Tag Archives: David Brussat

More Lukacs on Budapest

Posted on January 13, 2014 by David Brussat

My heart lifts at news that four Hungarians this morning have “viewed” my post of historian John Lukacs’s description of Budapest in 1900. To reward them, here is more from that passage: Summer was hot, hotter than in Vienna, sultry … Continue reading →

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John Lukacs on Budapest

Posted on January 12, 2014 by David Brussat

This post is a naked attempt to get Hungary onto the list of nations provided to WordPress bloggers to give them an idea of where their posts are being read. I am a quarter Hungarian and my wife Victoria is … Continue reading →

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Saved: The George C. Arnold Block

Posted on January 11, 2014 by David Brussat

I am leery of the government taking buildings by eminent domain – that is, offering a take-it-or-leave it price, supposedly “fair market,” to a building owner, who, if he doesn’t take it will have the taking done for him by … Continue reading →

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Blast from past: Review of Millais’s “Exploding …”

Posted on January 11, 2014 by David Brussat

I’ve mentioned Malcolm Millais’s Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture several times in recent posts. Malcolm, a Brit who lives in Portugal, has sent innumerable nuggets that have helped me push this blog over the edge for years. He is … Continue reading →

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Deport the Portajohn Building

Posted on January 9, 2014 by David Brussat

Again Malcolm Millais, of Portugal, author of Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture (2009), has sent me an uplifting essay, this time from Atlantic Cities, the urban blog, or section, of The Atlantic magazine. The essay, “Should Portland Save a … Continue reading →

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Megastegasaurus

Posted on January 7, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is Architizer’s list of 10 most controversial architectural controversies of 2013. Most will amuse readers unpredisposed to modern architecture. Many are familiar to readers of this space (or its Journal blog predecessor). The last brouhaha (whether they are in … Continue reading →

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Wherefore art thou, Corbuseo?

Posted on January 5, 2014 by David Brussat

Correspondent Malcolm Millais, author of Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture (2009) has sent me a 29-minute BBC clip of a radio show, “Great Lives,” starring the modernist Sir David Chipperfield rattling on about Le Corbusier, one of, no, perhaps … Continue reading →

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Helluva Helvetica

Posted on January 4, 2014 by David Brussat

Helvetica is a 2007 documentary about the Helvetica typeface that is brutally honest about its subject. After half an hour drooling over its simplicity and how it took over the world in just a couple of minutes after its introduction … Continue reading →

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The birth of classical architecture

Posted on January 1, 2014 by David Brussat

Theories of how classical architecture sprang from a wood hut seem plausible enough. Some gradual progression was obviously involved. But somehow, when rendered in the form of a step-by-step history, however evocatively illustrated, it seems to lose all plausibility, elucidating … Continue reading →

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April 7, 2005: Architecture and haute couture

Posted on December 30, 2013 by David Brussat

A comment from Thomas Hayes about my last post, “‘Wrong Way’ Corrigan Public Library,” called to mind that I’d once compared, in my Providence Journal column, architecture and fashion design. Here, as a “Blast from the Past,” is that column, … Continue reading →

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