President of the National Civic Art Society, a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. that promotes the classical and humanistic tradition in public art and architecture. Eleventh Chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency comprising seven presidential appointees who are the aesthetic guardians of Washington.
I’m pleased to report that I’ll be giving a talk on ordinary people’s preferences in architecture at a conference in Oslo, Norway in May 2024. The theme of the conference is Beauty and Ugliness in Architecture. Other speakers include James … Continue reading
On January 16, 2024, I delivered a talk in Palm Beach, Florida on “Can Federal Architecture Be Great Again?: Trump, Biden, and the Politics of Beauty.” The event was sponsored by the National Civic Art Society and Palm Beach Freedom … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
A show about the “what and why” of Washington, the DC EKG podcast featured an hour-long interview of me. The show is hosted by Joe Grogan, former director of the U.S. Domestic Policy Council under President Trump, and Eric Ueland, former director of … Continue reading
In October 2023, I had the pleasure of delivering a talk on “Ordinary People’s Aesthetic Preferences in Architecture” at the International Making Cities Livable Conference in Dorchester, England. I also participated in a discussion with George Ferguson, former mayor of … Continue reading
First Things magazine’s July 17, 2023 podcast featured an interview of me by senior editor Mark Bauerlein in which we discussed 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 … Continue reading
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 (which I run) and Congress for the New Urbanism sponsored a debate over whether … Continue reading
The February 2, 2021 issue of The Epoch Times features an extensive interview of me. It is titled “Making America’s Civic Architecture Great Again,” and you can read it here HERE. The interview begins: “Whenever it is proposed to prepare … Continue reading
On October 19, 2020, I participated in a panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) regarding the draft Executive Order regarding federal architecture. To adapt AEI’s summary of the event: AEI’s Gary J. Schmitt noted that Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s … Continue reading