NCAS President Justin Shubow on Ordinary People's Preferences in Architecture

In May 2024, National Civic Art Society president Justin Shubow gave a talk on ordinary people’s preferences in architecture at a Beauty and Ugliness in Architecture conference in Oslo, Norway. Many members of the Arkitekturupproret (Architectural Uprising) were there.

In his lecture, Shubow highlighted the NCAS / Harris Poll survey of 2,000 adults finding that nearly three-quarters of Americans (72%) – including majorities across political, racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic lines – prefer traditional architecture for U.S. courthouses and federal office buildings. For a Bloomberg News story on the survey, see "Classical or Modern Architecture? For Americans, It’s No Contest." 

You can watch the video of Shubow’s talk HERE.

NCAS President Justin Shubow on Roger Scruton's Philosophy of Architecture

The leading philosopher of architecture of his time, Roger Scruton spent his life thinking and writing about the aesthetics of the built environment. He published such books as The Aesthetics of Architecture and The Classical Vernacular: Architectural Principles in an Age of Nihilism, along with numerous pieces of popular journalism on the subject. A staunch foe of Modernist architecture, Scruton argued for the superiority of the classical tradition, which he believed to be unparalleled in its capacity to produce beauty and harmony, and to make us feel at home in the world.

Controversy exploded in Britain when he was appointed chairman of the UK government's Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, which addressed the poor design of homes and places. A similar controversy has erupted in recent years in America as both President Trump and Congress have promoted classical and traditional design for federal buildings and U.S. courthouses.

On May 19, 2024, National Civic Art Society president Justin Shubow delivered this lecture at Georgetown University surveying Scruton's ideas about architecture as well as how his followers should respond to recent events in America.

The lecture was part of a conference, Roger Scruton: America, presented by The Center for American Culture and Ideas, American Enterprise Institute, Ethics & Public Policy Center, and National Civic Art Society. 

You can watch the video on YouTube HERE.

Essay on Beauty, Virtue, and American Classical Architecture

Virginia Capitol Designed by Thomas Jefferson

On August 21, 2024,TomKlingenstein.com published an essay by NCAS president Justin Shubow on beauty, virtue, and American classical architecture titled “Make American Beautiful Again.” Senator Marco Rubio called it a "must read piece." To quote:

The Victorian art critic John Ruskin thought that “every form of noble architecture is in some sort the embodiment of the Polity, Life, History, and the Religious Faith of nations.” It makes sense, then, that throughout history statesmen and other leaders have concerned themselves with the design of symbolically important edifices. Unsurprisingly, when there exists disagreement about political and cultural values, the choice of architecture of noble buildings — including civic buildings — becomes a contested issue. But the intensity of past debates pales in comparison with the debate over political architecture today.

[…]

In a 1784 letter to a 28-year-old John Trumbull, who would later mature into the lauded “painter of the American Revolution,” Edmund Burke emphasized the precedence of public edifices in a new country: “You belong to a young nation, which will soon want public buildings; these must be erected before the decorations of painting and sculpture will be required. … Qualify yourself to superintend their erection. Decorate them also, if you will.” 

Like the Virginia Capitol, buildings such as the U.S. Capitol, Treasury Department, and Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York City demonstrate the exceptional qualities of classical architecture: its beauty, harmony, and timelessness stem from its symmetry, balance, organized complexity, ornament and detailing, capacity for grandeur without arrogance, evocation of order without capital-R Rationalism, and grounding in human proportion and human experience. 

Classical architecture is not just about unparalleled aesthetic excellence; it is the architecture of American democracy, the style most associated with our system of government and our highest ideals, the architecture of civic virtue. It is also an architecture conducive to the rootedness of the polis, of the mutual bonds of citizenship extending across generations. In an era of presentism, classical architecture encourages Americans to think in centuries. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan told the Senate in 1983, “We must not preserve buildings out of a fear that we have lost the ability to create things of grace and beauty. … I wish to preserve things as an example of what we were and will be, not what we were and no longer can be.”

Classical public buildings make us feel proud of our country; they make us confident in our dignity as citizens of a great Republic. As art historian Vincent Scully said about New York’s original Pennsylvania Station, a Beaux Arts masterpiece inspired by an ancient Roman public bath, “One entered the city like a god.” Modernist architecture diminishes us; it would have us forget the past. Epitomizing Modernism, Brutalist public buildings thunder at us, “Mortal Man, Thou Art Nothing.”

