President Donald Trump\u2019s extravagant $400-million White House ballroom and proposed triumphal arch were always going to attract the most attention, but in Tennessee officials unveiled a far more revealing illustration of the US president\u2019s future architectural legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
CNN News writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Set to open in 2030, Chattanooga\u2019s new courthouse will be a muscular Art Deco Greek temple\u2026 It\u2019s the first major new design announced by America\u2019s federal building agency since Trump\u2019s executive order, \u2018Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again.\u2019 Its beauty is therefore now a matter of both architectural and political debate\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dubbing the style \u2018Greco-Deco,\u2019 the National Civic Art Society (NCAS) lauded Chattanooga\u2019s new courthouse as a \u2018showpiece\u2019 of Trump\u2019s executive order (a directive that the organization, incidentally, helped draft)\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Kevin D. Murphy, a professor and chair of history of art at Tennessee\u2019s Vanderbilt University, the new design evokes a version of 1930s classicism \u2018associated with fascist states.\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2026 whether Chattanooga\u2019s sturdy new courthouse is a dangerous precedent or a sensible safeguard of civic tradition \u2014 may depend as much on your politics as your taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n