President Donald Trump has issued an executive order promoting neoclassical architecture as the official style for federal buildings across America. The order, titled "Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture," directs the General Services Administration (GSA) to submit recommendations within 60 days on how to implement the policy.
The order states that federal public buildings should be "visually identifiable as civic buildings and respect regional, traditional, and classical architectural heritage in order to uplift and beautify public spaces and ennoble the United States and our system of self-government."
This policy echoes a similar order issued by Trump in 2020, which was revoked by President Joe Biden in February 2021. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has denounced the policy, stating that it would "stifle innovation."
The GSA currently owns or leases 8,629 properties across the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam, and American Samoa. One building that might be directly impacted by the memorandum is the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the headquarters of the FBI.
Trump has expressed his desire for a neoclassical FBI building to be built in Washington D.C., stating that it should be "the centerpiece of [his] plan to totally renovate and rebuild our capital city into the most beautiful and safest anywhere in the world."
The impact of this policy remains to be seen, but it could potentially influence the design of billions of dollars' worth of construction projects.