Make Architecture Great Again

Washington, D.C., is a melange of architecture that makes little sense. Some of it is Roman, (the Supreme Court, the Capitol Building, etc.), some of it is French (namely, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building), and the rest is downright ugly.

The Trump administration wants to change that. A draft of an executive order entitled “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” would make classical Roman and Greek architecture the default for new federal buildings in Washington.

Spearheaded by the National Civic Art Society, the order attempts to restore Washington’s aesthetic and do away with the damage wrought by contemporary architecture, which has “created a built environment that is degraded and dehumanizing,” the society said.

“For too long architectural elites and bureaucrats have derided the idea of beauty, blatantly ignored public opinions on style, and have quietly spent taxpayer money constructing ugly, expensive, and inefficient buildings,” Marion Smith, the group’s chairman, told the New York Times.

A few architects, joined by liberals who are obligated to oppose the Trump administration, have expressed displeasure with the executive order. But one stroll around Washington should be enough to change their minds. The bureaucratic buildings are nothing more than big, rectangular slabs of concrete plastered with a few windows. Even the windows are a rarity! The Department of Energy’s building has an entire wall that is nothing but cement, and over at the Department of Labor, there’s an interstate on-ramp that literally cuts through the building.

The bureaucracy is an eyesore, but perhaps that’s fitting. Regulation is a blot itself, so at least the exterior matches the interior.

Besides, we should hope Trump’s executive order is never needed. Because if it is, that means new government buildings are getting built, and, well, you get the picture.