Tag Archives: classical architecture

QE2 is dead, long live Charles

Posted on September 9, 2022 by David Brussat

Anglophilia runs deep in this corner. Not because Great Britain has a royal family but because it has embraced Western civilization more than any nation. This fact explains its reign as Europe’s most powerful and influential country for centuries, nationally … Continue reading →

Posted in Other countries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The stupidest profession

Posted on July 6, 2022 by David Brussat

Occasionally I run across a post of mine from long ago that bears reprinting. This one from July 31, 2018,  fits that description, it seems to me, even though I have edited it to fix some badly written parts that … Continue reading →

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

Best trad buildings of 2021

Posted on December 30, 2021 by David Brussat

This year’s meagre selection of new buildings designed in traditional styles came close to cancellation, not the first event to suffer that fate lately. It is depressing this year, as it was last year, to contemplate the listlessness of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Wharton’s “House of Mirth”

Posted on December 2, 2021 by David Brussat

Being about two-thirds through Edith Wharton’s 1905 novel, I am still not quite sure I’ve actually encountered the “house of mirth” she gives as its title. What follows is a passage in which a secondary character, Van Alstyne, in Wharton’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Greenberg’s independence

Posted on July 6, 2021 by David Brussat

In the temporal orbit of Independence Day, we have seen the passing of classicist Thomas Gordon Smith and the trashing of all the values he respected and that we celebrate on the Fourth of July. Leaving aside the latter, I … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Thos. Gordon Smith, R.I.P.

Posted on July 1, 2021 by David Brussat

Classical architect Thomas Gordon Smith died peacefully in his sleep near the South Bend, Ind., campus of the University of Notre Dame, age 73. His many admirers have adorned pages with encomiums to his commitment to classical architecture, to its … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

A memorial to the agrafe

Posted on May 31, 2021 by David Brussat

Today is a day to remember those who have given their lives to perpetuate our American system, the first rule based on the ideal of equality under law for all citizens. Each citizen differs, and likewise, while maybe not quite … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

How architecture evolves

Posted on March 16, 2021 by David Brussat

Here is a quotation about the evolution of architecture from “The Biological Fallacy” of Geoffrey Scott’s The Architecture of Humanism (1924): Decadence is a biological metaphor. Within the field of biology it holds true as a fact, and is subject … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Driehaus for Treese of Mainz

Posted on February 10, 2021 by David Brussat

Perhaps it makes sense that Europeans have received the four of the last five Driehaus prizes. One went to a Thai. At the risk of appearing nativist, the last American laureate was the Florida architect Scott Merrill (2016). This year’s … Continue reading →

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

Russia’s artful classicist – Da!

Posted on January 26, 2021 by David Brussat

Historian James Stevens Curl, the author of Making Dystopia (2018), the most comprehensive critical history of modern architecture, has sent me a marvelous video of the classical work of the Russian architect Mikhail Filippov. His work has been described as … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments