Sign in

Peter Coffman

@petercoffman.bsky.social
2.5K followers 1.4K following 1.9K posts

Retired 🇨🇦 architectural historian. carleton.ca/aah/people/peter-coffman Photographer (no AI). Pilgrim. Occasionally a writer. Chief of Staff to two cats. Photos mine unless otherwise credited.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Peter Coffman
Jeffrey Coffman @jeffreycoffman.bsky.social · 6h
What an incredibly novel approach: ‘treat immigrants as people, not pariahs.’ This is great reading for anybody voting in a referendum within the next 20 days. #FFSAlberta perspectivesjournal.ca/immigration-...
perspectivesjournal.ca
Immigration Cannot Be a ‘Magic Number’ Question | Perspectives Journal
Immigration policy needs to be about building lives around family, professional aspirations, global connections, freedom from discrimination, social networks, and even finding love. It needs to inhere...
011
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 12h
"We're still here." And how! 👇 Champaigne and Aishihik Adminstrative Bldg, Haines Junction; Migizii Agamik, Winnipeg; Haida Heritage Centre, Skidegate; Wabano Centre, Ottawa.
A clean, crisp-lines wooden building with several windows is perched atop a rocky mound.An undulating path and stone wall leads to a stone building with a glass porch.A row of modern longhouse-style buildings with central totem poles recedes into the distance.And undulating, irregular stone and glass building sits on a city street as pedestrians pass by.
050
Reposted by Peter Coffman
Toula Drimonis @mtltoula.bsky.social · 12h
montrealgazette.com/news/cca-fou...
montrealgazette.com
Iconic architect Phyllis Lambert, 99, defends Montreal’s heritage buildings
"Montreal is a city of communities, and it's also a city that cares," she says.
2235
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Historical prequel: Third Avenue Complex, Dawson City, Yukon. We can thank Parks Canada for the romantic, evocative name.
Frontal view of two very simple wooden houses, one a bungalow the other three-story, leaning into each other as if for support.
050
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Is it just me, or does the logo for the Signal Awards look a lot like a hand giving someone the finger?
A poster for the Signal Awards, showing a row of vertical bars of unequal height clamped together with headphones, with text reading "5th Annual Signal Awards/Finalists Announced Today".
030
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Feels so good to be easing into fall, my favourite season. After years in academia, 'easing' is the key word. 👇 Westport, Ontario, a few years ago (the colours are not that far along yet this year).
Elevated view (from a hill) of a church spire poking up from a cluster of trees in full fall colours of orange and yellow.
150
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A bit late in the day, but I've just realized I can recycle this for today's #BirdOfTheDay themes, which are #Seabirds; alternative theme #Airborne.
050
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Interested – and a bit surprised – to see @tomflood.bsky.social listed as having endorsed @mark-sutcliffe.bsky.social's re-election bid for Ottawa mayor.
Photograph of Mark Sutcliffe, mayor of Ottawa, with a list of people who have endorsed him, including Tom Flood.
210
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Tomorrow is the Fall #Equinox! Which means that when the sun rises at Loughcrew, Ireland, it will shine straight through the passage of the 5000-year-old tomb 'Cairn T' and illuminate the mysteriously carved backstone. Weather is expected to be sunny; should be unforgettable for a lucky few!
An earthen mound with an entrance opening flanked by upright stone slabs.View through an enclosed passage with upright stone slabs on either side, leading into a dark chamber.View of a very rough stone chamber with upright stone slabs on the sides, a corbeled domical roof, and a flat, carved stone at the far end.Close-up view of a stone slab with various indecipherable carvings on it depicting geometric shapes and patterns.
0307
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I'm delighted – and maybe even a wee bit envious! – to see the second blog from Daniella Dixon, one of the @carleton.ca students who took our summer course on Roman art & architecture in Rome. The course was taught by Prof. Morgan Currie. carleton.ca/aah/2026/dan...
