Trump signs executive order to make ‘federal architecture beautiful again’

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Aug 28 that requires federal buildings in Washington to maintain a classical style of Greco-Roman architecture, associated with the marble columns and austere hallways of the Supreme Court and US Capitol.

The new guidelines, which the White House has framed as “making federal architecture beautiful again”, also discourage federal construction projects nationwide from choosing modernist styles like Brutalism.

“Because of their proven ability to meet these requirements, classical and traditional architecture are preferred modes of architectural design,” the executive order said.

It added, “Major emphasis should be placed on the choice of designs that embody architectural excellence”.

Architects had expected the new rules for some months, ever since the White House released a memorandum in January calling for federal buildings to respect “classical architectural heritage”.

It was a throwback to an executive order that Mr Trump passed in the final weeks of his first administration and was later rescinded by then US president Joe Biden.

“Architecture should be of its moment,” said Ms Liz Waytkus, the executive director of Docomomo US, a non-profit dedicated to preserving 20th-century architecture. “It seems the current administration wants to look back and not forward.”

The executive order said that founding fathers of the US George Washington and Thomas Jefferson modelled buildings in Washington, including the White House, on the architecture of ancient Athens and Rome.

“They sought to use classical architecture to visually connect our contemporary Republic with the antecedents of democracy in classical antiquity, reminding citizens not only of their rights but also their responsibilities in maintaining and perpetuating its institutions,” the order said.

The new guidelines will affect several federal projects, according to Mr Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society, a non-profit that helped draft the executive order.

He said the designs for new courthouses in places like Hartford, Connecticut, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, would need to follow the executive order.

In recent years, courthouses with a modern style have opened in cities like San Antonio and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

“For too long, federal architecture has been in a dismal state,” Mr Shubow said in a statement that refers to Mr Trump. “Recognising the public’s disdain of our more recent government buildings, he is ensuring that new edifices will be beautiful, dignified, and admired by the common person. Federal buildings will be once again noble symbols of our democracy.”

The White House has taken measures in recent months to exert more control over the design and planning of federal architecture.

It has eyed plans for the redevelopment of south-western Washington, where several buildings are under consideration for disposal, meaning they could be torn down and replaced.

Those include the James V. Forrestal Building, which houses the US Department of Energy, and the Jamie L. Whitten Building, where the US Department of Agriculture resides.

In July, Mr Trump also appointed three administration officials to the National Capital Planning Commission, which advances the US government’s interest in the development of Washington by overseeing federal land.

The commission has traditionally included architects, urban planners and engineers.

New appointees included Mr William Scharf as the commission’s chairman; he is also one of Mr Trump’s personal lawyers and the White House staff secretary.

The commission has since taken aim at Mr Jerome Powell, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve, over a US$700 million (S$898 million) renovation to his department’s building that has been proceeding since 2021.

Mr James Blair, a new planning commissioner and the White House’s deputy chief of staff, has referred to the headquarters as the “Taj Mahal on the National Mall”.

The US President also announced a ballroom expansion to the White House in July, which is being overseen by architect James McCrery II, another founding member of the National Civic Art Society.

Preservationists worry that the new executive order is encoding a distaste for Brutalism, which was a popular style of architecture in the postwar era during a boom in the construction of public projects like universities, libraries and administrative offices.

Architects closely associated with the style, including Mr Paul Rudolph and Mr Marcel Breuer, advanced the use of exposed concrete to build functional spaces of openness and warmth.

Critics, however, have frequently described the style as cold and elitist.

It was frequently used in federal complexes like the J. Edgar Hoover Building, which opened north of the National Mall in the 1970s to negative reviews that described it as “arrogant” and “overbearing”.

The US General Services Administration (GSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have announced they would be leaving the Hoover Building because of its dilapidated structure and ageing water system.

Mr Michael Peters, the GSA’s public buildings service commissioner, said in a statement that the complex had more than US$300 million in deferred maintenance costs.

Some preservationists have expressed scepticism about those costs, saying that the federal government has generally been a good steward of its buildings.

“They are allowed their opinions, but this is a taste argument,” Ms Waytkus said. “Where it gets more challenging and disturbing is when that is dictated by the federal government.” NYTIMES