Category Archives: Preservation

Mackintosh fire update

Posted on May 29, 2014 by David Brussat

The conversation in Glasgow about how to restore the school and its library has moved into a phase that pits faithful restorers against reinterpretive restorers, who presumably would want to apply their own aesthetic tics in fiddling with the work … Continue reading →

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

Don’t just shrug off horrid hotel plan

Posted on May 29, 2014 by David Brussat

What’s that word these days that articulates a shrug of the shoulders? Meh. The day after Memorial Day, The Journal reported a proposed 170-room “premium-branded upscale extended-stay” hotel for Fountain Street, in downtown Providence. To be razed was the Fogarty … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Floating Farnsworth House

Posted on May 22, 2014 by David Brussat

Here’s a scary photo, sent to the TradArch list by Gerald Forsburg, who imagines a horror movie in which Farnsworth House, by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is flooded, with its occupants struggling to escape. He links to an Architectural … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

This old neighborhood

Posted on May 3, 2014 by David Brussat

A modest modernist house a Raleigh, N.C., historic district has all of Christendom up in arms. Paul Goldberger has ridden to the defense of the couple, the Cherrys (he’s an architect), who are building the house, arguing that the city’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Column: Warren speaks truth to preservation

Posted on May 1, 2014 by David Brussat

Ocean State preservationists gathered on Saturday in Warren to celebrate pride in preservation, the theme of the 29th annual conference of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission. It rained on their parade but not on Warren’s robust sense of … Continue reading →

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

Blast past: A Warren warning

Posted on April 29, 2014 by David Brussat

During Saturday’s preservation conference in Warren, while listening to speaker Mark Fenton remind us that Warren fended off a Walgreens long ago, I was reminded of a column I wrote in 1997 about how the megadrugstore tried to plop one of its pug-uglies … Continue reading →

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

Arnold and Alice

Posted on April 24, 2014 by David Brussat

The Arnold Building had a serious fire in, I think, 2007. Its owner, Pat Cortellessa, who once ran for mayor against Buddy Cianci, lacked sufficient insurance to undertake repairs. This past year the Arnold was taken by eminent domain and … Continue reading →

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

Column: Dr. Downtown’s stroll with Dr. Street

Posted on April 17, 2014 by David Brussat

Dear Dr. Downtown: Please tell us about your “walkabout” last weekend with the author of Street Design: The Secret to Great Cities and Towns — Strolling in Stratford. Well, the doctor thought that Dr. Street (aka John Massengale, New York … Continue reading →

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

Blast Past: Biltmore nose job

Posted on April 12, 2014 by David Brussat

As mentioned in my last column about the Dean Hotel, the Biltmore almost received a sockdologer right in the kisser back in 2003. I condemned it as a “nose job for the Biltmore” in a column back then, and it … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Preservation, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Column: The Dean and The Sportsman

Posted on April 10, 2014 by David Brussat

Word in 2012 that the Sportsman’s Inn, on Fountain Street in downtown Providence, half a block from The Journal, was to become a boutique hotel was not altogether welcome. The likelihood of a cheesy, hip-wannabe hotel with a gauche modernist … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments