus for Brown engineering?

Posted on August 14, 2014 by David Brussat

Brown University’s School of Engineering is the oldest engineering program in the Ivy League, begun in 1847, and the third oldest in the country. Brown plans to build a new main engineering building on College Hill, in Providence. The university … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Engineering at Brown

Posted on August 13, 2014 by David Brussat

In the misty past I would cue readers of this blog – or was that its predecessor? – that my Thursday column was coming up. For some obscure reason I’ve decided that’s appropriate for tomorrow’s column about the School of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation, Providence | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Brown engineering virus

Posted on July 28, 2014 by David Brussat

Brown University’s proposed new engineering school on Hope Street is to be designed by the modernist firm that designed the abominable new U.S. embassy in London, Kieran Timberlake. This is almost surely a disaster in the making, but not certainly … Continue reading →

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

Postcard from Providence 1997

Posted on July 15, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is the 1992 column mentioned in today’s post “Let’s ruin Kennedy Plaza” in which I suggest merging the plaza with Burnside Park to form a Central Park for Providence. I also placed the bus hub under “Kennedy Park.” On … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Romancing the Post Office

Posted on May 31, 2014 by David Brussat

The New York Times reports the finalization of Donald Trump’s agreement to renovate the old U.S. Post Office Building, on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., as a hotel. This is one of my favorite buildings and I’m glad to hear … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation | Tagged , , | Leave a comment