National Civic Art Society/Harris Survey Shows Americans Overwhelmingly Prefer Traditional Architecture for Federal Buildings

The National Civic Art Society today released a new survey 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.The poll of over 2,000 U.S. adults was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of NCAS.
 
These findings come in light of the possibility of a Trump administration Executive Order that would re-orient federal architecture in a traditional direction, including by requiring that new office buildings in Washington, D.C. be classical in design. Among other things, the Order would revise the 1962 “Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture,” which cemented Modernism as the dominant government style. Despite proposed legislation – entitled the “Democracy in Design Act” – in the House of Representatives to overturn this anticipated Executive Order, this poll shows that large bipartisan majorities support the order’s intent.

The survey was conducted in August by the non-partisan polling firm The Harris Poll. The survey comprised seven pairs of images of existing U.S. courthouses and federal office buildings in D.C. and around the country. The seven pairs of images, which were not identified in any way, were carefully selected and edited to ensure fair comparisons. Each pair comprised one building in a traditional style and one building in a modern style. For each pair, the survey question was: “Which of these two buildings would you prefer for a U.S. courthouse or federal office building?”
 
According to the poll’s results:

• An overwhelming majority of Americans – more than 7 in 10 (72%) – prefer traditional architecture for U.S. courthouses and federal office buildings.

• Democrats (70%), Republicans (73%), and Independents (73%) all agree on their preference for traditional architecture.

• Preference for traditional architecture unites majorities of Baby Boomers (age 65+) and Gen-Z (age 18-34). Traditional styles are the choice of 77% of those aged 65 or older, and 68% of those aged 18-34. 

• Women are more likely than men to prefer traditional architecture for a U.S. courthouse or federal office building – 77% vs. 67%, respectively.

• Majorities of black (62%), Hispanic (65%), and white (75%) Americans prefer traditional architecture.

• A preference for traditional architecture bridges regional divides: 73% prefer it in the Northeast, 73% in the South, 74% in the Midwest, and 69% in the West.

• The typical markers of “elite” status – higher earning and education levels – do not diminish a preference for traditional architecture. It is the clear choice of Americans making a household income under $50,000 (73%) and those making a household income over $100,000 (70%); those with a high school degree or less (72%); and those with a bachelor’s degree or greater (72%).

• Among the most preferred buildings were those with a neoclassical design. Among the least preferred were Brutalist structures. The traditional buildings that Americans prefer most among those shown are: National Archives Building (83%), Gene Snyder U.S. Courthouse and Custom House (81%), and William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building - EPA HQ (81%). The three modern style buildings that were at the bottom of the list of those Americans preferred are: Robert C. Weaver Federal Building - HUD HQ (19%), Hammond Federal Courthouse (19%), and Hubert H. Humphrey Building - HHS HQ (17%). 

These insights comport with academic research. Jack L. Nasar, Academy Professor of City & Regional Planning at Ohio State University, recently published a study concluding that Americans prefer neoclassical designs for courthouses.
 
The findings of the NCAS/The Harris poll are especially significant since under the government’s current program for choosing architects, only 6 of the 78 federal buildings constructed have been classical or traditional – or just 8%.
 
“At a time when Americans are deeply divided across so many areas, it’s heartening to see that the vast majority of us can at least agree on federal architecture,” says NCAS President Justin Shubow. “The results of this poll should hardly come as a surprise. Americans have long cherished classical and traditional architecture for their federal buildings both for their beauty and because they are widely accepted symbols of our democracy. Such dignified buildings connect us to our heritage, and are associated with continuity, equality, openness, and precedent. They are courthouses that look like courthouses, and public buildings that look public. The design of federal buildings should reflect the aesthetic and symbolic preferences of the people they are built to serve. Nonetheless, for over 60 years architectural elites, Modernist mandarins, and a coterie of critics have foisted their antithetical preferences on federal design.”
 
Full poll results can be found at https://www.civicart.org/americans-preferred-architecture-for-federal-buildings.
 
Methodology: This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of the National Civic Art Society between August 17-19 among 2,039 adults ages 18+. Results were weighted for age within gender, region, race/ethnicity, household income, education, and size of household where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

Video of "The New National WWI Memorial: Classical and Magnificent"

On November 15, 2019. the National Civic Art Society sponsored this talk by sculptor Sabin Howard, who presented his magnificent classical design for the forthcoming National World War I Memorial. The Memorial is to be located in Pershing Park in Washington, D.C.

Howard's design is a monumental 58-foot-long by 8-foot-high bronze sculpture titled "A Soldier's Journey." Flowing from left-to-right, the 38-figure composition allegorically tells the story of a soldier who leaves his family for the front, endures the ordeal of battle, and returns home. The ideals of heroism, family, and caring are juxtaposed with the violence, terror, and aggression of battle. The sculpture simultaneously tells a second story--namely, America's coming of age during the Great War.

Introductions by Justin Shubow, President of the National Civic Art Society, and Edwin Fountain, Vice Chair of the U.S. World War I Centennial Foundation 

Watch the video HERE.

Edwin Foundation, Vice Chair of the World War I Centennial Commission; Sculptor Sabin Howard, National Civic Art Society President Justin Shubow

Sculptor Sabin Howard

The New National World War I Memorial: Classical and Magnificent -- Lecture Nov. 15

The National Civic Art Society cordially invites you to attend a talk by sculptor Sabin Howard on Friday November 15, 2019 at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. Howard will present his magnificent classical design for the National World War I Memorial, which recently received final approval from the required government authorities. The Memorial is to be located in Pershing Park in Washington.

Howard's design is a monumental 58-foot-long bronze sculpture titled "A Soldier's Journey." Flowing from left-to-right, the 38-figure composition allegorically tells the story of a soldier who leaves his family for the front, endures the ordeal of battle, and returns home. The ideals of heroism, family, and caring are juxtaposed with the violence, terror, and aggression of battle. The sculpture simultaneously tells a second story--namely, America's coming of age during the Great War.

Please join us as Howard presents his design. His talk will be followed by a reception.

Date: Friday November 15, 2019

Time: 6:00 PM

Location: Cosmos Club, 2121 Massachusetts Ave. NW , Washington, D.C.

Cost: $10 for National Civic Art Society Members, $20 for Non-Members

Video of "Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism"

The National Civic Art Society, together with ICAA-Mid-Atlantic, co-sponsored this lecture by James Stevens Curl on his new book Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism. Curl tells the story of the advent of architectural Modernism in the aftermath of World War I, its protagonists, and its astonishing global acceptance after 1945. He explains how the triumph of architectural Modernism in the second half of the 20th century led to massive destruction, the creation of alien urban landscapes, and a huge waste of resources. The coming of Modernism, however, was not inevitable.

Curl is Professor at the School of Architecture and Design, Ulster University; Professor Emeritus at De Montfort University, Leicester; and has been a Visiting Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was awarded the President's Medal of the British Academy "for his contribution to the study of the History of Architecture in Britain and Ireland." Curl is the author of numerous books, including Victorian Architecture and Georgian Architecture, and he is co-author of The Oxford Dictionary Of Architecture.

Introductions by Justin Shubow and Stefan Hurray

Date: May 10, 2019
Location: Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

"Making Dystopia" Lecture by James Stevens Curl in D.C. May 10

The National Civic Art Society and ICAA-Mid-Atlantic cordially invite you to a lecture by distinguished architectural historian James Stevens Curl on Friday May 10 in Washington, D.C. Curl will speak about his new book Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism.

Curl will tell the story of the advent of architectural modernism in the aftermath of World War I, its protagonists, and its astonishing global acceptance after 1945. He will explain how the triumph of architectural Modernism in the second half of the 20th century led to massive destruction, the creation of alien urban landscapes, and a huge waste of resources. The coming of Modernism, however, was not inevitable.

According to Theodore Dalrymple's review of Making Dystopia, "Professor Curl has written an essential, uncompromising, learned ... critique of one of the worst and most significant legacies of the 20th century. ...  It is a loud and salutary clarion call to resist further architectural fascism."

AIA CE credits are available for this lecture.

Date and Time: Friday May 10, 2019

6:00 PM - Reception

7:00 PM - Lecture

Location: Cosmos Club ( 2121 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.)