We must preserve classical architecture most of all because it is ours. While there are other noble styles around the world, it is American classicism that is our heritage. It perpetuates and strengthens our wise system of government; unlike in countries such as France, now in its Fourth Republic, America has had only one regime, a single Republic that extends back to the War of Independence. In the face of those who wish to tear down that regime, we must protect and construct edifices that symbolize it. 

We must not forget that an everlasting Republic is buttressed by sempiternal beauty. . . .

You can read the full article HERE.

NCAS President Justin Shubow: How We Turned the Tables on Modern Architectural Eyesores

On July 10, 2024, National Civic Art Society president Justin Shubow gave a talk on “How We Turned the Tables on Modern Architectural Eyesores” at the National Conservatism conference in Washington, D.C.

He discussed policy regarding federal architecture, including President Trump’s Executive Order that re-oriented federal architecture from Modernism to classical and traditional design. Shubow said:

Although the Executive Order was rescinded [by President Biden], it has led to a major welcome development. Thanks to the leadership of Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Jim Banks of Indiana, there is now pending in the House and Senate legislation titled the Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act. The legislation would essentially codify Trump’s Order and requires even more strongly the inclusion of public input. There are eight Senate co-sponsors so far, including J.D. Vance, Mike Lee, Roger Marshall, and Bill Hagerty. And there are eight co-sponsors in the House, including Elise Stefanik. . . . 

There is still more momentous news. I just learned that the 2024 GOP platform states that “Republicans will promote beauty in Public Architecture and . . . build cherished symbols of our Nation.” The platform also calls for making Washington, D.C. the most beautiful capital city.

But for Trump’s Executive Order, this never would have happened. 

You can watch the video of the talk here.

C.J. Howard Speaks on The Arrow of Aesthetics: Architecture’s Role in Cultural Formation Through Virtue

On June 7, 2024, the National Civic Art Society, together with The Academy Of Philosophy & Letters, co-sponsored a lecture by C.J. Howard on "The Arrow of Aesthetics: Architecture’s Role in Cultural Formation Through Virtue." The event took place at the University of Maryland, with introductions by Luke Sheahan and NCAS President Justin Shubow.

You can watch the video HERE.

About the speaker: C.J. Howard is principal architect at C.J. Howard Architecture LLC. He is a registered architect who has spent more than two decades practicing in the Washington, D.C. region. He has extensive experience working for firms nationally known for their commitment to, and expertise in, classical and traditional design. Since 2017, Mr. Howard has also served as Assistant Professor at The Catholic University of America where he teaches in the newly launched classical traditional architecture and urbanism track.

Mr. Howard has most recently been a Lead Project Architect for McCrery Architects in Washington, D.C., leading the design and construction of major ecclesiastical projects (both to benefit vibrant and growing Catholic communities on university campuses as well as expanding dioceses). Some of those projects include: a new Thomas Aquinas Chapel and Blessed John Newman Student Center at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln), renovated Saint John Paul the Great Chapel at Mundelein University, a New Christ the King Chapel for Franciscan University of Steubenville and a new Sacred Heart Cathedral in Knoxville, TN.

In addition to his ecclesiastical portfolio, Mr. Howard has worked on a variety of residential and civic projects including several urban design projects in collaboration with the District Department of Transportation, to propose visionary new projects for our Nation’s Capital. He has also garnered attention for his entries in design competitions including a 2008 winning entry for a Contrabands’ and Freedmen’s Cemetery Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. His winning design, chosen from among several hundred entries submitted from 20 countries, was used as the design framework for the memorial which was completed and dedicated in 2014. 

Mr. Howard received both his Bachelor of Architecture (2000) and Master of Architectural Design and Urbanism (2010) from the University of Notre Dame. In 2010, Mr. Howard received the Ferguson & Shamamian Graduate Prize for excellence in classical/traditional design exhibited in a graduate thesis. In 2019, Mr. Howard won the Leicester B. Holland Prize Competition. He is licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Maryland and is a member of the Institute of Classical Architecture, National Civic Art Society, and National Council of Architecture Registration Boards.

