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Tag Archives: Providence Journal
‘Ask Dr. Downtown’ revisited
In my last post, “Modern Diner, USModernist,” I promised USModernist talk host George Smart (aka Mr. Modernism) to send him an example of my old “Ask Dr. Downtown” columns, from when I did a column of architecture criticism every Thursday … Continue reading
Along NYC’s Museum Mile
In late March, Michael Kimmelman, the architecture critic for the New York Times, strolled up Fifth Avenue with architectural historian Andrew Dolkart of Columbia University on a “virtual tour” of the Museum Mile. Readers of this blog are indebted to … Continue reading
America’s favorite buildings
For its 150th anniversary, the American Institute of Architects commissioned a double-blind survey of American citizens to discover their favorite American buildings. To the dismay of the AIA, which is modernist to the core, the survey confirmed what everyone already … Continue reading
The Nightingale sings, so far
A large square extraordinarily promising brick building arises on the block downtown where hundreds of Providence Journal employees used to park. I just learned today that it will be called the Nightingale Building. Buff Chace, whose work has revived downtown … Continue reading
Two fumbles in Providence
Among the eight or so new buildings erected in Providence with virtually zero opposition in the past two years are a pair that ought, by now, to have been reviewed here. And I will get to that. But first: The … Continue reading
The fate of the Fane tower
Last Wednesday, the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission approved the design of the proposed Fane tower in the city’s Jewelry District. The press duly noted the project’s latest step forward, but in fact hope is quite dim for the queer-looking 46-story … Continue reading
The Journal’s ‘R.I. Memories’
Black and white photography bears the stamp of history, a ratification of the long-ago. One might wish that photos from, say, the 1890s were in color. That would convey a different authenticity, a satisfaction that today’s colorization processes generally fail … Continue reading
A Lost Providence Christmas
Just as the Providence Journal has published its magnificent collection of old Providence and Rhode Island photographs, it is time to go out and get (if you don’t have it) my book Lost Providence. The two books would work well … Continue reading
So blame it on Washington!
No other world capital so directly expresses itself in architecture as Washington, D.C. Its classicism was selected by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to reflect the ideals of democracy, reaching back to those of Athens and Rome. Between 1800 and … Continue reading
Taking wing on Westminster
Arnold “Buff” Chace, Providence’s pioneering redeveloper of downtown, has another major project in mind for Westminster Street. He has announced the renovation of the Lapham, Wit, and Trayne buildings, erected in 1904, 1925, and 1893, respectively. To the Trayne will … Continue reading
