Category Archives: Uncategorized

Providence lost, regained, III

Editor’s note: This is the third part of the epilogue of Lost Providence, titled “Providence Lost and Regained.” *** 5 a.m. I’m falling apart. My boyfriend is sleeping with a bronzed giantess. My mother is sleeping with a Portuguese. Jeremy … Continue reading

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The Interface Plan, cont.

View of downtown from north of water feature near State House. (Author’s archives) The second half of Chapter 17, “The Interface Plan,” opens with a continuation of comments on architectural trends in the early 1970s and then describes the Interface: … Continue reading

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Van Gogh, boring fr. within

This past weekend we took in the Van Gogh exhibit, called “Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience,” that has taken the country by storm these last few months. Van Gogh isn’t quite my cup of tea, but I was prepared … Continue reading

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Aliens didn’t build pyramids

News flash: Aliens did not build the Great Pyramid! The Spectator’s A.S.H. Smyth has reviewed a recent book by a pair of senior Egyptologists, Pierre Tallet and Mark Lehner: The Red Sea Scrolls: How Ancient Papyri Reveal the Secrets of … Continue reading

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TAG 4.2 versus TAG 4.2?

TAG 4.2 means traditional architecture gathering, this year held via Zoom from the offices, in Washington, D.C., of the Classical Planning Institute founded by Nir Buras, an Israeli American architect, author of The Art of Classic Planning, and impresario of … Continue reading

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Another travesty at Brown?

Brown sent a gang of its minions to present its latest proposed abomination to the Fox Point Neighborhood Association last night. The two huge rectangular boxes with skewed roofs on either side of poor Brook Street (disembowled recently by the … Continue reading

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Before the London fire, 1666

An engraver by trade, John Thomas Smith trod this earth two centuries ago (1766-1833), and was also known as “Antiquity Smith.” He etched buildings in London that had survived the Great Fire of 1666, many of which were being demolished … Continue reading

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Modern Diner, USModernist

Great good news! I just now learned that, after half a year of closure, the excellent Modern Diner, in Pawtucket, has reopened. There is, I should say, nothing modern about the Modern Diner, just a ways down Hope Street, then … Continue reading

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Amend GSA’s guidelines?

After February’s leak of the draft executive order to prefer traditional design for federal architecture, many architects, including some classicists, worried that classicism would be hurt by any proposal linked to President Trump. Now, on the heels of a congressional … Continue reading

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Monster U.’s oddball campus

Imprisoned in our own home, we decided (that is, Billy, 11, decided, with Mom’s backing) that we’d watch Monster University, a 2013 Disney animated prequel to 2001’s Monster Inc. by Pixar. Monster U. features six cute young frat monsters led … Continue reading

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