National Civic Art Society Stops Bad Legislation That Would Impact Federal Architecture

Writing for The Blaze, Christopher Bedford reported on a major National Civic Art Society legislative victory that unfolded over May 20-21, 2024:

Word began to spread Monday evening around dinnertime: A House bill would be going to the floor Tuesday morning, designed to stop a returning Trump administration from reinstating his 11th-hour attempt to set architectural standards for federal buildings. 

The bill was defeated at the last minute by a network of activists and sympathetic politicians . . . .

The author of the aborted bill, Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) is a longtime champion for the modern architects, who make a killing using taxpayer dollars to build ugly buildings taxpayers (and the poor people required to work in them) cannot stand. She’s been an enemy of any attempt to put reasonable, classical parameters around expensive civic architecture ever since a draft of President Trump’s end-of-term executive order, “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again.”  

Her latest attempt would have forced the next administration to compile a report on all the public comments before trying to reinstate standards of beauty again. The wording seemed innocuous enough, and leadership staff unfamiliar with her repeated attempts to thwart the Republican presidential nominee clearly didn’t notice it. If the bill had passed, it would have gummed up the systems, slowing and tying down any attempts to get reform past the well-organized modernist lobbies. 

And it might have passed, too, if not for a retired senior House staffer who noticed the bill on the schedule. The retiree emailed National Civic Art Society President Justin Shubow, who quickly made a flurry of phone calls, along with texts and emails, working to activate the political network he’d helped build to formulate and push Trump’s original executive order (and subsequent legislative efforts) to make “federal buildings beautiful again.” 

By 8:40 p.m., Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) was posting a rallying cry, and by the start of the next day, Republican members across the caucus had begun to track the bill.

By 10:30 a.m., the speaker’s office had pulled the vote. 

The National Civic Art Society had won.

C.J. Howard to Speak About Architecture and Virtue on June 7

The National Civic Art Society cordially invites you to a dinner lecture by C.J. Howard on “The Arrow of Aesthetics: Architecture’s Role in Cultural Formation Through Virtue.”

Co-sponsored NCAS, the event is the keynote of the The Academy Of Philosophy & Letters' annual conference.

The dinner lecture will take place on Friday June 7, 2024 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the College Park Marriott at 3501 University Blvd E, Hyattsvile, Maryland. Tickets cost $120 for non-members of APL if you register by Mary 23. Register HERE.

About the speaker: C.J. Howard is principal architect at C.J. Howard Architecture LLC. He is a registered architect who has spent more than two decades practicing in the Washington, D.C. region. He has extensive experience working for firms nationally known for their commitment to, and expertise in, classical and traditional design. Since 2017, Mr. Howard has also served as Assistant Professor at The Catholic University of America where he teaches in the newly launched classical traditional architecture and urbanism track.

Mr. Howard has most recently been a Lead Project Architect for McCrery Architects in Washington, D.C., leading the design and construction of major ecclesiastical projects (both to benefit vibrant and growing Catholic communities on university campuses as well as expanding dioceses). Some of those projects include: a new Thomas Aquinas Chapel and Blessed John Newman Student Center at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln), renovated Saint John Paul the Great Chapel at Mundelein University, a New Christ the King Chapel for Franciscan University of Steubenville and a new Sacred Heart Cathedral in Knoxville, TN.

In addition to his ecclesiastical portfolio, Mr. Howard has worked on a variety of residential and civic projects including several urban design projects in collaboration with the District Department of Transportation, to propose visionary new projects for our Nation’s Capital. He has also garnered attention for his entries in design competitions including a 2008 winning entry for a Contrabands’ and Freedmen’s Cemetery Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. His winning design, chosen from among several hundred entries submitted from 20 countries, was used as the design framework for the memorial which was completed and dedicated in 2014. 

Mr. Howard received both his Bachelor of Architecture (2000) and Master of Architectural Design and Urbanism (2010) from the University of Notre Dame. In 2010, Mr. Howard received the Ferguson & Shamamian Graduate Prize for excellence in classical/traditional design exhibited in a graduate thesis. In 2019, Mr. Howard won the Leicester B. Holland Prize Competition. He is licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Maryland and is a member of the Institute of Classical Architecture, National Civic Art Society, and National Council of Architecture Registration Boards.

Register HERE.

NCAS President Justin Shubow to Speak About Roger Scruton's Philosophy of Architecture

The National Civic Art Society cordially invites you to a talk by NCAS President Justin Shubow on "Roger Scruton's Philosophy of Architecture." The talk will take place on Sunday May 19, 2024 at 9:40 AM at Georgetown University (Hariri Building, Room 450) in Washington, D.C.

The lecture is part of a conference, Roger Scruton: America, presented by The Center for American Culture and Ideas, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Ethics & Public Policy Center. The National Civic Art Society is a co-sponsor. Scruton, who passed away in 2020, served on NCAS's Board of Advisors. 

Here is the abstract of Shubow's talk:

The leading philosopher of architecture of his time, Roger Scruton spent his life thinking and writing about the aesthetics of the built environment. He published such books as The Aesthetics of Architecture and The Classical Vernacular: Architectural Principles in an Age of Nihilism, along with numerous pieces of popular journalism on the subject. A staunch foe of Modernist architecture, Scruton argued for the superiority of the classical tradition, which he believed to be unparalleled in its capacity to produce beauty and harmony, and to make us feel at home in the world. Controversy exploded in Britain when he was appointed chairman of the UK government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, which addressed the poor design of homes and places. A similar controversy has erupted in recent years in America as both President Trump and Congress have promoted classical and traditional design for federal buildings and U.S. courthouses. This talk will survey Scruton’s ideas about architecture as well as how his followers should respond to recent events in America.

About the speaker: Justin Shubow is president of the National Civic Art Society, a nonprofit organization that promotes the classical tradition in public art and architecture. He is former Chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency comprising seven presidential appointees who are the aesthetic guardians of Washington, D.C. Shubow has testified in Congress on topics such as the future of the National Mall and the design of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. He is the author of The Gehry Towers over Eisenhower: The National Civic Art Society Report on the Eisenhower Memorial, a critical examination of the memorial’s competition, design, and agency approval.

He has published architectural criticism at Forbes online, First Things, Public Discourse, The Washington Post, and The Weekly Standard. Shubow is a former editor at Forward newspaper and Commentary magazine, and is a recipient of a Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship. He has delivered talks on architecture and other subjects at the U.S. Department of State, American Enterprise Institute, Baylor University, Colorado College, Hamilton College, and the Universities of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and others.

Shubow received a B.A. from Columbia University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and completed four years of study in the University of Michigan’s Ph.D. program in philosophy; he has taught philosophy courses as an instructor at the University of Michigan and Yale College. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation and the Board of Academic Advisors of the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization.

Register HERE.

National Civic Art Society Announces Its 2024 Walking Tour Series

Mt. Pleasant Library

The National Civic Art Society cordially invites you to take part in our 2024 walking tour series of the architecture of historic neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. and the surrounding area: Mt. Pleasant, Foggy Bottom, Old Southwest, U St. / Black Broadway, and Glen Echo, MD.

About the tour leader: Jeanne Fogle is a Washington, D.C. historian who was born in the nation’s capital, where her family has lived for more than 170 years. She has authored four books on Washington, D.C.’s social and architectural history: Two Hundred Years: Stories of the Nation’s Capital; Proximity to Power - Neighbors to the Presidents Near Lafayette Square; Washington, D.C., a Pictorial Celebration; and A Neighborhood Guide to Washington's D.C.'s Hidden History. For 21 years, Fogle served as an adjunct professor of Washington History and Regional Tour Guiding and Tour Managing at NOVA. Her great-grandfather George F. W. Strieby was an accomplished fresco artist whose work adorns the U.S. Capitol.

Tours are limited to 1.5 hours in length and start at 10:00am. Each tour's meeting place will be revealed to registrants. The cost per tour is $10. NCAS members, students, interns, and Hill staffers may obtain free tickets by e-mailing info@civicart.org. If you have any questions, please e-mail info@civicart.org or call (202) 670-1776. Tours take place rain or shine.

Registration is required. You can register HERE.

Tour 1. SATURDAY APRIL 27 - 10:00am-11:30 - MT. PLEASANT

Mt. Pleasant was founded just after the Civil War and was Washington’s first suburb. This rural, bucolic community was home to some of the city’s “movers and shakers.” The village evolved into a fashionable streetcar suburb, then a working-class neighborhood, a haven for immigrants, and is known for its lovely homes and ethnic and racial diversity.

Tour 2. SATURDAY MAY 4 - 10:00am-11:30 - HISTORIC FOGGY BOTTOM

The area now called Foggy Bottom was central to the early development of Washington. Shipping and manufacturing were established; working-class rowhouses and grand mansions were built. It became a Civil War military outpost. The 20th century brought government buildings, a university, a culture center, co-ops, condos, and renewal.

Tour 3. SATURDAY MAY 11 - 10:00am-11:30 - OLD SOUTHWEST

For 150 years, Southwest was the largest working-class, waterfront neighborhood in Washington. The city’s first military post was established there. Immigrants and African-Americans settled in the area. In the 1960s, Southwest underwent “Urban Renewal,” creating a mix of 19th-century, mid-20th-century-modern, new, and some less-lovely structures.

Tour 4. SATURDAY MAY 18 - 10:00am-11:30 - U ST. / BLACK BROADWAY

The U St. area, once rural, housed Civil War camps that by 1869 was the site of Howard University. This area became a city within the city, a neighborhood at the edge of downtown, that was built by and for the African-American community, where theaters and jazz clubs were surrounded by neat rowhouses, shops, churches, and schools.

Tour 5. SATURDAY MAY 25 - 10:00am-11:30 - GLEN ECHO, MARYLAND

Glen-Echo-on-the-Potomac was part of the 1874 Chautauqua Movement of Summer Camps for families. Huge structures were built, important lecturers invited, lots were sold, and houses were built. After one year, it failed. It later became Washington’s best-loved amusement park. Today, it is a magical place located in a charming neighborhood.

Register HERE.

NCAS President Justin Shubow to Speak in Oslo at a Conference on Beauty and Ugliness in Architecture

On May 4, 2024, National Civic Art Society president Justin Shubow will be giving a talk on ordinary people’s preferences in architecture at a conference in Olso, Norway. The theme of the conference is Beauty and Ugliness in Architecture. Other speakers include James Stevens Curl, Michael Diamant, Nikos Salingaros, Branko Mitrovic, and Nir Buras.

NCAS Research Fellow Myron Magnet Publishes Article on the U.S. State Department's Diplomatic Reception Rooms

U.S. State Department Treaty Room

The January issue of the New Criterion magazine features an essay by National Civic Art Society Research Fellow Myron Magnet on the superb classical art and architecture of the U.S. State Department's diplomatic reception rooms. 

The article begins:

Don’t mistake the sumptuously produced, lavishly illustrated America’s Collection: The Art & Architecture of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the U.S. Department of State for just one more coffee-table bagatelle. It’s an important reminder that architecture is as much about the interior as the exterior of buildings, that its role is to adorn and enhance the activity it houses as well as to present a gracious face to the public world. Chief among the landmarks of architectural history, after all, are Michelangelo’s muscular staircase hall in the Laurentian Library, for instance, or Robert Adam’s neoclassical rooms built into the Elizabethan Syon House, or the interiors of the great cathedrals in Christendom. Like those additions to the Laurentian and Syon, the forty-two splendid, classical State Department rooms are built within an earlier building, a bland, modern behemoth, to which these rooms stand as a corrective, even a mild reproach. We can and should build like this, these interiors seem to whisper.

Read the whole things HERE.

NCAS President Justin Shubow Delivers Talk in Palm Beach on Federal Architecture

On January 17, 2024, the National Civic Art Society and the Palm Beach Freedom Institute hosted "Can Federal Architecture Be Great Again?: Trump, Biden, and the Politics of Beauty," a talk by NCAS President Justin Shubow.

About the speaker: Justin Shubow is president of the National Civic Art Society, a nonprofit organization that promotes the classical tradition in public art and architecture. He is former Chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency comprising seven presidential appointees who are the aesthetic guardians of Washington, D.C. Shubow has testified in Congress on topics such as the future of the National Mall and the design of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. He is the author of The Gehry Towers over Eisenhower: The National Civic Art Society Report on the Eisenhower Memorial, a critical examination of the memorial’s competition, design, and agency approval.

He has published architectural criticism at Forbes online, First Things, Public Discourse, The Washington Post, and The Weekly Standard. Shubow is a former editor at the Forward newspaper and Commentary magazine, and is a recipient of a Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship. He has delivered talks on architecture and other subjects at the U.S. Department of State, American Enterprise Institute, Baylor University, Colorado College, Hamilton College, and the Universities of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and others.