Cost: $15 for National Civic Art Society and ICAA Members, $25 for Non-Members

REGISTER HERE.

About the Speaker: Professor James Stevens Curl has been Visiting Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and a Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. In 2014, De Montfort University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Arts in recognition of his "distinctive contribution... to the intellectual and cultural life of the nation and region." His many publications include studies of Classical, Georgian, and Victorian architecture, and the most recent edition of his Oxford Dictionary of Architecture was published by Oxford University Press in 2015. In 2017 he was awarded the British Academy President's Medal for "outstanding service to the cause of the humanities and social sciences" in his wider study of the History of Architecture in Britain and Ireland.

NCAS Research Fellow Catesby Leigh to Speak on "Classical Sculpture: A Lost Art?"

On April 27 in Boston, National Civic Art Society Research Fellow Catesby Leigh will be giving a keynote address sponsored by the New England Chapter of the Institute of Classical Architectural & Art, in celebration of the 2019 Bulfinch Awards. Leigh's lecture is on the theme "Classical Sculpture: A Lost Art?"

The Greeks defined monumentality in sculpture during the fifth century, B.C., and the classical standard they established in doing so held sway well into the Christian era. That standard re-emerged during the Renaissance, but it was losing traction by the time our nation won its independence. To understand why, one must distinguish between style and content in sculpture. The high-quality classical sculpture for which the Greeks and modern masters ranging from Michelangelo to Houdon are known is very complex in its formal content. Since the late 18th century, and partly thanks to Canova's "neoclassicism," the focus has been on style at the expense of content. The advent of photography in the mid-19th century reinforced this trend, and photography's vitiating influence on the academic tradition remains as powerful as ever. It's reasonable to ask, even at a time when classical architecture is enjoying a noteworthy resurgence, whether classical sculpture, as the Greeks understood it, is a thing of the past. Even if that is so, it does not mean sculpture has not continued to play an essential role in our classical institutional buildings and monuments.

Catesby Leigh has been writing about public art and architecture for over 20 years. Particular areas of interest have been monuments (and anti-monuments), institutional buildings, urban planning, and painting and sculpture. His commentary has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, City Journal, First Things, National Review, Weekly Standard, Claremont Review of Books, Modern Age, Arts & Antiques, and other publications. Leigh is a co-founder and past chair of the National Civic Art Society. Currently an NCAS research fellow, he is working on a long-term book project concerning the nature of monumentality and its American manifestations. He lives in Washington, D.C..

To register for the event, which runs from 9:00 AM to noon, click HERE.

Video of "A Celebration of Bruce Cole and His Book 'Art from the Swamp'"

The National Civic Art Society, along with the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Encounter Books, co-sponsored this panel discussion in celebration of Bruce Cole and his posthumously published book Art from the Swamp: How Washington Bureaucrats Squander Millions on Awful Art. Cole was chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities from 2001 to 2009, and he was a member of NCAS's Board of Advisors.

Panelists:

Roger Kimball, publisher of Encounter Books and editor of The New Criterion
Catesby Leigh, National Civic Art Society Research Fellow
Justin Shubow, President of the National Civic Art Society

Moderator: Ed Whelan, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center

Date: January 14, 2019
Location: Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.

Video of "The Future of Penn Station"

Video of “The Future of Penn Station” discussion co-hosted by Agora and Rebuild Penn Station: a project of the National Civic Art Society.

Everyone agrees that New York's Penn Station is an utter disaster and embarrassment to the city. The depot is ugly, cramped, dark, dangerous, difficult to navigate, and plagued by train delays. Are we capable of building a world-class station for a world-class city? Should we leave Madison Square Garden in place and add a glass wall to the station on 8th Avenue? Should we rebuild the original Beaux-Arts station? Is there a way to improve train traffic and passenger circulation?

In partnership with Rebuild Penn Station: a project of the National Civic Art Society, Agora presented "The Future of Penn Station," an evening addressing various proposals to fix the station. The event took place on October 24, 2018 at the W83 Ministry Center in New York City.

Watch the video HERE.

PANEL OF SPEAKERS

Kevin Baker is a New York-based writer who is the author of numerous fiction and non-fiction books, including the City of Fire trilogy, the middle volume of which won the 2003 James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction and the 2003 American Book Award. He is a regular contributor to Politico, The New Republic, The New York Times, and The New York Times Book Review. He is a contributing editor to Harper's magazine.

Richard Cameron is a principal designer at Atelier & Co. in Brooklyn. He is the co-founder of both the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art and The Beaux-Arts Atelier, an educational platform for practicing architecture as a fine art. In 2013 he received The Arthur Ross Board of Directors Honor Award from the ICA&A.

Wally Rubin has been District Manager of Manhattan's Community Board Five for eleven years. During that time, he has worked on the five year Greater East Midtown rezoning effort, the current Garment Center rezoning, the various efforts around the West Midtown Transit Corridor (including Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal), the growth of the pedestrian plazas, and all the other issues that have shaped the central business district over the last decade. Earlier, Rubin worked as Director of Theatre for the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, for Borough President Ruth Messinger, and as an aide to Congressman Ted Weiss.

Dani Simons is Vice President for Strategic Communications at the Regional Plan Association. She oversaw the rollout of RPA's Fourth Regional Plan, and is working with RPA staff and partners to create a communications strategy to speed the implementation of the plan’s recommendations. She previously served as the global head of communications for Motivate, a global leader in bike share and was part of the launch team for Citi Bike, the largest and most successful bike share program in the western world.

Samuel Turvey is Chairman of the Rebuild Penn Station Steering Committee. He is a native New Yorker and daily Penn Station commuter from Northern New Jersey. A long-time community activist and participant in charitable causes, he founded and produced the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Manhattan’s Tompkins Square and Marcus Garvey Parks. He is a trustee of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and the John Noble Museum of Maritime Art on Staten Island. Turvey is a Regulatory and Compliance attorney at TIAA.

MODERATOR: Justin Shubow is President of the National Civic Art Society, a non-profit organization that promotes the classical and humanistic tradition in public art and architecture. He is a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.

Video of Catesby Leigh on "Wethersfield, Manhattan, and the Humanist Prospect"

On August 18, 2018, architecture critic Catesby Leigh delivered a lecture on "Wethersfield, Manhattan, and the Humanist Prospect." Leigh is a Research Fellow of the National Civic Art Society, which sponsored the event at the Wethersfield Estate in Amernia, New York.

Chauncey Devereux Stillman built the original part of Wethersfield House in 1940, at the close of a long period in which classicism was the primary idiom of American architectural design. The rambling brick residence, colonial in style with a Greek Revival entry portico, would eventually be enveloped by an Italian Renaissance garden of great distinction. 

House and garden together comprise a superb example of humanist place-making. If we turn to the opposite, urban end of the spectrum of human habitats—to the Manhattan that was  Stillman’s primary place of residence for most of his life—we encounter many magnificent vistas that are fruits of that same humanist tradition spanning thousands of years. But we also encounter a great many contemporary Manhattan vistas—buildings and even landscapes—that amount to a forthright, even brutal negation of that tradition. This is what results when cultural movers and shakers come to see beauty and authenticity as antithetical. 

The question is: Can the humanist tradition flourish anew under these circumstances?  

You can watch the video of the lecture HERE.

President Trump Appoints National Civic Art Society President Justin Shubow to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts

National Civic Art Society President Justin Shubow is sworn into the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. November 15, 2018.

On October 23, 2018, President Donald J. Trump appointed National Civic Art Society President Justin Shubow to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts for a four-year term. Shubow was sworn into the Commission at its November 15, 2018 meeting.

The Commission of Fine Arts is an independent federal agency consisting of seven presidential appointees who are the aesthetic guardians of Washington, D.C. The Fine Arts Commission has approval authority over the design and height of all buildings (public and private), monuments, and memorials that front or abut the grounds of the U.S. Capitol and White House, Pennsylvania Avenue, the National Mall and its constituent parks, and other similar sites. The Commission also has review authority over the design and aesthetics of all construction within the city. 

The Fine Arts Commission was established in 1910 to supervise the design and construction of new buildings in accordance with the 1901-1902 McMillan Plan, which, calling for classical design, created the National Mall and the surrounding monumental core as we know them. The Commission's first chairman was architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham.

Shubow will continue as President of the National Civic Art Society while undertaking his role at the Fine Arts Commission, which meets monthly.

Panel Discussion on "The Future of Penn Station" October 24 in NYC

Everyone agrees that New York's Penn Station is an utter disaster and embarrassment to the city. The depot is ugly, cramped, dark, dangerous, difficult to navigate, and plagued by train delays. Are we capable of building a world-class station for a world-class city? Should we leave Madison Square Garden in place and add a glass wall to the station on 8th Avenue? Should we rebuild the original Beaux-Arts station? Is there a way to improve train traffic and passenger circulation?

In partnership with Rebuild Penn Station: a project of the National Civic Art Society, Agora presents "The Future of Penn Station," an evening addressing various proposals to alleviate these problems. We hope you will join us for this rich conversation. A reception will follow.

Tickets are $7 in advance, $10 at the door. Tickets may be purchased HERE.

DATE AND TIME
Wednesday October 24, 2018
7:00 PM 

LOCATION
W83 Ministry Center
150 West 83rd Street
New York, NY 10024

PANEL OF SPEAKERS
 

Kevin Baker is a New York-based writer who is the author of numerous fiction and non-fiction books, including the City of Fire trilogy, the middle volume of which won the 2003 James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction and the 2003 American Book Award. He is a regular contributor to Politico, The New York Times, and The New York Times Book Review. He is a contributing editor and columnist at Harper's, and a contributing editor at The New Republic.

Richard Cameron is a principal designer at Atelier & Co. in Brooklyn. He is the co-founder of both the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art and The Beaux-Arts Atelier, an educational platform for practicing architecture as a fine art. In 2013 he received The Arthur Ross Board of Directors Honor Award from the ICA&A.

Wally Rubin has been District Manager of Manhattan's Community Board Five for eleven years. During that time, he has worked on the five year Greater East Midtown rezoning effort, the current Garment Center rezoning, the various efforts around the West Midtown Transit Corridor (including Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal), the growth of the pedestrian plazas, and all the other issues that have shaped the central business district over the last decade. Earlier, Rubin worked as Director of Theatre for the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, for Borough President Ruth Messinger, and as an aide to Congressman Ted Weiss.

Dani Simons is Vice President for Strategic Communications at the Regional Plan Association. She oversaw the rollout of RPA's Fourth Regional Plan, and is working with RPA staff and partners to create a communications strategy to speed the implementation of the plan’s recommendations. She previously served as the global head of communications for Motivate, a global leader in bike share and was part of the launch team for Citi Bike, the largest and most successful bike share program in the western world.

Samuel Turvey is Chairman of the Rebuild Penn Station Steering Committee. He is a native New Yorker and daily Penn Station commuter from Northern New Jersey. A long-time community activist and participant in charitable causes, he founded and produced the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in Manhattan’s Tompkins Square and Marcus Garvey Parks. He is a trustee of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem and the John Noble Museum of Maritime Art on Staten Island. Turvey is a Regulatory and Compliance attorney at TIAA.

MODERATOR: Justin Shubow is President of the National Civic Art Society, a non-profit organization that promotes the classical and humanistic tradition in public art and architecture. He is a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.

Chartwell Booksellers Hosts a Conversation on Rebuild Penn Station

Video of a conversation on Rebuild Penn Station hosted by Chartwell Booksellers. Please note that the audio improves at the 15:00 mark.

On October 4, 2018 in New York City, Chartwell Booksellers hosted a conversation on Rebuild Penn Station, the National Civic Art Society's project to rebuild the original station. The event featured leaders of Rebuild Penn Station together with design collaborators ReThinkNYC and Atelier & Co.

Until November 1, a scale model of the original station will be on display in the windows of the bookshop, which is located in the Park Avenue Plaza building at 55 East 52nd St. (between Park & Madison Avenues). Also on display is an exhibition of never-before-seen photographs of the original Penn Station taken by the late-Bob Parent, who is most famous for his portraits of jazz musicians.

"The Architecture of Bureaucracy" Event in Washington, D.C. on October 17

The National Civic Art Society and C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State cordially invite you to attend an event on "The Architecture of Bureaucracy" in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday October 17, 2018.

Catesby Leigh, the National Civic Art Society's 2018-2019 Research Fellow, will deliver the keynote address. He will discuss the intellectual and aesthetic inspiration for bureaucratic buildings of the New Deal and later eras, and their stark contrast with the classical principles that influenced the architects of our Capitol, White House, and our republic’s other early buildings.

Agenda:

• 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM: Registration & Reception

• 6:00 - 6:10 PM: Welcome by Adam White & Justin Shubow

• 6:10 - 7:20 PM: Keynote Address by Catesby Leigh

• 7:20 - 8:15 PM: Reception

Location: Decatur House (748 Jackson Place NW, Washington, DC 20006)

The event is free and open to the public.

Register HERE.

Rebuild Penn Station Panel and Photo Exhibition in New York City on October 4

Opened in 1910, to a miraculous design by McKim, Mead & White, and torn down in 1963 for a shamefully inferior replacement, New York's Penn Station today remains one of the city’s great lost causes. 

On Thursday October 4 in New York City, Chartwell Booksellers will host a conversation on Rebuild Penn Station, the National Civic Art Society's project to rebuild the original station. The conversation will feature leaders of Rebuild Penn Station together with design collaborators ReThinkNYC and Atelier & Co.

The conversation which begins at 6:00 PM, will take place in the lobby of the Park Avenue Plaza building at 55 East 52nd St. (between Park & Madison Avenues).

The event will include an exhibition of never-before-seen photographs of the original Penn Station taken by the late-Bob Parent, who is most famous for his portraits of jazz musicians. The exhibition includes Parent's resonant image (see above) of the Penn Station track sign for the train to the  August 28, 1963 "March for Jobs and Freedom" in Washington, D.C., where Dr. Martin Luther King would deliver his "I Have A Dream" speech.

The event is free and will be followed by a reception. 

RSVP: 212-308-0643 or chartwellbooksellers@gmail.com.

NCAS Research Fellow Catesby Leigh Surveys the Battle Over the National World War I Memorial

Catesby Leigh, the National Civic Art Society's Research Fellow, published an important article in The Weekly Standard in which he surveys and weighs in on the the battle to approve the magnificent classical design for the National World War I Memorial. (For details on the National Civic Art Society's role in the design of the memorial, click here.)

You can find Leigh's article HERE.

“Wethersfield, Manhattan, and the Humanist Prospect” Lecture on August 18

On August 18, 2018, the National Civic Art Society is hosting a lecture by its Research Fellow Catesby Leigh on “Wethersfield, Manhattan, and the Humanist Prospect.”  The lecture will take place at the Wethesfield Estate in Amenia, New York.

Chauncey Devereux Stillman built the original part of Wethersfield House in 1940, at the close of a long period in which classicism was the primary idiom of American architectural design. The rambling brick residence, colonial in style with a Greek Revival entry portico, would eventually be enveloped by an Italian Renaissance garden of great distinction. 

House and garden together comprise a superb example of humanist place-making. If we turn to the opposite, urban end of the spectrum of human habitats—to the Manhattan that was Stillman’s primary place of residence for most of his life—we encounter many magnificent vistas that are fruits of that same humanist tradition spanning thousands of years. But we also encounter a great many contemporary Manhattan vistas—buildings and even landscapes—that amount to a forthright, even brutal negation of that tradition. This is what results when cultural movers and shakers come to see beauty and authenticity as antithetical. 

Can the humanist tradition flourish anew under these circumstances?

WETHERSFIELD ESTATE 
(Main House) 
88 Wethersfield Way, Amenia, NY 12501

4:30-5:30 PM: 
Optional Tour of Wethersfield Garden and Main House

5:30-7:00 PM: 
Lecture and Refreshments

To RSVP, please contact rsvp@wethersfield.org or (845) 373-8037.

NCAS Research Fellow Publishes Articles on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Brutalism

National Civic Art Society Research Fellow Catesby Leigh has published two highly illuminating articles: the first, in the Claremont Review of Books, on the success of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; the second, in City Journal, on nostaliga for Brutalism in the United Kingdom.

In the first article he writes:

in the annals of western art, “genius” has most often been ascribed to works exhibiting a high order of formal complexity as well as formal invention: the sculptures of Ictinus and Michelangelo, the paintings of Raphael and Caravaggio, the cathedrals and churches of the medieval master builders and Sir Christopher Wren. By this measure, we might by all means admire the Washington Monument—a simple, unornamented obelisk—but we wouldn’t expect to hear it described as “a work of genius.” ...

Lin’s wall could only be considered “a work of genius” within an eminently questionable modernist frame of reference. But it is an inspired work in its way, and one of the most important of all modernist creations if only because of the millions of people who have been moved by it.

You can find the whole article HERE.

In his article in City Journal, Leigh explains:

Brutalism’s common denominator was that it wasn’t about aesthetics but authenticity. What is authenticity? Whatever the au courant modernist happens to think is the real deal. “Authenticity” is, in fact, the most important word in the modernist lexicon. Unfortunately for millions of postwar Britons, it is a fairly reliable antonym for “beauty” or “domesticity.” Its modern roots lie in the separation of authentic or genuine artworks from fakes. So far as architecture is concerned, however, the term is totally subjective. Brutalism’s pathologically materialistic criteria for authenticity include the use of industrial materials and emphatic exposure not only of a building’s structural system but also of functional innards such as stairwells, elevator cores, ductwork, and so on. 

You can find that article HERE.

Birmingham Central Public Library

NCAS Appoints Catesby Leigh as Its 2018-2019 Research Fellow

The National Civic Art Society is proud to announce the appointment of Catesby Leigh, a critic who has written extensively about public art and architecture, as its 2018-2019 Research Fellow. Leigh is a co-founder of the NCAS and retired from the board in 2008 after serving as chair for six years. His research will focus on the monumental tradition in American civic art.

Leigh was born and raised in Washington, D.C. After graduating from Princeton, he spent most of the 1980s in South America as a foreign correspondent for the Cox Newspapers chain. Visiting many cities and towns in the region, he grew increasingly interested in traditional architectural environments, and was struck by their Modernist counterparts’ failure to achieve comparable levels of visual or physical amenity. After moving back to the United States, Leigh met the distinguished architectural historian Henry Hope Reed, who became a mentor.
Leigh's first architectural articles appeared in 1991. Since then his commentary has appeared in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard, National Review, First Things, City Journal, and the Claremont Review of Books.

Below please find a selection of his articles:

"A Genius in Draft Form," National Review

"Penn Station, Reborn?," City Journal

"Captured in Bronze," Claremont Review of Books

"CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE AND MONUMENTS OF D.C." BOOK TALK

The National Civic Art Society cordially invites you to attend a book talk and discussion in conjunction with the publication of Classical Architecture and Monuments of Washington, D.C.: A History and Guide by Michael Curtis. A reception will follow. RSVP here.

Discussing the book will be Al Cox, Historic Preservation Manager for the City of Alexandria, and Andy Seferlis, a professional tour guide and stone-carver who updated the book The Outdoor Sculpture of Washington D.C.: A Comprehensive Historical Guide.  

About the author: A co-founder of the National Civic Art Society who serves on its Board of Directors, Michael Curtis studied classical architecture at the University of Michigan, and painting, sculpture, and engraving in Florence, Italy. He has been a sculptor for more than 25 years. Major commissions include The History of Texas at the Texas Rangers Ball Park in Arlington, Texas, the largest American frieze produced in the 20th Century, as well as portrait busts for the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Thurgood Marshall Building, and many other public venues. His specialty is portraiture and fine medals. 

Upcoming Event: Dramatic Cultural Change and the Future of Architecture

On November 14, 2017 at 6 p.m. at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., the National Civic Art Society is hosting a dialogue discussion on"Dramatic Cultural Change and the Future of Architecture."

The question is: In a time of increasing globalization, technological growth, and social alienation, what role ought architecture play? Should it keep pace with "modernity" and be equally au courant? Should it look back to tradition to encourage people to feel at home in the world? Or is there a third way?

Our speakers will be architects Duo Dickinson and Michael G. Imber, FAIA.

For more information, and to register, click HERE.