The National Civic Art Society is a nonprofit organization that advocates and promotes public art, architecture, and urbanism in the
classical tradition
The Western classical tradition is the reception of classical Greco-Roman antiquity by later cultures, especially the post-classical West, involving texts, imagery, objects, ideas, institutions, monuments, architecture, cultural artifacts, ritua ...
and opposes the inclusion of modern and contemporary architectural styles. The Society has various regional chapters that host local events and outreach. The organization is headquartered in
Washington, D.C.
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
The Society has been active in discussions regarding memorials in Washington, D.C. and the rebuilding of the
original Penn Station in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The Society led a six-year campaign against Frank Gehry's proposed design for the
Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial is a United States presidential memorial in Washington, D.C. honoring Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II and the 34th President of the United States.
...
, which forced the architect to make changes to his original scheme.
In 2020, the Society organized a survey of 2,000 American adults by
The Harris Poll
The Harris Poll (legal name: Harris Insights and Analytics) is an American market research and analytics company that has been tracking the sentiment, behaviors and motivations of American adults since 1963. In addition to the traditional consulti ...
to determine people's preferred architecture for federal buildings and U.S. courthouses. The survey showed participants pairs of side-by-side photographs of federal buildings similar in shape, size, and color, with one of the buildings being traditional, the other modern. As ''Bloomberg'' reported, "The responses did not vary by demographic group: When asked to choose from the two images, Americans of every age, sex, race and class category pulled the lever for traditional designs by a nearly 3 to 1 margin. Overall, classical won out over modern by 72% to 28%."
The National Civic Art Society's president is
Justin Shubow
Justin Shubow is an American architectural critic who currently serves as the president of the National Civic Art Society, a nonprofit organization that advocates and promotes public art and architecture in the classical tradition. He was a member ...
, a former chairman of the
U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States, and was established in 1910. The CFA has review (but not approval) authority over the "design and aesthetics" of all construction with ...
. Under his leadership, the Society is reported to have played a key role in the passage of the Executive Order "Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture," which encouraged traditional and classical architecture for federal buildings.
See also
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Classical order
An order in architecture is a certain assemblage of parts subject to uniform established proportions, regulated by the office that each part has to perform.
Coming down to the present from Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman civilization, the arch ...
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Classical architecture
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect V ...
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Traditional architecture
Vernacular architecture is building done outside any academic tradition, and without professional guidance. This category encompasses a wide range and variety of building types, with differing methods of construction, from around the world, bo ...
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New Classical architecture
New Classical architecture, New Classicism or the New Classical movement is a contemporary movement in architecture that continues the practice of Classical architecture. It is sometimes considered the modern continuation of Neoclassical architec ...
References
External links
National Civic Art Society
Architecture organizations based in the United States
Arts organizations based in Washington, D.C.
New Classical architecture
Classical architecture
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