Tag Archives: Boston

William Blackstone’s statue

Posted on November 9, 2021 by David Brussat

William Blackstone, or Blaxton (1595-1675), has long struck me as the mildest of colonists, perhaps not even a colonist strictly speaking. He was a recluse, and when other colonists showed up, he exited stage left. An ordained priest of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art and design, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

New England’s “Windy City”

Posted on March 9, 2020 by David Brussat

Boston is the Windy City of New England partly because of its proximity to the North Atlantic but also its funnels of street gusts caused by its dreadfully metastasizing skyscrapers. Wind tunnels are raising eyebrows (and skirts) in the Hub, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Kansas City vs. New England

Posted on January 20, 2019 by David Brussat

Today, Kansas City, Mo., hosts the New England Patriots in their battle with the Kansas City Chiefs for the championship of the American Football Conference, at 6:40 p.m., and the right to represent the AFC (N.E. for the third time … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

‘A future, or just history’?

Posted on January 14, 2019 by David Brussat

A Sunday Globe story, “A Future, or Just History,” about Boston caught my eye. I was arrested by the headline, whose kicker and subhead only added insult to injury: “Trapped in Time” and “No, Faneuil Hall isn’t ‘Boston’ anymore. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Steampunk vid of New York

Posted on May 15, 2018 by David Brussat

Came across this film, “The Old New World,” of New York and bits of Boston and Washington, D.C. (the Capitol), in about 1931, on the Kuriositas website. It is the Old New World Project run by Alexey Zakharoff. It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Old Video | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Empire of the Algonquin

Posted on February 16, 2018 by David Brussat

Just saw one of my favorite movies this evening, Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, in which a British boy, son of a factory owner in occupied prewar Shanghai, is split from his parents as they try to flee after … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Lost Providence | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

2018 Bulfinch call for entries

Posted on November 16, 2017 by David Brussat

The call for entries in this eighth season of the Bulfinch Awards has just gone out. The awards program, launched in 2010 by the New England Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, honors the best in classical … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Don’t copy Boston’s tech hub

Posted on October 23, 2017 by David Brussat

Last week I attended a party on Tide Street in South Boston, part of the Hub’s Innovation District. The party was fun, but please let me convey my experience of the district’s urbanism as a warning to Providence, which seems … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Sussman on Corbu’s autism

Posted on March 1, 2017 by David Brussat

One reason people prefer traditional to modern architecture is that their eyes literally refuse to look at blank walls. Shown a picture of a building with a blank wall, the eye of an observer will linger anywhere – on a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

“Three towers of evil”?

Posted on November 30, 2016 by David Brussat

A critic of the three towers proposed for the Jewelry District in Providence, city council president Luis Aponte, calls them the “three towers of evil.” Well, that’s a little much. “Foe dubs proposed Providence high-rises ‘towers of evil,’” by Associated … Continue reading →

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