Trumps action over controversial classic order revoked by President Biden

Trump’s controversial executive order was revoked by Joe Biden late Wednesday, which included an order called’ Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture’.

When Trump first proposed the executive order, it was clearly an out-with-the-new, in-with-the-old approach to architecture. According to Trump,  modern federal buildings constructed over the last five decades are “undistinguished,” “uninspiring” and “just plain ugly.”

In 2018, Trump appointed one of modern architecture’s biggest critics to chair the CFA: Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society (NCAS).

The organization was the driving force behind Trump’s executive order. It also led a six-year campaign against Frank Gehry’s Eisenhower memorial, which forced the architect to make some changes to his original design.

In a statement to the media, Shubow defends Trump’s call to restore traditional architecture to federal buildings. He writes, “our federal architecture has been dismal for decades, and has been designed in modernist styles that do not represent what ordinary Americans actually want.”

According to a survey by the Harris Poll, it found that “72% of American adults prefer classical and traditional design for federal buildings. There were wide majorities for tradition across all demographic groups, including political party affiliation,” he says.

President Trump before bidding adieu to his presidency appointed four new members to seven-member CFA includes Steven W. Spindle of New Jersey, who designed the tennis pavilion on the White House grounds completed in 2020. Perry Guillot of New York, who recently completed renovations of the Rose Garden and the Children’s Gardens at the White House.

All seven members of the commission are white men. Commission members serve four-year, unpaid terms.

Philip Kennicott called for Biden to “move quickly to remove the current members.” He writes, “They should be replaced with a diverse body of professionals, including women and people of color, who bring a wide and spirited range of aesthetic viewpoints to the commission’s monthly meetings.”

Shubow notes “We intend to work with the Biden administration to implement change that will build a truly democratic architecture that “historically our advice is always heeded.”