Tag Archives: New York

Lincoln Center blowback

Posted on July 17, 2015 by David Brussat

New York’s mammoth Lincoln Center has in recent years seen the demise of the New York City Opera – after its director cancelled a season of popular operas and replaced it with “modern” operas – and the near demise of … Continue reading →

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Things we’ve left behind us

Posted on March 31, 2015 by David Brussat

Hats off to Cliff Vanover for sending this glorious photo, a timely reminder of the things we’ve left behind us. One we know will return next winter. The others … well, some day beautiful buildings will come back into fashion.

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Corbusier invades New York

Posted on February 20, 2015 by David Brussat

Le Corbusier, a founder of modern architecture, traveled in 1935 on his first trip to America. A Frenchman born in Switzerland, he thought New York City would receive him like a god and was mistaken. Here I am pleased to … Continue reading →

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Save the Yale Club!

Posted on February 12, 2015 by David Brussat

The title above could as easily have been “Save the Roosevelt Hotel!” or for that matter “Save Grand Central Terminal!” “Save the Chrysler Building!” might also be apt. Or it could be “All is lost!” … “Or maybe not!” could … Continue reading →

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Mr. Moses’s Jones Beach

Posted on January 17, 2015 by David Brussat

Since I expect that my reading of The Power Broker (1974), by Robert Caro, about Robert Moses, New York’s master builder, will summon up more to criticize than praise in its 1,162 page vastness of biography, I will begin with … Continue reading →

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Conflict at the Frick

Posted on November 22, 2014 by David Brussat

  Andrew Reed, nephew of the classical revival’s late champion Henry Hope Reed, has asked me to post a petition to save the Frick Gallery from its proposed renovation. I wrote back that I was at odds with myself over … Continue reading →

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South Street Seaputz?

Posted on November 21, 2014 by David Brussat

Why does no one seem upset that the venerable South Street Seaport, in New York City, is about to be zapped and tricked out as a squat Miesian glass box, courtesy of SHoP, one of the world’s worst architectural firms? … Continue reading →

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‘Our Vanishing Legacy’

Posted on November 2, 2014 by David Brussat

Making the revival rounds of historical organizations in New York City is a fascinating film not shown in decades. Originally released on Sept. 21, 1961, “Our Vanishing Legacy” was the first documentary promoting historic preservation in the city. This was … Continue reading →

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Against Adjaye’s agitprop

Posted on October 9, 2014 by David Brussat

Adding to the widespread perception that British architect David Adjaye’s affordable-housing project in Harlem looks like a prison, architect Marc Szarkowski offers, on TradArch, this pertinent riposte to the recent mass exercise in droolery from the commentariat: Let’s see, from … Continue reading →

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WTC blues

Posted on September 8, 2014 by David Brussat

The Guardian has published a lengthy article, “1 World Trade Center: How New York Tried to Rebuild its Soul,” by Jason Farago. He bemoans the lost opportunity of the World Trade Center. But he does not mention what that lost … Continue reading →

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