Make federal buildings beautiful again

Published January 23, 2025 12:01am ET



An executive order President Donald Trump signed on Monday that many people are likely to regard as less important than most others is one that could have the longest impact and is unambiguously welcome. Under the “Promoting Federal Civic Architecture” order, the 47th president directed the administrator of the General Services Administration to rewrite the agency’s architectural and design guidelines for federal buildings with an eye toward making them beautiful and appropriate again.

The order calls for changes to the GSA’s guiding principles for federal architecture to “advance the policy 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.”

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