Another classical era has come to an end – a very short-lived period.
An executive order issued by former President Donald J. Trump in the waning days of his government, which sought to make classical architecture the standard style for new federal buildings, was revoked this week by President Biden as the White House reiterated its comprehensive response policy.
Although the Trump-issued order no longer considered new designs, it was strongly condemned by several leading architects and architectural societies – including the American Institute of Architects and National Trust for Historic Preservation – for trying to make an official , prefer to impose national style. .
Trump’s executive order, which he signed in December after losing his bid for re-election, was titled ‘Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture’, praising Greco-Roman architecture as’ beautiful ‘, while modernist designs as’ described as ugly and contradictory. Those who advocated the order announced it as a return to a past era of federalist style. The U.S. Institute of Architects, which said it was “appalled” by the Trump order, praised the decision to revoke it.
The debate was not just about aesthetics.
“By reversing this order, the Biden administration has restored communities with the freedom of design choice essential to the design of federal buildings that can best serve the public,” the institute’s president Peter Exley said in a statement. said. “It is fundamental to the process of an architect and to achieving the highest quality buildings possible.”
Michael Kimmelman, the architectural critic of The New York Times, condemned the measure when it was discussed in February last year. “Just to feel this argument condescending,” he wrote.
President Biden’s executive order, issued Wednesday, instructs government officials to ‘immediately consider taking steps to repeal any orders, rules, regulations, guidelines or policies or portions thereof’ that would implement Trump’s decision. It also called for the abolition of any “staff positions, committees, task forces or other institutions set up” to carry it out.
It remains unclear what broader impact the repeal could have on the new government’s relationship with the remaining Trump appointments of the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts.
Justin Shubow, the recently elected chairman of the Fine Arts Commission and a Trump nominee, said it was “disappointing” to see the executive order of the former president, which he insisted on, revoked. As one of the greatest critics of modern architecture and president of the National Civic Art Society, Shubow was instrumental in bringing Trump to his attention. On its website, the group calls modernist styles such as brutality as ‘blobitechture’ and ‘parasitic’.
Shubow said in an interview that society “intends to work with the Biden government to promote change that will establish a true democratic architecture.”
Contrary to the proposed order last year, the National Trust said in a statement that although it values traditional and classical buildings, an attempt to smash the entire record of American architecture by requiring federal buildings to be designed, and even needs to be changed, to comply with a narrow list style determined by the federal government does not align with the values of historical preservation. ‘