Shubow received a B.A. from Columbia University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and completed four years of study in the University of Michigan’s Ph.D. program in philosophy; he has taught philosophy courses as an instructor at the University of Michigan and Yale College. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation and the Board of Academic Advisors of the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization.

Palm Beach Event: Can Federal Architecture Be Great Again?

A Federal Courthouse in Florida Completed in 2007

The National Civic Art Society and the Palm Beach Freedom Institute cordially invite you to "Can Federal Architecture Be Great Again?: Trump, Biden, and the Politics of Beauty," a talk by NCAS President Justin Shubow.

Date: Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Time: 6-8 PM
Location: a venue in Palm Beach, Florida to be disclosed via e-mail confirmation
Attire: Palm Beach cocktail

Kindly RSVP by January 12 by e-mailing president@palmbeachfreedom.org. No admittance without confirmation.

About the speaker: Justin Shubow is president of the National Civic Art Society, a nonprofit organization that promotes the classical tradition in public art and architecture. He is former Chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency comprising seven presidential appointees who are the aesthetic guardians of Washington, D.C. Shubow has testified in Congress on topics such as the future of the National Mall and the design of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. He is the author of The Gehry Towers over Eisenhower: The National Civic Art Society Report on the Eisenhower Memorial, a critical examination of the memorial’s competition, design, and agency approval.

He has published architectural criticism at Forbes online, First Things, Public Discourse, The Washington Post, and The Weekly Standard. Shubow is a former editor at the Forward newspaper and Commentary magazine, and is a recipient of a Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship. He has delivered talks on architecture and other subjects at the U.S. Department of State, American Enterprise Institute, Baylor University, Colorado College, Hamilton College, and the Universities of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and others.

Shubow received a B.A. from Columbia University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and completed four years of study in the University of Michigan’s Ph.D. program in philosophy; he has taught philosophy courses as an instructor at the University of Michigan and Yale College. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation and the Board of Academic Advisors of the Alexander Hamilton Institute for the Study of Western Civilization.

NCAS President Justin Shubow Appears on Liberty Law Talk Podcast

Liberty Law Talk, a podcast of Law & Liberty, featured an interview of National Civic Art Society President Justin Shubow in which he talks about the influence of civic architecture on body politic, the role of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (which he used to chair), the future of memorials, and more. 

You can listen to the podcast or read the transcript HERE. 

To excerpt:

Justin Shubow: [T]he founders saw classical architecture as returning to the roots of democracy in Rome and Greece. So it made sense that they chose that architecture instead of, say, gothic or something else for the buildings of government. It’s interesting—in the 19th century, when the British Parliament was deciding what their new parliament building was going to look like, they had a competition, and the competition required that the building be either Gothic or what they called Elizabethan. There was opposition to having a classical parliament because people said that style was too Republican, meaning it was too anti-monarchical.

And so I think there is this long association in America tying classical architecture to democracy. And you look at certain structures like the U.S. Supreme Court, which is modeled on temple architecture with the steps leading up with the columns with the pediment. This is a classic American building type, the courthouse that everyone recognizes. It’s what you see on TV and in movies. And when people see that, I think they see a temple of justice. There’s something about the temple form that resonates.

[...]

[T]here are certain modernist architects who think of themselves as creative geniuses with emphasis on innovation and “creativity.” They don’t believe that emulating traditional architecture is something that should be done. A lot of them think that they just know better than ordinary people. Even if their designs are not appreciated by the public, they think that they are achieving the highest goals of architecture. And maybe someday, the public will be educated and come around to liking their designs. But of course, say Brutalism has been around for 60 years now, and it’s still widely disliked, and I don’t think it ever will be liked.

There is something about architecture schools that brainwash or deform architects’ minds. There is a study that the longer architects have been in school, the more their preferences diverge from that of laypeople. There was a separate study that found that not only do architects evaluate buildings in a different way from the public, but they can’t even predict how lay people will respond to their buildings. That’s how differently they think from lay people.

And it’s important to understand that a building is not like a painting on a wall or a piece of music. You can’t avoid it. Architecture is forced upon us, and so therefore it’s the most political of the arts, small p political. And when you get to public buildings, it’s explicitly political since these buildings are speaking to who we are and who we wish to be.

NCAS President Justin Shubow Interviewed on DC EKG Podcast

A show about the “what and why” of Washington, D.C., the DC EKG podcast featured an hour-long interview of National Civic Art Society President Justin Shubow. The show was hosted by Joe Grogan, former director of the U.S. Domestic Policy Council, and Eric Ueland, former director of White House legislative affairs.

The episode covered the need for classical federal architecture, President Trump’s Executive Order on the subject, and pending legislation in Congress that would essentially codify that Order. Shubow also discussed whether the Brutalist Department of Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington is the ugliest building in the city.

You can listen to the podcast, which was published on November 6, 2023, HERE.

NCAS President Justin Shubow Interviewed on First Things' Podcast Regarding Federal Architecture Legislation

First Things magazine's podcast features an interview of National Civic Art Society president Justin Shubow by senior editor Mark Bauerlein in which they discuss legislation pending in the U.S. House and Senate that would dramatically re-orient federal architecture from modernism to classical and traditional design. The bills would require that public input be given substantial weight when the government makes design decisions.

You can listen to the podcast HERE.

Relatedly, Politico interviewed Shubow about the aforementioned legislation. To quote the article:

The growth of government in the decades after World War II happened to take place during one of the most maligned periods in public architecture. Like college campuses, government properties have been among the modernist era’s most conspicuous offenders, perhaps because the people commissioning the buildings were not the ones who would have to live or work in them. When it’s their own private home or business, people tend to be much less deferential to the artistes drawing up the blueprints.

In Shubow’s telling, that deference is the problem — baked right into the 1962 [Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture] his rivals want to enshrine in law. “Design must flow from the architectural profession to the Government,” it declares, “and not vice versa.” Rather than a gesture of support for creativity, he says, the language essentially orders public servants to abandon their duty of keeping an eye on the contractors. (He notes that the AIA, which has blasted the GOP bill in the name of free expression, isn’t quite a dispassionate academic group: It’s a trade association for architects, i.e. those very same contractors.) ...

Shubow takes satisfaction in a June report from the Government Accountability Office that advises the GSA to formally require and incorporate community input on building designs — a byproduct, he says, of the attention given to Trump’s classical-architecture orders.

It’s a recommendation that’s going to be hard for anyone in politics to criticize, no matter what their opinions on au courant architecture. For elected officials, it may feel un-American to legislate a default national style — but it would seem downright suicidal to openly tell the general public that their views don’t count.

Wall Street Journal Publishes Op-Ed by NCAS Research Fellow Myron Magnet Supporting Federal Architecture Bill

The June 27, 2023 edition of the Wall Street Journal featured an op-ed by National Civic Art Society Research Fellow Myron Magnet:

Government Buildings Don’t Have to Be Ugly

The Founders favored the classical style. The Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act would make it the standard.

By Myron Magnet

Federal architecture for 60 years embodied the administrative state’s rules and regulations. Imposed by unelected mandarins, federal designs celebrate technocracy and faceless power. Yet thanks to a joint effort in Congress, our era of elitist and spiritually impoverished government buildings may soon come to an end.

Federal design should “uplift and beautify public spaces,” “ennoble” the U.S, and “command respect from the general public.” These are three provisions from the Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act, which Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana have introduced. The legislation would make classical architecture the default style for major federal buildings in Washington and classical or traditional regional architecture the norm elsewhere. Any deviation would require that the General Services Administration explain its decision to Congress. . . .

---

You can read the complete op-ed HERE.

National Civic Art Society Hails Bicameral Legislation That Would Beautify Federal Architecture

Today, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced a bill, ‘‘Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act,’’ that would dramatically re-orient federal architecture from modernism to classical and traditional design. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Ted Budd (R-NC), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Mike Lee (R-UT) are original co-sponsors. You can find Senator Rubio's announcement here.

The Act is a companion to a bill of the same title (H.R.3627) recently introduced in the U.S. House by Representative Jim Banks (R-IN), who published an op-ed about it at Townhall.com.

The National Civic Art Society (NCAS) strongly endorses this much-needed bicameral legislation.

