Trump uses architecture as a weapon. His mob just ransacks it
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Supporters of President Donald Trump scale a wall on the Senate side of the Capitol Building in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College results, Jan. 6, 2021. The mob in Washington attempting to disrupt the peaceful transition of American power also posed a threat to all democracies.Jason Andrew / New York TimesShow MoreShow Less
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Classical architecture buffs with White House connections want to impose their tastes on new government buildings, such as the San Francisco Federal Building, which opened in 2007 and features a tower cloaked in perforated steel rising from a heavy concrete base.John King / The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
Stylistic Straitjacket
The University of Virginia offers a case study on what to expect from President Trump’s executive order decreeing that classicism will be the default style for future Federal Buildings.
The Rotunda of the University of Virginia, designed by Thomas Jefferson Photo: Getty Images By Cammy Brothers Jan. 6, 2021 5:12 pm ET
The long-rumored plan to make classicism the sanctioned style for federal architecture recently became a reality when President Trump issued the “Executive Order on Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture” last month. This may seem like an inconsequential action in the waning days of the administration, but unless it’s revoked by Joe Biden once he assumes the presidency it will endure, threatening to do lasting damage.
Trump attempts to turn the tide on ugly government architecture Follow Us
Question of the Day
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
President Trump thinks we should stop paying for ugly government buildings.
On Dec. 21, he announced the formation of a President’s Council on Improving Federal Civic Architecture. He wants more of the kind of buildings that tourists flock to see and fewer that resemble Soviet-style “brutalist” designs.
In 2007, my wife and I were in Warsaw, Poland, for a World Congress of Families conference. During our cab ride from the airport, we saw miles and miles of ugly modernist architecture foisted on the Polish people by their communist masters.
Architecture Groups Call on Biden to Revoke ‘Classical Buildings’ Executive Order
This is one of the many lame duck executive orders President Trump has issued recently.
Architecture organizations are imploring the incoming Biden administration to rescind the executive order President Trump issued on Monday that requires classical architecture to be the preferred style for federal buildings.
The directive applies to all federal courthouses, agency headquarters, federal public buildings in Washington, D.C., and all other federal public buildings that cost or are anticipated to cost over $50 million to design and build (excluding infrastructure projects and land ports of entry). A draft of the order, initially titled “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again,” was leaked to the publication the
Updated: 4:29 PM CST December 23, 2020
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas President Trump recently signed an executive order to be sure that newly built federal buildings are beautiful, and listed the Corpus Christi Federal Courthouse as an example.
The order says that modern architecture of federal buildings, since the 1950s, has been unpopular with Americans.
The Guiding Principles of 1962 discouraged classical and other traditional designs known for their beauty, declaring instead that the government should use “contemporary” designs, the order said.
The order mentions modeling American buildings after those in ancient Athens and Rome, stating:
Notable Founding Fathers agreed with these assessments and attached great importance to Federal civic architecture. They wanted America’s public buildings to inspire the American people and encourage civic virtue. President George Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson consciously modeled the most import