Tag Archives: classical architecture

Lessons of the Berlin Wall

Posted on November 10, 2019 by David Brussat

Yesterday was the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Many lessons have been learned, but this post will not, of course, comment on its geopolitical takeaways. Instead, and briefly, I hope a useful parallel can be drawn … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

Scruton’s architecture school

Posted on September 23, 2019 by David Brussat

There’s much in the air these days about architecture school. British students have petitioned for architecture schools across the pond to do a better job teaching how architecture school can be more relevant to climate change. Sir Roger Scruton has … Continue reading →

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

Hunting the Bristol baluster

Posted on September 15, 2019 by David Brussat

Some collections grow slowly. My collections of miniature buildings and of historical balusters are moribund. I have about twenty or thirty of the little buildings (gathered mostly on overseas trips) and two balusters – one from the Rhode Island State … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Rhode Island | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Reverse landscape of despair

Posted on September 9, 2019 by David Brussat

Understandably, an overlooked part of the debate about architecture is the ease of moving back to tradition in building cities and towns. My blog on Friday, “Modern architecture is killing us,” quoted extensively from James Howard Kunstler’s essay “The Landscape … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Return to ‘The Golden City’

Posted on August 2, 2019 by David Brussat

I kid you not. The other day a correspondent wrote me out of the blue suggesting that I read a book called The Golden City, by Henry Hope Reed. “Curiously, Ron,” I replied, “I’m reading The Golden City right now.” … Continue reading →

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

A mere moment of beauty

Posted on July 26, 2019 by David Brussat

These two shots of the John Carter Brown Library on the College Green of Brown University were taken as my son Billy and I paused on College Hill, waiting for Victoria, his mother and my wife (whose birthday is today), … Continue reading →

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

Daum’s lovely domed chapel

Posted on March 9, 2019 by David Brussat

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 →

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

Review: Ruggles on beauty

Posted on February 25, 2019 by David Brussat

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 →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Uses of classical architecture

Posted on February 7, 2019 by David Brussat

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 →

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

Vote for the trads or mods

Posted on February 3, 2019 by David Brussat

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 →

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