Will all new federal buildings look like ancient Rome now? Not quite.

Andrew Limbong | January 21, 2025

An architectural detail of the The Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, photographed in Washington, D.C., in 2014. (Mladen Antonov | AFP via Getty Images)

Among his day one actions, President Donald Trump addressed an issue he tried to tackle in his first term – federal architecture.

Trump issued a memorandum directing the General Service Administration to advance policies that ensure federal public buildings “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.”

What happened the first time

Late into his first term, Trump signed an executive order to promote neoclassical architecture as the official style for federal buildings in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. The order specified that it was a push away from the often divisive brutalist architecture that was common for federal buildings built between the 1950s and 1970s.

The American Institute of Architects quickly criticized the executive order in a statement, saying it “inappropriately elevates the design tastes of a few federal appointees over the communities in which the buildings will be placed.”

President Joe Biden revoked the order in February 2021.

The US Federal Trade Commission building in Washington, D.C. (Paul J. Richards | AFP via Getty Images)

What’s different now

“I think it’s extraordinarily exciting that – day one – President Trump is planting the flag demonstrating that federal architecture is going to be a priority in this administration,” said Justin Shubow.

Shubow is president of the National Civic Art Society, a Washington, D.C. non-profit that promotes classical traditions in architecture. He is also the former chairman of the United States Commission of Fine Arts, appointed by Trump during his first term.

The language in this new memorandum is softer than the language in Trump’s 2020 executive order, but Shubow said it stops the General Services Administration from approving any new buildings, “and it also provides time for the President to nominate a new administrator of the GSA.”

The J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura | Getty Images)

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 FBI headquarters. The famously brutalist J. Edgar Hoover building has long been in need of repair. Under Biden, the decision was made to move the headquarters to Maryland. But Trump has expressed interest in keeping the building in D.C., posting on Truth Social, “THE NEW FBI BUILDING SHOULD BE BUILT IN WASHINGTON, D.C., NOT MARYLAND, AND BE THE CENTERPIECE OF MY PLAN TO TOTALLY RENOVATE AND REBUILD OUR CAPITAL CITY INTO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND SAFEST ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.”

“You put all that together and it seems likely that President Trump is going to want a classical new FBI building right on Pennsylvania Avenue – America’s Main Street,” said Shubow.

The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Anna Rose Layden | Getty Images)

According to Shubow, classical architecture can incorporate all the latest in building technologies. He said the style can be more sustainable, too. “A traditional building is not disposable and can last hundreds of years. Look at the Capitol building, which is still functioning well,” he said.

Modernist architecture, such as brutalism, became the norm for federal buildings starting in 1962. Working for President John F. Kennedy at the time, Daniel Patrick Moynihan drafted a document called “Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture.” It stated that “the development of an official style must be avoided. Design must flow from the architectural profession to the Government, and not vice versa.”

Angela Person, cocurator of a brutalism exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., previously told NPR that architects were drawn to the style because of its lack of ornamentation. “I think it was a popular style in that time because there was this need to really rapidly scale up the amount of office space for the federal government,” Person said.

But as Trump orders federal workers to head back into the office, don’t expect all their buildings to start looking the same. In the original executive order, which said there should be special regard for traditional design, “‘traditional’ was defined very broadly,” said Shubow. “So for instance, to include Pueblo revival, Romanesque Mediterranean styles, all sorts of different regional styles of historic architecture. So it was never imposing pediment and columns across the land.”

Jennifer Vanasco edited this story.