Tag Archives: New York City

Bob Stern and Bill Brussat

Posted on March 25, 2022 by David Brussat

A book unexpected and unannounced arrived on my doorstep today: Robert A.M. Stern’s Between Memory and Invention, which I immediately mistook for an update of an earlier volume of his, Tradition and Invention in Architecture (2011). That has inhabited my … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

PBS’s “High-Risk High-Rise”

Posted on January 5, 2022 by David Brussat

A friend alerted me to a “Nova” special being aired today (through Feb. 2) called “High-Risk High-Rise.” I watched it, and it was as slick as you’d expect from PBS, but I could not help noticing its biases and omissions. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Up Fifth Avenue in early ’30s

Posted on October 17, 2021 by David Brussat

Stumbled upon this delightfully informative, well-paced, almost soporific film of Fifth Avenue, taken from the rear window of a motorcar (if they still used that word in the 1930s), at a steady pace except for stops at traffic lights. You’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Video | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Penn Station post Cuomo

Posted on August 17, 2021 by David Brussat

Andrew Cuomo’s resignation, effective in one week, could provide an opening to rebuild Penn Station as designed by architects McKim Mead & White in 1910. Is the next governor, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, of a mind to support the plan? … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , | 15 Comments

They don’t get Carnegie Hall

Posted on September 18, 2020 by David Brussat

Here is another edition of Timesman Michael Kimmelman’s virtual tours through Manhattan’s neighborhoods accompanied by celebrity architects, in this case Midtown’s Carnegie Hall area with Billie Tsien and Tod Williams, who once lived in a Carnegie Hall studio (they are, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Johnson’s risky functionalism

Posted on November 9, 2019 by David Brussat

Philip Johnson, the modernist architect who tricked America into embracing modern architecture, was a nasty piece of work according to Mark Lamster’s book, The Man in the Glass House. But there are some humorous passages whose inclusion reflects Lamster’s ability … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Interior Design | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hudson Yards as Dildoville

Posted on October 6, 2019 by David Brussat

The other day a correspondent sent me, under the title “Beyond parody,” an item from Architect’s Newspaper headlined “Design firm turns Hudson Yards towers into sex toys.” This family blog must of course issue a firm “No comment.” The late … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Humor | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

The streets of New York

Posted on May 9, 2019 by David Brussat

I was in New York on Monday to celebrate James Stevens Curl’s laureateship, bestowed by the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art’s 2019 Arthur Ross Awards, at the University Club of New York, for his book Making Dystopia, now high … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ban glass and steel in NYC

Posted on April 29, 2019 by David Brussat

That’s really what New York City’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, said. He called for a “ban” on glass-and-steel skyscrapers. But that is not what he actually meant. That idea would never fly in Manhattan. The mayor’s handlers are already walking … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fane tower & Hudson Yards

Posted on March 26, 2019 by David Brussat

A relic of dated 2000s thinking, nearly devoid of urban design, it declines to blend into the city grid. The Fane tower, right? That building proposed for the Jewelry District near downtown Providence? No. In fact, it’s the Hudson Yards … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments