Tag Archives: H.P. Lovecraft

The College Hill Study, cont.

Posted on October 31, 2022 by David Brussat

Here is the second half of Chapter 16, “The College Hill Study,” from Lost Providence. The study’s proposals, released in 1959, would have replaced much of the fabled district’s historical houses with modernist infill, although most of the houses condemned … Continue reading →

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Huger Elliott on Providence

Posted on April 3, 2022 by David Brussat

Illustration from 1910 for design competition of Cove Basin near new State House. (AIAri) Architect Eric Daum recently passed along an illustration, above, done in 1910 by RISD president Huger Elliott. It expressed how the area of Providence between the … Continue reading →

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M. Laugier’s pilasterphobia

Posted on April 18, 2018 by David Brussat

An Essay on Architecture was published anonymously in 1753 by the Abbé Marc-Antoine Laugier, who soon after quit the Jesuitical order, enabling his name to appear on the next edition. It’s the most amazing book. In Chapter 1, “General Principles … Continue reading →

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Mom rendered as a building

Posted on August 31, 2017 by David Brussat

I tried in my last blog, “The architecture of the wife,” earlier today, to link to a column I wrote in 2004 to honor my late mother, Mona Brussat, and downloaded from the archive of the Providence Journal. It didn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Lost Providence | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Ruskin’s “Two Paths” speech

Posted on November 19, 2016 by David Brussat

Among the platitudes of architecture these days is the modernist credo that innovation is the chief merit of the building arts. Innovation is important, but modernists have a narrow definition of the term that limits their vision. John Ruskin, the … Continue reading →

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Sketches by David Macaulay

Posted on August 23, 2016 by David Brussat

Strolling along the RISD embankment during WaterFire last Saturday, I stumbled upon “The Way Macaulay Works,” an exhibit of the work of David Macaulay, the prolific illustrator and creator of books about how buildings, cathedrals and other places are built. … Continue reading →

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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

Lovecraft at the Facade

Posted on August 20, 2015 by David Brussat

Fans of H.P. Lovecraft’s tales of horror, most of which are set in Providence and elsewhere in New England, will want to be downtown at “The Facade” tonight at 7 for an event hosted by NecronomiCon Providence – the conference … Continue reading →

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Sketching my mom of moms

Posted on February 28, 2015 by David Brussat

Here’s the column I wrote in 2004 about the annual meeting in Providence of the American Society of Architectural Illustrators. I was going to write it mainly about the work of a sort of sketchy illustrator from San Francisco in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design, Blast from past, Books and Culture, Providence, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments