Setting up for an interview of me for CBS Saturday Morning me regarding the future of Brutalist buildings. Host Dana Jacobson and I also did a “walk and talk” in Washington, D.C. in front of the hideous Forrestal building, headquarters of the Department of Energy. The segment should air December 28, 2024.
I am Justin Shubow
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.
Endorsed by Johnny Burtka in The Wall Street Journal
In his November 28, 2024 Wall Street Journal op-ed “Trump Can Restore Honor to American Art,” Johnny Burtka, president and CEO of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute wrote, “There are plenty of other candidates better suited to restore honor to federal arts and culture agencies [including the National Endowment for the Arts]. Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society, served on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts during Mr. Trump’s first term before becoming chairman in 2021. He played a critical role in the president’s classical-architecture initiative and influenced the designs of the Dwight Eisenhower and World War I Memorials… [He] would serve as [an] eloquent defender[] of Western civilization.”
Interviewed on Aaron Renn’s Show About the National Endowment for the Arts
I had the pleasure of discussing the future of art and architecture policy under President Trump’s second term on Aaron Renn’s show. I don’t make any presumptions about my role in the administration, but I hope the leadership of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will share my vision, which come sfrom former NEA chairman Dana Gioia: “A great nation deserves great art.” See below for how to watch/listen:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6MwHNiEgcQ . The discuss of the NEA starts HERE.
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/justin-shubow-making-buildings-beautiful/id1530654244?i=1000677365519
Serving on the Jury for the Addison Mizner Awards
Interviewed on the DC EKG Podcast
Joe Grogan, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Trump administration, interviewed me on the DC EKG podcast. I spoke at length about the magnificent new classical National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C. I also discussed what needs to be done to regarding Brutalist buildings in the city, as well as my time as chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, including why President Biden removed me in violation of 110 years of precedent. You can watch the video here. You can listen here.
Intercollegiate Studies Institute Interview of Me
I was glad to sit down with Johnny Burtka, president and CEO of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), for an interview about my work at the National Civic Art Society. I discussed how beauty, art, and architecture shape a flourishing society, including the importance of classical architecture in fostering civic pride and cultural renewal, the influence of aesthetics on a society’s moral character, and the challenges posed by Modernist architecture. You can watch the interview, which was published on October 31, 2024, here.
Interviewed on Moment of Truth Podcast
I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Saurabh Sharma, President of American Moment, on his organization’s podcast “Moment of Truth.” We discussed President Trump and the politics of architecture, sustainability, historic preservation, the new National World War I Memorial, Eisenhower Memorial, United Flight 93 Memorial, the roots of my interest in public art and architecture, and more. You can watch the video here. You can also listen here.
Interviewed on the Architecture and Innovation Podcast
My Lecture on Roger Scruton’s Philosophy of Architecture
On May 19, 2024 at Georgetown University, I delivered a lecture on “Roger Scruton’s Philosophy of Architecture” at a conference on Scruton sponsored by the Center for American Culture and Ideas, the American Enterprise Institute, the Ethics & Public Policy Center, the National Civic Art Society, and others.
You can watch the video of my talk HERE.
Here is the abstract:
The leading philosopher of architecture of his time, Roger Scruton spent his life thinking and writing about the aesthetics of the built environment. He published such books as The Aesthetics of Architecture and The Classical Vernacular: Architectural Principles in an Age of Nihilism, along with numerous pieces of popular journalism on the subject. A staunch foe of Modernist architecture, Scruton argued for the superiority of the classical tradition, which he believed to be unparalleled in its capacity to produce beauty and harmony, and to make us feel at home in the world. Controversy exploded in Britain when he was appointed chairman of the UK government’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, which addressed the poor design of homes and places. A similar controversy has erupted in recent years in America as both President Trump and Congress have promoted classical and traditional design for federal buildings and U.S. courthouses. This talk will survey Scruton’s ideas about architecture as well as how his followers should respond to recent events in America.
My Essay “Make America Beautiful Again”
On August 21, 2024, TomKlingenstein.com published an essay by me on beauty, virtue, and American classical architecture titled “Make America Beautiful Again.” Senator Marco Rubio called it a “must read piece.” To quote:
The Victorian art critic John Ruskin thought that “every form of noble architecture is in some sort the embodiment of the Polity, Life, History, and the Religious Faith of nations.” It makes sense, then, that throughout history statesmen and other leaders have concerned themselves with the design of symbolically important edifices. Unsurprisingly, when there exists disagreement about political and cultural values, the choice of architecture of noble buildings — including civic buildings — becomes a contested issue. But the intensity of past debates pales in comparison with the debate over political architecture today.
[…]
In a 1784 letter to a 28-year-old John Trumbull, who would later mature into the lauded “painter of the American Revolution,” Edmund Burke emphasized the precedence of public edifices in a new country: “You belong to a young nation, which will soon want public buildings; these must be erected before the decorations of painting and sculpture will be required. … Qualify yourself to superintend their erection. Decorate them also, if you will.”
Like the Virginia Capitol, buildings such as the U.S. Capitol, Treasury Department, and Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York City demonstrate the exceptional qualities of classical architecture: its beauty, harmony, and timelessness stem from its symmetry, balance, organized complexity, ornament and detailing, capacity for grandeur without arrogance, evocation of order without capital-R Rationalism, and grounding in human proportion and human experience.
Classical architecture is not just about unparalleled aesthetic excellence; it is the architecture of American democracy, the style most associated with our system of government and our highest ideals, the architecture of civic virtue. It is also an architecture conducive to the rootedness of the polis, of the mutual bonds of citizenship extending across generations. In an era of presentism, classical architecture encourages Americans to think in centuries. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan told the Senate in 1983, “We must not preserve buildings out of a fear that we have lost the ability to create things of grace and beauty. … I wish to preserve things as an example of what we were and will be, not what we were and no longer can be.”
Classical public buildings make us feel proud of our country; they make us confident in our dignity as citizens of a great Republic. As art historian Vincent Scully said about New York’s original Pennsylvania Station, a Beaux Arts masterpiece inspired by an ancient Roman public bath, “One entered the city like a god.” Modernist architecture diminishes us; it would have us forget the past. Epitomizing Modernism, Brutalist public buildings thunder at us, “Mortal Man, Thou Art Nothing.”
We must preserve classical architecture most of all because it is ours. While there are other noble styles around the world, it is American classicism that is our heritage. It perpetuates and strengthens our wise system of government; unlike in countries such as France, now in its Fourth Republic, America has had only one regime, a single Republic that extends back to the War of Independence. In the face of those who wish to tear down that regime, we must protect and construct edifices that symbolize it.
We must not forget that an everlasting Republic is buttressed by sempiternal beauty. . . .
***
You can read the whole thing HERE.