President Biden Revokes Trump’s Controversial Classical Architecture Order

Arbiters of good taste often disagree. That is certainly true of architecture.

Late Wednesday, President Biden revoked a controversial executive order former President Trump signed in December called “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture.” The announcement from The White House was included in an executive order that revoked a number of Trump’s actions as president.

When Trump first proposed the executive order, it was clearly an out-with-the-new, in-with-the-old approach to architecture. He called modern federal buildings constructed over the last five decades (think boxy, concrete-heavy Brutalism) “undistinguished,” “uninspiring” and “just plain ugly.”