Tag Archives: The Golden City

Do people really feel beauty?

Posted on February 18, 2021 by David Brussat

I recently received an interesting comment from a frequent visitor to my blog. John the First, as he styles himself, quoted from my January 31 post, “Learn more about classicism,” that “Europeans are surrounded by beauty.” He wrote: I live … Continue reading →

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

The foreboding of H.H. Reed

Posted on March 27, 2020 by David Brussat

I reprint this post less than a year after its publication last May because, for the first time in modern architectural history, there is a chance that the Modern Movement might get its come-uppance. The proposed executive order to shift … Continue reading →

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

A tale of two fountains

Posted on August 19, 2019 by David Brussat

Nicholas Boys Smith is a founder of London’s new-urbanist Create Streets organization and is now the co-chairman of the British government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission along with Sir Roger Scruton. Boys Smith had replaced Scruton after the latter was … Continue reading →

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

Return to ‘The Golden City’

Posted on August 2, 2019 by David Brussat

I kid you not. The other day a correspondent wrote me out of the blue suggesting that I read a book called The Golden City, by Henry Hope Reed. “Curiously, Ron,” I replied, “I’m reading The Golden City right now.” … Continue reading →

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The foreboding of H.H. Reed

Posted on May 12, 2019 by David Brussat

Here’s a passage from “Warning to the Architectural Avant-Garde,” in the May 1959 issue of the journal L’Architettura, by Bruno Zevi, as translated in a collection of essays called Architecture in America: A Battle of Styles, edited by William A. … Continue reading →

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TB blog: “Making Dystopia”

Posted on September 12, 2018 by David Brussat

Here is my Traditional Building blog post from last month, shortly after I received a review copy of Making Dystopia. *** I’ve only just received a review copy of Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism, by … Continue reading →

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Henry Reed in Providence

Posted on September 26, 2014 by David Brussat

Here, as part of this blog’s Blast from the Past feature, is a column from more than a decade ago when Henry Hope Reed visited Providence. The tourmaster got a tour from yours truly. Tomorrow, Philadelphia will host a symposium … Continue reading →

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Hawthorne and architecture

Posted on September 22, 2014 by David Brussat

In his masterpiece (and my bible) The Golden City (1959), Henry Hope Reed cites a character, Holgrave, from Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables, in describing early attitudes toward innovation in architecture. He has Holgrave, a daguerrotypist, say to his inamorata, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment