Category Archives: Preservation

This joke’s on you, Corbu!

Posted on April 7, 2018 by David Brussat

Of course the Corbusier who designed this church was not “Le” Corbusier. Too bad for the rest of us! Would that the pictured church were Corbu’s chapel at Ronchamp, and would that it were now as forgotten as the church … Continue reading →

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Krier: Ruins and discontents

Posted on March 22, 2018 by David Brussat

Since we are still on our reconstruction roll, here is an excellent essay by Leon Krier, architectural theorist and master planner of Prince Charles’s new town of Poundbury. It was originally intended as an introduction to The Roman Forum: A … Continue reading →

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Rebuild the Roman Forum

Posted on March 17, 2018 by David Brussat

Last October I described a master’s thesis on how to plan for a restoration of the Roman Forum – center of civic life in the capital of the Roman empire. The author, Eric Stalheim, was the first graduate of the … Continue reading →

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Mighty pen on Penn Station

Posted on March 5, 2018 by David Brussat

In “Mighty Penn,” The New Criterion has a brilliant extended reflection on the idea of rebuilding Pennsylvania Station, in New York City, as it was originally designed in 1903 by Charles Follen McKim of McKim Mead & White. Many facts … Continue reading →

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Millais on rebuilding Berlin

Posted on February 28, 2018 by David Brussat

Malcolm Millais, author of Le Corbusier, the Dishonest Architect and Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture, recently visited Berlin, in part to investigate four examples of how Germans have reconstructed historic buildings damaged by Allied bombs in World War II. … Continue reading →

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Shaping a Canal St. ethos

Posted on January 29, 2018 by David Brussat

Even as a new apartment tower arises on Canal Street, another of similar size and design, just south of it along the eastern edge of the Providence River, faces a harder slog through the city’s development process. It may be … Continue reading →

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The uses of preservation

Posted on January 12, 2018 by David Brussat

“The Uses of Corruption” is an essay by Theodore Dalrymple published in the Summer 2001 issue of City Journal, the quarterly of the Manhattan Institute. Dalrymple is a British sociologist and commentator who argues that Italy is more prosperous and … Continue reading →

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Lost Ro Dyland, annotated

Posted on December 25, 2017 by David Brussat

On the front page of yesterday’s Providence Journal, under a delightful illustration by Tom Murphy, was “Saint Nick Sails a Retro Route,” a poem by longtime South County editor (ret.) Gerry Goldstein, typically droll and deft of touch. Read it … Continue reading →

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Assault on history at Brown

Posted on December 19, 2017 by David Brussat

This afternoon, Providence’s City Plan Commission heard Brown University officials propose to move one and raze four historic buildings to make way for a new performing arts center with a concert hall rumored large enough to swallow the nearby Granoff … Continue reading →

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TBC symposium in Brooklyn

Posted on November 28, 2017 by David Brussat

The latest Traditional Building Conference, next week in Brooklyn, will feature a host of seminars that together emphasize how major traditional projects can influence the evolution of traditional building techniques. The Dec. 5-6 symposium, spanning Tuesday and Wednesday, at Grand … Continue reading →

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