Were any Georgetowners pleased when the Biden-appointed, volunteer members of the Commission of Fine Arts were “terminated, effective immediately,” by the Trump administration? (Created in 1910, the CFA also has a paid staff, headed by Secretary Thomas Luebke, Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.)  

With its largely intact 18th– and early 19th-century fabric, Georgetown is a case study and a bastion of the historic preservation movement. The Old Georgetown Act of 1950 established the federal Old Georgetown Historic District and the Old Georgetown Board of Architectural Consultants, a three-member panel that reviews historic district projects for the Commission of Fine Arts.  

Given the approval process for changes, construction in Georgetown is second only to parking as the neighborhood’s most triggering topic, surely some of the residents and developers who have had their plans delayed and modified, if not outright rejected, felt karmic satisfaction when they learned of the Oct. 28 massacre at the CFA. 

We’re not talking about a wall or an adaptive reuse. We’re talking about not only routine construction in the nation’s capital but projects involving landmarks, whether existing (the White House, due to be dwarfed by the Mother of All Ballrooms) or proposed (the Independence Arch, welcoming the victorious army of Arlington Memorial Bridge motorists).  

And we’re talking about replacing credentialed evaluators with, for the most part, Trump loyalists whose distinction, if any, is in fields other than architecture, landscape architecture, planning and preservation. In this, the administration is following its familiar pattern: out with the qualified, particularly if they’re Democrats; in with the order-takers, particularly if they’re MAGA-aligned.  

Given the current volume of executive policies, appointments and orders that threaten the safety net (not to mention literal safety), the environment, the economy and our democratic principles, perhaps the ousting of fine arts commissioners and the like — for example, the Librarian of Congress and the Kennedy Center leadership — should be the least of our worries. 

Nonetheless, symbols are powerful. As one of the 7,000-plus commenters on the Washington Post’s East Wing demolition story wrote: “He is taking the wrecking ball to our house, and our country.“ 

tagsCommission of Fine Artseditorialeditorial and opinioneditorials and opinionsGeorgetownOld Georgetown Board