I've been thinking a lot about this report from yesterday that the Trump administration is considering mandating what effectively appears to be that new federal buildings be constructed in the classical style.
Classical and classical-inspired architecture for public buildings can be inspiring and beautiful. 
But an obsession over classical styles over other kinds of aesthetics can indicate not just a visual preference (fine!) but a deep insecurity about the legitimacy of your political rule.
So I thought I would share some of my favorite federal buildings that are not in the classical style.
Start on the National Mall, with our spectacular museums. First up: the National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of African American History and Culture
The Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gallery
The National Air and Space Museum
The East Wing of the National Gallery of Art
The Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building
But let's step off the Mall. There are still other beautiful non-classical federal buildings. The main National Archives building downtown is classical, but the larger complex in College Park is not
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building is in the Second Empire style
We can leave DC. Here's the Everett M. Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago, designed by Mies van der Rohe
Here in Cleveland, the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse is a beautiful building
DC's U.S. Tax Court Building is striking
Courts are among the most important federal buildings, and they are among the best examples of innovative architecture, including recent designs maximizing natural lighting and minimizing need for energy consumption, like at the First Street Federal Courthouse in Los Angeles
What about buildings for science? This is the new NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction in College Park, Maryland
Here's NOAA's Daniel K. Inouye Regional Center in Hawaii, which would look really stupid in a neoclassical style
Here's NASA's Ames Sustainability Base in Mountain View, designed to test and exhibit innovative green construction
Whatever you may think of the surveillance state, the NSA is effectively imposing
The CIA in Reston, Virginia, is definitely not classical and yet a perfectly lovely building, aesthetically
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sits in a perfectly nice office building off the Rockville Pike
Some ding dong put a hotel in this beautiful, non-classical Old Post Office Building
Anyway, I could go on for hours and yet I have other things to do. There are hundreds of federal buildings. Explore the GSA website. We, the people, own a lot of beautiful buildings. Some are classical, and many are not!
The bottom line is that in a small-d democratic society with a small-r republican form of government, public architecture should change with the aesthetic preferences of the people and the government should make public buildings innovative and inspiring works of art.
I'm going to add one more that I had thought of this morning but forgot to include. That's the main style of underground DC Metro stations -- total Brutalist style, and, frankly, iconic.
Now that the NYT has a story up and some are claiming anyone against it is just a reflexive Trump-hater (who knows if he’s even heard of this)—I wondered about the obviously faux-populist claim of its backers that Americans hate modern architecture & yearn for classical styles.
Well, the American Institute of Architects did a survey in 2006 & 2007 and you know what they found? Americans like lots of different styles of buildings!
#1 most popular? The Art Deco Empire State Building!
#2 Neoclassical White House
#3 Gothic Revival Washington National Cathedral
#4 Neoclassical Jefferson Memorial
#5 Art Deco Golden Gate Bridge
#6 the Neoclassical US Capitol
#7 the Greek Revival Lincoln Memorial
#8 the Chateauesque Biltmore Estate/Vanderbilt Residence
#9 the Art Deco Chrysler Building
#10 the Modern Vietnam Memorial
You can check out the full list here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%2…
The obvious point is that Americans aren't clamoring for some idealized classical aesthetic that this tiny group of anxious scolds claims.
Americans like all sorts of styles, and that is what our government should encourage.
Americans like all sorts of styles, and that is what our government should encourage.
Also Moynihan’s policy for encouraging innovative & creative public architecture came about because in 1962 existing buildings were largely ugly and boring.
This is about the same time Jackie Kennedy visited the State Department and was brought to tears by the shabby, drab rooms foreign diplomats visited. She was totally embarrassed for the country.
