Category Archives: Providence

Milwaukee ex-mayor on 195

Posted on January 13, 2015 by David Brussat

I am gratified to post the comment of former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, who revitalized the city’s downtown in the 1990s before spending a decade, I think, as president of the Congress for the New Urbanism. Responding to my post … Continue reading →

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By the book on the 195 land

Posted on January 13, 2015 by David Brussat

The front page of the Providence Journal today shows an architect with a pasteboard rendering of the new student housing he has proposed for the Route 195 Redevelopment District. It could have been swiped right from the 195 commission’s Toolkit … Continue reading →

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Providence’s ‘renaissance’

Posted on January 12, 2015 by David Brussat

The scalawag bugbear of an agitator Mary Ann Sorrentino on Sunday deplored downtown Providence in her Journal oped, “Walking through our moribund ‘renaissance’ city.” She describes strolling through town describing its former delights to her granddaughter. You can see the … Continue reading →

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Simon Jenkins contra Boris

Posted on January 6, 2015 by David Brussat

This piece in London’s Evening Standard by Simon Jenkins may lack the flair of Rowan Moore’s denunciation of the Walkie-Talkie in the Observer (I assure you that Jenkins is quite capable of summoning that flair). But Jenkins takes aim at … Continue reading →

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Rowan Moore’s confusion

Posted on January 5, 2015 by David Brussat

Rowan Moore’s tart critique in the Observer of London’s newest tower since the hideous Shard – the Walkie-Talkie-Scorchie Building (20 Fenchurch) – is a joy to read. His sallies against the building that no longer burns cars on the streets … Continue reading →

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Another Chelsea Barracks?

Posted on January 3, 2015 by David Brussat

According to Robert Booth’s piece in The Guardian, it appears that the next battle in the style wars of architecture will take place in London’s Hyde Park. Booth’s piece, entitled “Architects’ vision of London takes inspiration from 19th-century Paris,” describes … Continue reading →

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AP fotog in Toyland

Posted on December 30, 2014 by David Brussat

Who would not want to live in this photograph? It is Bern, Switzerland. The photo, shot by Peter Klaunzer for the Associated Press, was published in today’s Providence Journal. Don’t ask me why I’ve taken two lovely city shots from … Continue reading →

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Quack troops invade capital

Posted on December 28, 2014 by David Brussat

A friend and I drove through the swath of redevelopment land where Route 195 used to be. We wanted to view the new street infrastructure. We were yukking it up over the “art” when we had to stop to review … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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 →

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