carleton.ca
Daniella's Blog from Rome, Part 2: The First of Many "WOW" Moments - Art and Architectural History
In her second blog from Rome, Daniella gets her first tase of Roman architecture, ambience – and gelato. The famous lemon gelato, served in a real lemon.
030
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I think I'll start the week by posting a photo of a real triumphal arch commissioned by a real emperor and made by people who really understood Classical design. The current poseurs are making me a bit nauseous.
A large masonry block viewed at night from an oblique angle, with three arched opening: a taller central one flanked by shorter, narrower ones. The surfaces are covered in carved ornament, and attached Corinthian columns support a full entablature and attic story.
4264
Reposted by Peter Coffman
Adam Markham @adammarkham.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
At the request of the Magistri Militum I have agreed to convert the Arcus Triumphalis, planned since the Pax Romana, to an Armamentarium to have the rapid ability to use large numbers of manuballistae, plus sagittarii on the attica & platea, & hold large quantities of plumbatae Imp. Constantinus🏺
Constantine's arch from the front against blue sky and a buildings. There is a fence to prevent access.
Photo: User:Alexander Z., CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons
1269
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Much as the Egyptian pyramids served to store grain, I guess.
240
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Real Alcázar, Seville, Spain. #blueskyartshow #golden #stunday
A series of arches, covered in smooth stucco and painted golden yellow, are bathed in indirect sunlight as they recede through a tall, narrow passageway.
0392
Reposted by Peter Coffman
Toon Dreessen @toondreessen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The risk and failure to value design. We have a chance to make 24 Sussex a project where Canadian talent is at at the forefront of excellence. The DB model makes design play second fiddle, and we have no advocacy voice to champion this. #DesignMatters #Canadian Let’s get this right.
1154
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Looks like the shit hit the fans. www.cbc.ca/news/world/h...
cbc.ca
Australian athlete apologizes for competing with diarrhea, says she 'should have made a different choice' | CBC News
Australian Joanna Wietrzyk, who started a global uproar after soiling herself and leaking feces at the popular indoor fitness competition, has apologized for continuing to race and forfeited her win.
020
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Boathouse, South Lancaster, Ontario 🇨🇦. #AdoorableThursday
A simple gabled facade of deep red is punctured by a robin's-egg blue door in the centre.
182
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"...delayed retirements are stifling the process of faculty renewal...". I made way for a younger replacement right on time. Problem is, the university decided not to replace me, leaving a program with 266 majors and 2 faculty. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/edit...
theglobeandmail.com
Globe editorial: The grey (time) zone of academia
The growing cohort of aging professors is raising intergenerational tensions on campuses
040
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Saturday, September 12, 4:00 pm: violinist Anne Lindsay will perform within these walls, among the art pieces. She will perform the music she recorded in St. Anne's but was never able to perform there for an audience before it burned down. 1/2
160
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This is what happens when we start thinking of lakes and other geographical features as billboards rather than places. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Republican lawmaker wants to rename Lake Erie to Lake Pennsylvania | CBC News
David Maloney's proposal comes on the heels of U.S. President Donald Trump's signed order to change name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.
040
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I sympathize with the critiques, but I think they miss the point. Here and so often elsewhere, AI wasn't used because of the way it looks. It was used because of how little it costs. We settle for dross not because we like dross, but because we're too cheap to pay for quality.
