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.
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
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
The Athenaeum Review recently published an hour-long podcast interview of me. Here is the description: In this episode, we talk with Justin Shubow, President of the National Civic Art Society, about modernism and classicism, the profession of architecture and its role in … Continue reading
In February, NPR and other news outlets reported on a leaked draft of an Executive Order titled “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again.” According to those reports, President Trump is considering signing the Order, which would re-orient federal architecture in a classical and traditional direction. At present, federal architecture is … Continue reading
I’m pleased to report that I’ve joined the Board of Advisors of the new Roger Scruton Legacy Foundation, which honors the work of the eponymous British philosopher, critic, and author who served on the National Civic Art Society’s Board of … Continue reading
Patrick Hagopian, Senior Lecturer in History and American Studies at Lancaster University, published a well-researched, peer-reviewed article, “From a ‘New Paradigm’ to ‘Memorial Sprawl’: The Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Memorial,” about the making of the National Eisenhower Memorial. (PDF here) … Continue reading
On October 10, 2019, I’ll be giving a public talk at the Dallas Museum of Art titled “Building Dystopia: What Went Wrong in Modern Architecture.” The free event, which starts at 4:00 pm, is sponsored by the Edith O’Donnell Institute of … Continue reading
U.S. Modernist Radio interviewed me for its architecture podcast. I discussed my work at the National Civic Art Society and U.S. Commission of Fine Arts at length. You can listen here.
The National Civic Art Society, along with the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Encounter Books, co-sponsored a panel discussion in celebration of Bruce Cole and his posthumously published book Art from the Swamp: How Washington Bureaucrats Squander Millions on … Continue reading
In partnership with Rebuild Penn Station: a project of the National Civic Art Society, Agora presented “The Future of Penn Station,” an evening addressing various proposals to fix the station. I moderated the event, which took place on October 24, 2018 … Continue reading