Tag Archives: Downtown

River “festooned with parks”

Posted on August 25, 2015 by David Brussat

I attended tonight’s panel discussion, sponsored by Leadership R.I., on the Providence waterfront – park vs. ballpark – and was startled to hear myself quoted in the first question from the moderator. He cited the “blog by David Brussat, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Latest projects in Providence

Posted on August 25, 2015 by David Brussat

Above are two maps of Providence before and after the relocation of Route 195, opening up about 40 acres for development between downtown and the Jewelry District. Toward the top of the map you can see the Providence River curve … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Landscape Architecture, Preservation, Providence, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Park or party at the Facade

Posted on August 21, 2015 by David Brussat

The convention celebrating the 125th birthday of, and all things relating to, H.P. Lovecraft hosted a party in the parking lot behind the naked façade, next to the Arcade, that is all that remains of the Providence National Bank Building. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books and Culture, Development, Photography, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Better hotel, but no cigar

Posted on August 17, 2015 by David Brussat

I have no way of knowing whether the folks over at the Procaccianti Group have been listening to my critiques of their eight-story extended-stay hotel proposal on the site of the Fogarty Building, but their latest version, above, is much … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

A new design for Parcel 12

Posted on August 6, 2015 by David Brussat

The Capital Center Commission’s design-review panel took a look Tuesday morning at a pleasant, forthrightly classical hotel design presented by architect Eric Zuena, of ZDS, in Providence. There’s a lot to like in the new design for an eight-story extended-stay … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Failure of grace alert!

Posted on July 13, 2015 by David Brussat

The Providence Journal reports today in “Age and Grace” that Grace Episcopal Church, in downtown Providence, plans as part of its restoration to add a new glass addition. This festered within me all day, and so I went downtown to … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Long city planning grind

Posted on April 25, 2015 by David Brussat

James Fallows has written “Nice Downtowns: How Did They Get that Way?” for the Atlantic, about how active city downtowns arise not naturally or organically but are planned. He takes the example of Seattle, which was a hollowed-out reject 50 … Continue reading →

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Blast: Ah, the sandbox!

Posted on June 27, 2014 by David Brussat

Ah, here is that long lost column, from July 1996, in which I mentioned to a friend that a sandbox for the modernists might be an appropriate thing for her neighborhood, whereupon she kicked sand in my face. Someone just … Continue reading →

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More best lost buildings

Posted on March 27, 2014 by David Brussat

A correspondent regrets that my list in this morning’s column (“Providence’s 10 best lost buildings”) did not contain the Albee Theater on Westminster Street. I think he might have meant the Nickel Theater, which was demolished to make way for … Continue reading →

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