Tag Archives: architecture

Beauty and the river

Posted on April 9, 2014 by David Brussat

This lovely photo appeared in today’s Journal, taken by staff photographer Bob Breidenbach. It shows a reflection in the Woonasquatucket River of the Waterplace Luxury Condominiums as a class of touring students strolls the riverwalk at left, passing from beneath the gently arched Exchange Street … Continue reading →

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More from “Wolf Hall”

Posted on April 8, 2014 by David Brussat

  Here’s another passage from Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, the pageant of Anne Boleyn’s investiture as Henry VIII’s queen: And looking down on them, those other Londoners, those monsters who live in the air, the city’s uncounted population of stone … Continue reading →

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Past blast: Confusion of the design reviewers

Posted on April 8, 2014 by David Brussat

As an enticement to read Thursday’s column about the new Dean Hotel, on Fountain Street in downtown Providence, I offer a blast from the past. In 2006 the city permitted a developer to pull down the building on Fountain next … Continue reading →

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SF rejects free museum

Posted on April 6, 2014 by David Brussat

John King, the architecture critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, occasionally displays reasonable judgment, which is considerably more often than most architecture critics. But in his piece for Metropolis defending the city’s rejection of a free, $700 million museum to be … Continue reading →

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Heritage thought experiment

Posted on April 5, 2014 by David Brussat

Alan Davies, a columnist in Melbourne, Australia, who often writes about architecture and planning issues, recently devoted an interesting column to a thought experiment: What if all the old buildings along Melbourne’s main streets – heritage buildings as they are … Continue reading →

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Column: A bit late to cry for London’s skyline

Posted on April 3, 2014 by David Brussat

It’s hard to work up much sympathy for London and its citizens, who have suddenly learned that they may expect 236 more skyscrapers on their skyline. A petition of opposition has been signed by, at last count, 70 nabobs of … Continue reading →

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Time Lapse advance alert!

Posted on April 1, 2014 by David Brussat

Sheila Lennon, Journal uber-blogger, speaks this Thursday. Details below. What is depicted in the photo above? This is a trick question because it is a trick photograph, one that I found on Tuesday afternoon rifling through the Journal photo archives … Continue reading →

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Is beauty conservative?

Posted on March 30, 2014 by David Brussat

No. Certainly not in the political sense. Beauty, by which I mean architectural beauty in traditional and classical design, is as alluring to liberals as it is to conservatives. Because political conservatives have been more skeptical of modern architecture and … Continue reading →

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Blast past: Deep skinny on Parcel 9

Posted on March 29, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is a column I wrote in 1999 about a year after the design for Parcel 9 was denounced  by Mayor Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci Jr. This predates any notion that GTECH would turn a sad situation into a continuing … Continue reading →

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Among the Tudors

Posted on March 29, 2014 by David Brussat

My oldest and dearest friend from growing up in D.C. recently urged me most vociferously to read Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, published in 2009. It is the story of the years leading up to Henry VIII’s battle with Rome over … Continue reading →

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