241
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Holy smokes! The de Gannes-Cosby house in Annapolis Royal NS is for sale! Begun 1708, it's one of the most historically significant houses in the country. Asking price $495,000. 👇 Gift link. www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/e94a79c...
theglobeandmail.com
Home of the Week: Clapboard house is oldest documented wooden structure in Nova Scotia
A French nobleman commissioned the building with funds provided by King Louis XIV and the original portion was built in 1708
172
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"Research from 2017 widely known as the “brain-drain study” found that the mere presence of a phone reduces cognitive ability." That was 2017. Now we have AI, which will ensure that there's no cognitive ability left to reduce. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
theglobeandmail.com
Opinion: Test scores are falling, and the problem is staring us in the face
To curb the decline, we need to keep classrooms device-free and teach digital literacy
010
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
If only we knew these two heroes' names, maybe we could contact them and invite them to come carry him away one more time.
050
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #Herons&Egrets. I only have time to post one photo, so....
A Great Blue Heron and an Egret share fishing grounds in a pond dotted with lilies and other aquatic vegetation.
1263
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Remembering Winnipeg's remarkable labour history on #LabourDay: Bloody Saturday, sculpture by Noam Gonick (2019), commemorates the 1919 general strike; Charlie Johnston's mural on the Union Centre building (2020) immortalizes Manitoba's labour movement.
A steel sculpture depicts a partially overturned streetcar, partially embedded in the ground.A colourful mural on the side of a modern building depicts images of workers and placards celebrating labour solidarity.
030
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Celebrating the architecture of Labour on Labour Day: Grain Elevators, Rowley, AB; PSAC Building, Ottawa, ON; Ukrainian Labour Temple, Winnipeg, MB; Japanese Quarters, North Pacific Cannery, BC. Happy #LabourDay!
Deep red wooden grain elevators viewed from a low angle against a dark, menacing sky.A broad, 12-story red brick building with a curved façade viewed against a clear, pale blue sky.A broad, yellow-brick building with a large overhanging cornice and Classical detailing around the very large, rectangular windows.A group of simple, white, single-story buildings with red roofs sits suspended on stilts above mud and water at low tide.
0176
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Of course in real life on a real hockey rink, not only would Trump be the one on his bum, but Carney would be the only one with a stick, because tariffs.
061
Reposted by Peter Coffman
Becky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I can absolutely attest to their generosity, having been a 'home from away' on 11 Sept 2001. Beyond hospitality, Gambo offered passengers of five airliners friendship and comfort. And lots of food, great joy, and a look at a dead moose for those who'd never seen one. Much love to them all this week.
1153
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Wonderful story about the most generous people on earth. If I'm ever in trouble and desperate need of help, I hope I'm in a room full of Newfoundlanders. If you're not welcome in Newfoundland, you must be the devil himself – or Peter Hoekstra. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Sept. 11 was one of many times N.L. residents have opened their homes in a crisis | CBC News
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have a long-history of helping those in need, even before the generosity displayed nearly 25 years ago when people opened their homes to stranded airline passengers du...
3102
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
"Teacups on Windowsill" Poem by Lorna Crozier, from The House the Spirit Builds (Douglas & McIntyre, 2019). #Stunday #ImageAndVerse
An image of china teacups of pastel colours, casually stacked in two piles, with stacked saucers beneath, intensely backlit by a mottled window through which the sun pours. The backs of the cups are reflected back toward the viewer in the window. Below is a poem:

