Published on January 20, 2025
This presidential memorandum directs the GSA Administrator to develop recommendations for ensuring federal buildings conform to traditional and classical architectural styles, with an emphasis on civic identity and regional heritage. The directive requires these recommendations within 60 days and establishes a notification requirement for designs that deviate from these principles, requiring presidential review through the Domestic Policy advisor.
The action appears to centralize architectural decision-making power within the executive branch while using appealing language about beauty and tradition as justification. The vague terms "traditional" and "classical" could be used to reject modern or diverse architectural styles, potentially enabling the administration to impose a specific ideological aesthetic vision while limiting creative and cultural expression in public spaces. The requirement for presidential notification of divergent designs creates a chilling effect on innovative architectural proposals and establishes direct executive control over public architecture.
While presented as an effort to enhance civic beauty and preserve architectural heritage, this memorandum effectively establishes executive veto power over federal architecture while potentially limiting diversity in public design. The combination of vague aesthetic criteria and centralized control mechanisms suggests this policy could be used to impose a narrow cultural vision on public spaces while reducing local and professional autonomy in architectural decisions.
January 20, 2025 MEMORANDUM FOR THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION SUBJECT: Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture I hereby direct the Administrator of the General Services Administration, in consultation with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the heads of departments and agencies of the United States where necessary, to submit to me within 60 days recommendations 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. Such recommendations shall consider appropriate revisions to the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture and procedures for incorporating community input into Federal building design selections. If, before such recommendations are submitted, the Administrator of the General Services Administration proposes to approve a design for a new Federal public building that diverges from the policy set forth in this memorandum, the Administrator shall notify me, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, not less than 30 days before the General Services Administration could reject such design without incurring substantial expenditures. Such notification shall set forth the reasons the Administrator proposes to approve such design.