Justin Shubow, President of the National Civic Art Society, issued the following statement:

“The National Civic Art Society strongly supports the Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act. It is crucial that the design of federal buildings reflects the preferences of ordinary Americans—namely, that such buildings be beautiful, uplifting, and designed in a classical or traditional style. Whereas the current government process for choosing building designs involves zero input from the community, this legislation democratizes design by requiring that there be substantial input from the general public. We applaud Senator Rubio and Representative Banks for their leadership on this important issue. The National Civic Art Society looks forward to working with Senator Rubio’s and Representatives Banks’ offices to ensure they succeed in making their bills law.”

Both bills:

• Require that applicable Federal public buildings (i.e., federal courthouses, federal agency headquarters, federal public buildings in Washington, D.C., and any other federal public building that could cost more than $50 million to erect) should uplift and beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, command respect from the general public, be visually identifiable as civic buildings, and respect regional architectural heritage;

• Make classical and traditional architecture the preferred style for said federal public buildings;

• Make classical architecture the preferred and default style for federal public buildings in Washington, D.C. absent exceptional factors necessitating another kind of architecture;

• Require input from the general public and future users of an applicable federal public building, and give the former substantial consideration, before the selection of an architectural firm or design style;

• Establish a council that would recommend updates to policies, procedures, and practices of the GSA so that GSA adheres to the bill’s requirements.

In 2020, NCAS commissioned a poll conducted by the non-partisan polling firm The Harris Poll gauging Americans’ preferences for federal architecture. This poll of over 2,000 U.S. adults found that nearly three-quarters of Americans (72%)—including majorities across political, racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic lines—prefer traditional architecture for federal office buildings and U.S. courthouses. The survey found that 70% of Democrats prefer tradition, compared with 73% of Republicans. The survey report and its methodology can be found here.

The National Civic Art Society is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. that educates and empowers civic leaders in the promotion of public art and architecture worthy of our great Republic. Among NCAS’s activities and accomplishments, we:

• spearheaded a presidential Executive Order re-orienting federal architecture in a classical and traditional direction.

• direct an effort in New York City to build a new classical Pennsylvania Station inspired by the original by McKim, Mead & White.

• led a successful advocacy campaign for a classical design for the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C.

• launched and led a six-year campaign to stop Frank Gehry’s design for the National Eisenhower Memorial, which resulted in Congress holding up funding for four years.

• produced the documentary “Washington: The Classical City,” about how the nation’s capital became an iconic classical city.

Video of a Debate: Should Washington, D.C. Raise Its Height Limit?

Ellen McCarthy, Brian O’Looney, Harriet Tregoning, and Justin Shubow Debated Whether Washington, D.C. Should Raise Its Height Limit. Matt Bell moderated.

Since 1910, the maximum height of buildings in Washington, D.C. has been greatly limited by federal law. On April 2, 2023, the National Civic Art Society and Congress for the New Urbanism sponsored a debate over whether D.C.'s limit should be raised.

Arguing for the negative were Justin Shubow, President of the National Civic Art Society, and Brian O'Looney, Partner at Torti + Gallas. Arguing for the positive were Ellen McCarthy, Partner at The Urban Partnership, and Harriet Tregoning, Director of the New Urban Mobility Alliance. Both McCarthy and Tregoning are former Directors of the D.C. Office of Planning.

The moderator was Matt Bell, Professor of Architecture at the University of Maryland and Principal at Perkins Eastman.

Watch the video HERE.

National Civic Art Society President Justin Shubow Argued That Washington, D.C.’s Height Limit Should Not Be Raised

A Debate Co-sponsored by the National Civic Art Society and Congress for New Urbanism: Should D.C. Raise its Height Limit?

The National Civic Art Society and Congress for New Urbanism cordially invite you to attend a debate on whether Washington, D.C. should raise its height limit.

NCAS President Justin Shubow will be arguing for the negative position, along with Brian O'Looney, partner at Torti Gallas + Partners. Arguing for the affirmative will be Ellen McCarthy, partner at The Urban Partnership, and Harriet Tregoning, director of the New Urban Mobility Alliance.

The debate will take place the morning of Sunday April 2, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Tickets for the event are $50. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. For details, see above.

In the afternoon, local architects and planners will lead two separate tours around the city. The Classical Washington Tour will focus on the National Mall and surrounding area. The Waterfront Development Tour will look at the new developments of Navy Yard and The Wharf. Both tours will rejoin at the end for a happy hour -- location TBA.

Register HERE. Note that registration closes March 27.