Category Archives: Providence

Placemaking under siege

Posted on December 9, 2014 by David Brussat

Audun Engh, of INTBAU, the International Network of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism, recently sent to TradArch readers an update by Ellie Violet Bramley on the work of Jan Gehl, the pioneer of city livability. Bramley’s article in the Guardian, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Providence No. 1 U.S. city

Posted on November 24, 2014 by David Brussat

This is big, folks! Listen up! Travel + Leisure, the top magazine of its kind, has ranked Providence No. 1 in its list of best U.S. cities. “5 Reasons to Visit Providence” is here, and it is a joy to … 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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God’s eye on Burj Dubai?

Posted on November 14, 2014 by David Brussat

Above is a photograph, unadulterated I assume, from one of those emails with long strings of beautiful, adorable, humorous, salacious or otherwise remarkable photos, usually unattributed to any photographer. At least I can thank Leon “Big Lee” Juskalian for sending … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Other countries, Photography, Providence | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

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

Hard to build unnatural park

Posted on October 28, 2014 by David Brussat

The parks committee of the Route 195 Redevelopment District Commission met yesterday afternoon to hear WaterFire generalissimo Barnaby Evans urge, late in the design process, that the western end of the proposed pedestrian bridge be raised to let the river … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Landscape Architecture, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Column: Yes, alas, we have modernism in R.I.

Posted on October 23, 2014 by David Brussat

“God will provide,” my editor Bob Whitcomb used to say. This morning, as I struggled to find a column topic, He placed one right before my eyes, occupying the very space where my regular Thursday column in the Providence Journal … Continue reading →

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Patrick Conley’s waterfront

Posted on October 19, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is the column I refer to in my last post, “The lady on the waterfront“: Pat Conley’s educational wharf Sept. 29, 2005 STATE PIER No. 1 might be called the Ellis Island of the Ocean State. It was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Blast from past, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , | 1 Comment