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Tag Archives: Rhode Island State House
R.I.’s State House in noir
Imagine my surprise at seeing, last night, the Rhode Island State House in the opening scene of High Sierra, the 1941 film in which Humphrey Bogart is pardoned. He shortly after plans a heist in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Rhode … Continue reading
Prospect Terrace renewed
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
Hunting the Bristol baluster
Some collections grow slowly. My collections of miniature buildings and of historical balusters are moribund. I have about twenty or thirty of the little buildings (gathered mostly on overseas trips) and two balusters – one from the Rhode Island State … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Rhode Island
Tagged Baluster, Balustrade, Bristol RI, classical architecture, John Brown House, Linden Place, Rhode Island State House, RISD
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Tenn. Tuxedo & P. Purebred
The image above of the Rhode Island State House (Charles Follen McKim, 1900), set against a classical metropolitan backdrop in its role as City Hall, is from the 2007 film Underdog. That year I wrote a column for the Providence … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Providence
Tagged Disney, Hollywood, Polly Purebred, Providence RI, Rhode Island State House, Underdog, Victoria Somlo
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Is architecture charming?
Although it says nothing of architecture, an essay by Joseph Epstein on charm causes me to wonder whether architecture can be charming. His essay, “Life’s Little Luxury,” in The Weekly Standard, is discursive, that is, it rambles round, making its … Continue reading
Prov’s City Beautiful parks
Catherine Zipf’s piece in today’s Providence Journal, “Bus proposal is appalling,” is dead on. The more you think about it, as Zipf has clearly done, the more difficult it is to imagine a rational reason for the state’s proposal to … Continue reading
State House lawn at risk
The State House Lawn and Park are identified among a dozen major open spaces across the nation as at risk by the Cultural Landscape Foundation, in Washington, D.C.. The foundation’s Landslide 2017 report “Open Season on Open Space” is concerned … Continue reading
Our stately house of state
The other day who should pass through Providence on the way to view the mansions of Newport but Michael Rouchell, of New Orleans, founder of the Louisiana chapter of the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. No ICAA honcho can … Continue reading
A new Kennedy Plaza plan
A new plan for Kennedy Plaza is described in this morning’s Providence Journal. “Kennedy Plaza plan envisions ‘true civic heart’,” by Donita Naylor and Jacqueline Tempera, describes a proposal that makes a lot of sense. It does not seem to … Continue reading
