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Tag Archives: Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again
Animal spirits of the E.O.
The General Services Administration, which designs, builds and maintains all federal buildings, has issued a pair of RFQs (Request for Qualifications) for architects to design two federal courthouses, one in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and another in Huntsville, Ala., in a … Continue reading
Amend GSA’s guidelines?
After February’s leak of the draft executive order to prefer traditional design for federal architecture, many architects, including some classicists, worried that classicism would be hurt by any proposal linked to President Trump. Now, on the heels of a congressional … Continue reading
E.O. to protect the statues
After he spoke at Mount Rushmore to celebrate Independence Day, Donald Trump signed an executive order to protect public statuary, to reconstruct statues damaged or destroyed by vandals in the weeks leading up to the president’s oration, and to create … Continue reading
A preview of the E.O. era?
At the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which oversees the aesthetic evolution of the federal district in Washington, D.C., a battle over renovations to the Federal Reserve Building, 1937, designed by Paul Philippe Cret in a stripped classical style, hints … Continue reading
Melania’s tennis pavilion
It will be of some modest good cheer for most readers of this blog to learn that a classical tennis pavilion is under construction in the back yard of the White House. The project has been led by First Lady … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture
Tagged Coronavirus, Dezeen, Donald Trump, Executive Order, Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again, Marie Antoinette, Melania Trump, Naitonal Park Service, National Capital Planning Commission, Petit Trianon, University of Ljubljani, White House, White House Tennis Pavilion
8 Comments
Comparing Italy and Britain
What makes a good society? Part of the answer is good architecture. Yet the good that is done by good architecture reaches well beyond beauty. Good architecture does much to create the conditions in which health, prosperity and happiness grow. … Continue reading
EO: The two paths ahead
The draft executive order that is stirring within the Trump administration is forcing classicists in the field of architecture to choose one of two paths forward. The path that goes through the E.O., if it is not already throttled in … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture
Tagged classical architecture, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Donald Trump, General Services Administration, Henry Hope Reed, ICAA, Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again, McKim Mead & White, Modern Architecture, National Civic Art Society, Penn Station, Sir Roger Scruton, Washington DC, World's Columbian Exposition
19 Comments
America’s favorite buildings
For its 150th anniversary, the American Institute of Architects commissioned a double-blind survey of American citizens to discover their favorite American buildings. To the dismay of the AIA, which is modernist to the core, the survey confirmed what everyone already … Continue reading
Parsing classical creativity
The proposed executive order encouraging classical architecture for federal buildings in Washington and elsewhere, if adopted by President Trump, would replace Kennedy-era guidelines that have encouraged modern architecture for federal buildings since 1962. Enough time has passed to declare modern … Continue reading
Unify in the fight for beauty
The draft executive order to encourage classical architecture for federal buildings in Washington and elsewhere has shifted the world of architecture on its axis. Patrick Webb, a teacher of ornamental plastering at the American College of Building Arts in Charleston, … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning
Tagged American College of Building Arts, classical architecture, Donald Trump, Draft Executive Order, Hitler, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Making Dystopia, Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again, Modern Architecture, Nazis, Patrick Webb, The Man in the Glass House, Third Reich, TradArch
7 Comments
