Tag Archives: classical architecture

Daum’s lovely domed chapel

Posted on March 9, 2019 by

The elegant classical chapel designed by the Andover, Mass., firm of Eric Inman Daum, Architect, earned a Bulfinch in the ecclesiastic category, and deservedly so. Too few buildings of any traditional character, and especially of principled classicism, are built even … Continue reading →

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Review: Ruggles on beauty

Posted on February 25, 2019 by

Beauty, Neuroscience & Architecture, by Denver architect Donald Ruggles, reflects the ancient desire to find the key to the puzzle, in this case the puzzle of architecture. Why are some buildings beautiful and others not? Find the answer and bottle … Continue reading →

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Uses of classical architecture

Posted on February 7, 2019 by

Construction workers were renovating the brickwork of the Sundance West apartments in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, when scaffolding collapsed, leaving one worker hanging five floors up on the six-story building. “… That safety harness keep[s] the worker from falling to … Continue reading →

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Vote for the trads or mods

Posted on February 3, 2019 by

After the emergence of Making Dystopia, the history of modern architecture by James Stevens Curl published by Oxford University Press last autumn, the journal Prospect, in the U.K., held an online debate about architecture. The debate question was “Has Modern … Continue reading →

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Blessings be upon readers

Posted on December 25, 2018 by

Most if not all of the scene above was built since the birth of Christ in a Bethlehem manger long ago. The Church of the Nativity, erected to celebrate that holy birth, still contains, in its basement, the site of … Continue reading →

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Science and architecture

Posted on September 24, 2018 by

Some perverse mental hiccup recently tricked my mind into picturing the Stata Center, designed by Frank Gehry and completed in 2004 to house the science department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Woe was me, briefly, until my natural defensive … Continue reading →

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Pillar to post at the Hall

Posted on September 21, 2018 by

Looking over two photographs of columns at the William Hall Free Library, in Cranston, R.I., where I will be speaking at 3 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday), I noticed that each has the same style of column capital, but there are notable … Continue reading →

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Rome: Who are those guys?

Posted on August 20, 2018 by

Who are those guys? Good question. But first, I must point out that indecipherable notes on a recent lecture force me to leapfrog a topic I’d intended to address today and grab a quicky topic instead. I’ve chosen to simply … Continue reading →

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So blame it on Washington!

Posted on July 1, 2018 by

No other world capital so directly expresses itself in architecture as Washington, D.C. Its classicism was selected by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to reflect the ideals of democracy, reaching back to those of Athens and Rome. Between 1800 and … Continue reading →

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M. Laugier’s pilasterphobia

Posted on April 18, 2018 by

An Essay on Architecture was published anonymously in 1753 by the Abbé Marc-Antoine Laugier, who soon after quit the Jesuitical order, enabling his name to appear on the next edition. It’s the most amazing book. In Chapter 1, “General Principles … Continue reading →

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