Tag Archives: Prince Charles

Britain embraces tradition

Posted on January 14, 2023 by David Brussat

Buckingham Palace, official residence of King Charles III. (Architectural Digest) Dezeen reports that, in Britain, the Tory government’s minister for housing, Michael Gove, has thrown his support behind the idea of a university-level school for classical and traditional architecture and … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

QE2 is dead, long live Charles

Posted on September 9, 2022 by David Brussat

Anglophilia runs deep in this corner. Not because Great Britain has a royal family but because it has embraced Western civilization more than any nation. This fact explains its reign as Europe’s most powerful and influential country for centuries, nationally … Continue reading →

Posted in Other countries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Mittell: Ukraine the beautiful

Posted on May 6, 2022 by David Brussat

My friend and former colleague at the Providence Journal, David Mittell, has sent me a timely guest post about Ukraine. He speaks of the beauty that could arise in rebuilding Ukraine after this awful war. His post brings to mind … Continue reading →

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Mayor nips Foster’s Tulip

Posted on July 17, 2019 by David Brussat

On July 15, London Mayor Sadiq Khan nipped Lord Foster’s proposed Tulip in the bud. Fine. But why? It does not “represent world-class architecture,” quoth the mayor. “Mayor rejects ‘unwelcoming, poorly designed’ Tulip,” stated Architects’ Journal. One study declared it … Continue reading →

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

‘Spirit of the age’ bugaboo

Posted on May 29, 2019 by David Brussat

Among the most inane of modern architecture’s founding conceits is that buildings reflect the spirit of the age. If a building truly reflects the spirit of the age rather than, as most people would expect, its architect’s desire to express … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Salingaros on archiCULTure

Posted on March 3, 2019 by David Brussat

Architecture today, at least establishment architecture, is not so much a profession as a cult. Call it archiculture. That fits. Nobody understands this better than Nikos Salingaros, whose thinking on cults and other subjects helped James Stevens Curl write his … Continue reading →

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Sir Roger’s hunt for beauty

Posted on November 11, 2018 by David Brussat

Sir Roger Scruton, the British philosopher and advocate of classical beauty and architecture, has been named chairman of a commission called Building Better, Building Beautiful to advise Britain’s government on issues of beauty in housing policy. This is fabulous news. … Continue reading →

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Atlanta strives for beauty

Posted on June 11, 2018 by David Brussat

Not many cities in America house a philanthropist dedicated to beauty the way Rodney Mims Cook Jr. strives to beautify Atlanta. Cook established the National Monuments Foundation in 1996 to build classical monuments in Atlanta, among other places. And frankly, … Continue reading →

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Quinlan Terry’s list of oopses

Posted on June 3, 2018 by David Brussat

Quinlan Terry, the British classicist who may be Prince Charles’s favorite architect, has a wonderful essay, “Seven Misunderstandings about Classical Architecture.” I want to quote two passages, one about shadows and the other about materials, one about beauty and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Brutalists are people, too

Posted on July 31, 2017 by David Brussat

Just very bad people. How bad is detailed in an entertaining, if depressing, article on the Londonist website entitled “How Brutalism Scarred London.” The closest I can come to ripping off the veil of anonymity donned by the article’s author, … Continue reading →

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