TEACUPS ON WINDOWSILL

They've given up
on tea. Now it is light
they want to hold, the sun

a s mother, pouring
into them morning's
golden lumens.

Drink this, the sun says
though it knows
you cannot hear.

When you raise the cup
to your lips, what happens
to your tongue, the dark

cave of your mouth?
What happens to your throat,
its slow, blue pulse.

as the light slides down?
160
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Make that 852 years ago yesterday.
020
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Our terrific neighbourhood just got even better. Opened today for the first time.
A retail front with a sign reading North Wharf Seafood Takeout.
040
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The Mediterranean Sea, looking south from Agrigento, #Sicily. #BlueSkyArtShow #Minimal #Photography
A view toward a horizon divided into three horizontal bands, each a variation of blue. The lower is turquoise, the middle (narrower) one is deep blue, the top (broadest) one is light blue. The first two are the sea, the third the sky.
1341
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
#BirdOfTheDay #InFlight Gannet, Cape St. Mary's, Newfoundland & Labrador.
A gannet in profile and in flight, its brightly sunlit white plumage (with black wingtips and yellowish head) contrasting sharply with the deep blue sea beyond.
0212
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The weather out my window is gloomy, and there's plenty of news to be gloomy about. So, let's start the weekend with some colour! Boathouses, South Lancaster, Ontario 🇨🇦. #Colour #BlueSkyArtShow #ColorADay #Photography
A row of brightly coloured but simple, gabled boathouses recedes diagonally beneath a steely grey sky with some glints of sunlight.
0182
Reposted by Peter Coffman
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Trump's need to assert dominance is igniting patriotism abroad and a backlash at home. His ridiculous bullying of Canada is completely backfiring. My latest for The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2…
theguardian.com
Trump’s ridiculous bullying of Canada is backfiring | Robert Reich
The US president’s need to assert dominance is igniting patriotism abroad and a backlash at home
381194366
Reposted by Peter Coffman
Christopher Dornan @chrisdornan.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I say it again: Nobel Prize in Economics.
4275
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
According to the Ancient Roman writer Vitruvius, the proportions and ornament of a Corinthian column are supposed to evoke the physique of a young girl. So naturally Trump prefers Corinthian.
150
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Wow! I see that the Bank of Canada has introduced a new, vertical $20 bill. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... If we're looking for vertical images of iconic Canadian sites for vertical paper currency, I'd like to nominate my shot of Presqu'île Point Lighthouse (built 1840).
Black and white image of a gleaming white lighthouse with a gothic, pointed-arch doorway, against a dark sky and framed by foliage.
120
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
One more for: #BirdOfTheDay #Contrast Egret, South Lancaster, Ontario 🇨🇦.
Black & white image of a gleaming ,white wading bird with a long, S-shaped neck and long pointed beak, standing in a pond of dark water with a few Lilly pads behind.
2283
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Last summer, a dozen of our students spent three weeks in Rome with my colleague Prof. Morgan Currie, studying the architecture and art of Rome on-site. Here's the first of several blogs on the experience by one of those students, Daniella Dickson. carleton.ca/aah/2026/dan...
carleton.ca
Daniella's Blog from Rome: Part 1 - Art and Architectural History
This is the first of several blogs in which History & Theory of Architecture student Daniella Dickson reflects on her experience taking our Study in
040
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Great Blue Heron, Alexandria, Ontario 🇨🇦. #BirdOfTheDay #Contrast
Black & white image of a great blue heron brightly lit by the sun against a dark background, with its backed turned to the viewer and its head turned to the side.
1161
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Boat House, South Lancaster, Ontario 🇨🇦. #AdoorableThursday
The front of a rustic building, clad in pressed metal painted bright green, with a wooden door painted in deep red and bright orange.
0120
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
One day, perhaps to our grandchildren, this will be very, very funny. www.cbc.ca/news/world/u...
cbc.ca
Donald Trump mistakes Bank of Canada for retail bank | CBC News
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday implied the Bank of Canada was a commercial bank with locations south of the border, not a Crown corporation based up north.
021
Reposted by Peter Coffman
Alex Usher @alexusherhesa.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Here is my letter to the MacDonald Laurier Institute on the subject of their appalling research. Use as you will. I recommend sending something of your own, though. And if you know anyone associated with MLI - and Board directors, say - send it to them, too.
docs.google.com
Alex Usher email to Brian Lee Crowley
(text of an email sent to Brian Lee Crowley of the MacDonald Laurier Institute on September 2, 2026) Dear Brian, I am writing to you and your board with respect to the publication “The equity excelle...
32311121
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
“It’s architecturally not a significant historic building.” That's based on a narrow and untenable assessment of historical significance, and demonstrates why architects are rarely the right people to make such calls. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...
theglobeandmail.com
Major changes coming to 24 Sussex Dr., famed architect Moshe Safdie says
Safdie, who will lead the jury selecting a proposal for the building’s restoration, envisions a much broader role for the prime minister’s residence
150
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Not even the crocodiles can be bothered to cry. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Deported Milo Yiannopoulos says he is ‘ashamed’ of support for Trump
British far-right pundit breaks silence on ICE arrest and deportation and says he was ‘really, really terrified’
040
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I don't want to pile on, but.... where's Haida Gwaii? @haidagwaiimuseum.bsky.social www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
'Where's Newfoundland?' ask shocked residents looking at Hilroy exercise books | CBC News
As a new school year approaches, parents and students are out buying new school supplies — but one classroom staple has people in Newfoundland and Labrador demanding answers.
131
Peter Coffman @petercoffman.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I see the #BirdOfTheDay theme is #FlowerPower, which means I can recycle the egret I posted yesterday (it just qualifies thanks to the water lily). Photographed Sunday at South Lancaster, Ontario.
A pure white egret wades waste-deep in a pond beside a bed of lily pads, its long, slender neck stretched forward as it peers intently at the water in search of fish.
0201