Updated at 12:30pm ET
Back in February, President Trump set the architectural world reeling with a call for traditional designs for new federal buildings. He proposed an executive order, called Make Federal Buildings Beautiful Again, which took an out-with-the-new, in-with-the-old approach to architecture, calling modern federal buildings constructed over the last five decades undistinguished, uninspiring and just plain ugly.
That proposed order is now a reality. Retitled Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture, it begins with a paean to beautiful public architecture, before moving on to a litany of disapproval aimed at modernist federal buildings.
It s true that modernism abounds in D.C. Standing on a street corner near the National Mall, there s actually a mishmash of architectural styles. Let s talk about three of them: In the distance, the gleaming white pillars of the U.S. Capitol dome, the kind of classical architecture the president s order favors. Close
The Federal Building and Courthouse in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
President Trump, a former builder, signed an executive order Monday intended to promote neo-classical architecture as the official style for federal buildings in Washington, DC., and at new federal courthouses elsewhere.
The order defines classical as including Neoclassical, Georgian, Greek Revival, Gothic and other traditional styles
.It also establishes a new President s Council on Improving Federal Civic Architecture, which is intended to ensure proposed federal buildings are beautiful and reflective of the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of the American system of self-government.
The order cites ancient Greece, ancient Rome and language from the constitution of the Italian city of Siena in 1309 as preferred models.
President Donald Trump with the J. Edgar Hoover Building and the United States Capitol (Getty; iStock)dan
In the waning days of his administration, President Donald Trump is focusing his attention on pressing matters: ensuring that any new government buildings in the nation’s capital are “beautiful.”
The president has signed an executive order, “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture,” that recommends federal buildings in Washington, D.C. be designed in a variety of traditional architectural styles Neoclassical, Georgian, Greek Revival and Gothic among them, according to WAMU.
It would also establish a Council on Improving Federal Civic Architecture, which would be tasked with ensuring that government buildings in D.C. are “beautiful and reflective of the dignity, enterprise, vigor, and stability of the American system of self-government.”
With a few exceptions such as federal court buildings in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Corpus Christi, Texas, “the federal government has largely stopped building beautiful buildings,” Mr. Trump said.
“In Washington, D.C., federal architecture has become a discordant mixture of classical and modernist designs,” his order said.
He described brutalist modern government buildings as characterized by “a massive and blocklike appearance with a rigid geometric style and large-scale use of exposed poured concrete.”
“It is time to update the policies guiding federal architecture to address these problems and ensure that architects designing federal buildings serve their clients, the American people,” Mr. Trump said. “New federal building designs should, like America’s beloved landmark buildings, uplift and beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, command respect from the general public, and, as appropriate, respect the architectural herit
President Donald Trump signed a new executive order Friday, released on Monday, mandating new federal buildings be constructed using classical architecture absent “exceptional factors” necessitating a different style.
“New Federal building designs should, like America’s beloved landmark buildings, uplift and beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, command respect from the general public, and, as appropriate, respect the architectural heritage of the region,” the directive from the White House states.
He did it! President Donald Trump signs executive order stating that classical architecture should be the default for federal buildings. pic.twitter.com/GYBiMiwPU9
The order highlights the cultural heritage of architectural structures modeled after ancient civilizations in Greece and Rome, whose influence can be seen throughout the rest of Western history and invokes their adoption by the nation’s founders in the most famous buildings