Tag Archives: Downtown Providence

The soggy PVDFest mess

Posted on September 13, 2023 by David Brussat

I’d like to put in a bid for downtown as the site for the next PVDFest. Mayor Smiley moved this year’s event out of downtown to the waterfront along the Providence River. Downtown is where festivals such as PVDFest should … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Ah, the gentle old streets!

Posted on July 16, 2022 by David Brussat

Weybosset Street, just as it curves into its merger with Westminster Street, in downtown Providence, surely is the apex of beauty in this historic city. On a fall day in 1984 I emerged for the first time from the Providence … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

New life for Industrial Trust?

Posted on April 14, 2022 by David Brussat

On Tuesday, officials gathered in the State House to announce a plan to renovate the Industrial Trust Bank Building (ITBB), Rhode Island’s tallest tower, known also as the Superman Building. It has been vacant since 2013, and sits on the … Continue reading →

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

Fictional Oxford pool room

Posted on February 22, 2022 by David Brussat

I once lived for 11 years, 1999-2010, in a downtown Providence billiard room. It was a loft on the fifth floor of the Smith Building (built in 1912) on Eddy Street, renovated in 1999 with views looking to the south … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Keep Kennedy Plaza central

Posted on September 12, 2019 by David Brussat

The master planners of Providence and Rhode Island have figured out how to screw up Kennedy Plaza again. In 2015 they removed its four elegant, Art Nouveau-inspired waiting kiosks, replacing them with sterile plasticky kiosks. Now they want to dig … Continue reading →

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

Signs of a city walkabout

Posted on June 28, 2018 by David Brussat

My friend Maria Ruggieri and I went walkabout – as Crocodile Dundee would say – in downtown Providence yesterday evening. We popped into a number of new restaurants, the first being Layali, a restaurant/bar (opened by owners of the late … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , , | 13 Comments

A new Kennedy Plaza plan

Posted on September 1, 2017 by David Brussat

A new plan for Kennedy Plaza is described in this morning’s Providence Journal. “Kennedy Plaza plan envisions ‘true civic heart’,” by Donita Naylor and Jacqueline Tempera, describes a proposal that makes a lot of sense. It does not seem to … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

“Rear Window” trailer trash

Posted on August 30, 2016 by David Brussat

Here is a marvelous set of factoids from the website Mental Floss, called “12 Thrilling Facts about ‘Rear Window,” the 1954 movie starring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly, who investigate a murder through his rear window. And I will assure … Continue reading →

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Peter Thornton’s Providence

Posted on March 30, 2016 by David Brussat

Tomorrow evening at City Hall, some of the buildings of Providence that I love and have photographed over the years will be on display as buildings loved and painted by the artist Peter Thornton of our fair city. His show … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Landscape Architecture, Photography, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Our Downcity walkabout

Posted on November 21, 2015 by David Brussat

On a clear, modestly chilly evening that just about defines New England in November, hundreds were out on the streets of downtown Providence. No doubt thousands more were inside on the seats of downtown’s robust round-robin of local restaurants and … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Preservation, Providence, Uncategorized, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments