Trump Signs Order to ‘Make Federal Architecture Beautiful Again’

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to establish classical architecture as the preferred style for US civic buildings, doubling down on a memo Trump issued just after resuming office in January.

With the new order, the White House has revised a longstanding ban against establishing an official style for government — and substantially boosted the profile of architecture firms that practice in a traditional style.

The order aims to return the national aesthetic to buildings that are “visually identifiable as civic buildings,” eschewing a federal program for selecting designers in a wide range of styles that dates back to the 1990s. ...