Tag Archives: architecture

Lukacs on winter in Budapest

I skip over a paragraph laden with dark history and continue with John Lukacs’s description of winter in the Budapest of 1900: And then, one morning – it would come as early as in the third week of November, and … Continue reading

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John Lukacs on Budapest

This post is a naked attempt to get Hungary onto the list of nations provided to WordPress bloggers to give them an idea of where their posts are being read. I am a quarter Hungarian and my wife Victoria is … Continue reading

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Saved: The George C. Arnold Block

I am leery of the government taking buildings by eminent domain – that is, offering a take-it-or-leave it price, supposedly “fair market,” to a building owner, who, if he doesn’t take it will have the taking done for him by … Continue reading

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Blast from past: Review of Millais’s “Exploding …”

I’ve mentioned Malcolm Millais’s Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture several times in recent posts. Malcolm, a Brit who lives in Portugal, has sent innumerable nuggets that have helped me push this blog over the edge for years. He is … Continue reading

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Deport the Portajohn Building

Again Malcolm Millais, of Portugal, author of Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture (2009), has sent me an uplifting essay, this time from Atlantic Cities, the urban blog, or section, of The Atlantic magazine. The essay, “Should Portland Save a … Continue reading

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Column: Roses and raspberries for 2013

From amid the doldrums of economic lethargy, good news and potential roses for 2013 arose last year in downtown Providence, where the Arcade is being redeveloped, as are four buildings once owned by Providence Gas. Dr. Downtown suspects that readers … Continue reading

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Megastegasaurus

Here is Architizer’s list of 10 most controversial architectural controversies of 2013. Most will amuse readers unpredisposed to modern architecture. Many are familiar to readers of this space (or its Journal blog predecessor). The last brouhaha (whether they are in … Continue reading

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Wherefore art thou, Corbuseo?

Correspondent Malcolm Millais, author of Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture (2009) has sent me a 29-minute BBC clip of a radio show, “Great Lives,” starring the modernist Sir David Chipperfield rattling on about Le Corbusier, one of, no, perhaps … Continue reading

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The birth of classical architecture

Theories of how classical architecture sprang from a wood hut seem plausible enough. Some gradual progression was obviously involved. But somehow, when rendered in the form of a step-by-step history, however evocatively illustrated, it seems to lose all plausibility, elucidating … Continue reading

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April 7, 2005: Architecture and haute couture

A comment from Thomas Hayes about my last post, “‘Wrong Way’ Corrigan Public Library,” called to mind that I’d once compared, in my Providence Journal column, architecture and fashion design. Here, as a “Blast from the Past,” is that column, … Continue reading

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