by Ross Cann | Oct 18, 2014 | Historical, Professional
This column has often argued that Newport is blessed with a broad and deep cultural and architectural heritage. From the city’s rich concentration of colonial houses along Spring Street and in the Point District, to the extraordinary collection of Greek revival, Queen...
by Ross Cann | Aug 31, 2014 | Historical, Professional
This column has often lovingly called Newport the “Metropolitan Museum of Architecture” for the breadth and depth of its collection of important buildings from the colonial times through the early part of the nineteenth century. This audacious claim is based upon the...
by Ross Cann | Nov 8, 2013 | Professional, Technology
The last five years have been a quiet time for building construction and design in the United States. According to the US Census Bureau, the volume of construction in the last 5 years is nearly 30% less than the previous five years and is still lower today than it was...
by Ross Cann | Oct 20, 2013 | Professional
For nearly forty years, Middletown has proscribed to zoning that requires businesses to set back from the street and encouraged parking lots to be placed in front of buildings. The end result, not surprisingly, was a sea of strip malls and an ocean of pylon signs...
by Ross Cann | Sep 12, 2013 | Historical, Professional
This past year has seen many instances where the issues of preservation and rehabilitation have been in the news and on people’s minds. For those who have not been through the procedure of presenting before the Historic District Commission (HDC), the process is...
by Ross Cann | Aug 30, 2013 | Historical, Professional
Newport Rhode Island is fortunate to have one of the most intact collections of important 18th, 19th, and early 20th century buildings anywhere in America. But these buildings have not survived to the present day simply by not being torn down (although that was a...