Tag Archives: Friedrich St. Florian

James on Ruskin’s Venice

In addition to narratives of place in his novels, Henry James wrote much about his personal travels, including visits to Venice, to which I’ve had the pleasure of a single blissful visit. The excerpts I’ve taken from his writing on … Continue reading

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Stan Weiss’s house divided

For decades until a year or two ago, Stan Weiss’s antiques collection graced the graceful, gilded the lily so to speak, by residing in downtown’s Tilden-Thurber Building. Then he sold Tilden-Thurber to former Providence Mayor Joe Paolino Jr. Weiss also … Continue reading

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Don’t fob off cheap, easy link

Friedrich St. Florian and Dietrich Neumann, RISD and Brown architectural illuminati both, have concocted what may be the most interesting, perhaps the best, idea for a new bus terminal to replace the one at Kennedy Plaza. In a Providence Journal … Continue reading

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Fond adieu to Horne’s Paris

Here are several more passages lifted from the closing chapters of Alistair Horne’s engaging Seven Ages of Paris: Less felicitous were architectural scandals like the Tour Montparnasse (started in 1959, but not finished till 1973), greatest urban project since Haussmann, … Continue reading

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“Three towers of evil”?

A critic of the three towers proposed for the Jewelry District in Providence, city council president Luis Aponte, calls them the “three towers of evil.” Well, that’s a little much. “Foe dubs proposed Providence high-rises ‘towers of evil,’” by Associated … Continue reading

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Two agin transforming Prov.

Here are two columns I wrote long ago about the “Transforming Providence” symposium held at RISD Auditorium in November 2000. The first ran before the event, the second after the event. They represent my occasional effort to promote some sort … Continue reading

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WWII Memorial on Vets Day

Here are some photographs I took of the National World War II Memorial on the mall at Washington in 2011. The memorial was designed by Rhode Island architect Friedrich St. Florian, who won an international design competition in 1997. To … Continue reading

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More on WWI competition

Aram Bakshian Jr., a White House speechwriter for Richard Nixon and brother of my old friend Doug – a globetrotting freelance journalist – has written on the World War I memorial design competition. His piece, “A War Memorial Design Competition … Continue reading

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St. Florian does Parcel 12

Disappointment has generally reigned over the proposal by First Bristol to erect a hotel on Parcel 12 in downtown Providence. It has neither enough traditional chops nor the unabashed modernist ugliness to emerge from the slough of suburban schlock. But … Continue reading

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St. Florian’s WWII memorial

It did not take long for the national World War II Memorial in Washington, designed by Rhode Island architect Friedrich St. Florian, to embed itself as a sacred place in America’s consciousness. Last year marked its first decade on the … Continue reading

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