Tag Archives: Providence RI

Trad and not so trad, cont.

Posted on May 29, 2020 by

In light of my recent review of Beauty Memory Unity (2019), by Steve Bass, I offer a long post from 2017 that urges classicists to criticize bad trad more gently if they seek a classical revival. Bass describes strict methodologies … Continue reading →

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

Your face as face mask art

Posted on April 22, 2020 by

Years ago, I urged Providence artists to create murals designed to look like the buildings on which they were painted. A façade with no windows could be painted to look like the rest of the building. Humans could be leaning … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art and design | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Canonicus Square betrayed?

Posted on March 22, 2020 by

Hoyle Square, in Providence’s West End, where Cranston St. branches off Westminster, was renamed for Canonicus, the Narragansett sachem who in 1636 gave tribal land to Roger Williams for Providence Plantations. I could not learn the year the square’s name … Continue reading →

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

New England’s “Windy City”

Posted on March 9, 2020 by

Boston is the Windy City of New England partly because of its proximity to the North Atlantic but also its funnels of street gusts caused by its dreadfully metastasizing skyscrapers. Wind tunnels are raising eyebrows (and skirts) in the Hub, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Prospect Terrace renewed

Posted on February 26, 2020 by

Landscape architect Sara Bradford led the recent restoration of Providence’s Prospect Terrace, in its College Hill neighborhood near Brown University. Her late husband, RISD professor of architecture and modernist Derek Bradford, was my nemesis as I covered the city’s Capital … Continue reading →

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

At Brown, here we go again

Posted on February 21, 2020 by

Brown University is at it again. It plans to tear down old structures in order to build new ones. GoLocalProv.com’s story, “Brown Proposing to Build 375-Bed Residential Hall – Multiple Structures to be Demolished,” mentions four demolitions and reveals that … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , | 19 Comments

The future of Providence

Posted on January 15, 2020 by

Dire. That’s a good word for the bad future of Providence if the erosion of its historic character continues at its current pace. In “Say no to ugly buildings,” an Oct. 28 oped for the Providence Journal, I listed the … Continue reading →

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

Lost Providence still giftable

Posted on December 24, 2019 by

Lost Providence, by yours truly, would make a great gift for anyone keen on the history of Providence, the blessing of traditional architecture, or the bane of modern architecture. Or, dear reader, get it for yourself. Most bookstores in Providence … Continue reading →

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

O starchitect house blues!

Posted on December 18, 2019 by

A Bloomberg article, “Having a Home by a Star Architect Is Amazing – Until You Try to Sell It,” by James Tarmy, raised the hair on the back of my neck. Among my favorite activities when I slip into one … Continue reading →

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

Imagine all the buildings …

Posted on November 29, 2019 by

The other day, flipping through stacks of my old Providence Journal columns seeking a shot of a c. 1750 house in Providence’s old village of Hardscrabble (which I found), I came across a column inspired by a website’s image of … Continue reading →

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