Trump admin's reasons for trying to sell the HUD building range from silly to sinister

[riversedge]

Trump admin’s reasons for trying to sell the HUD building range from silly to sinister

The attempt to ditch the Weaver Building is about slashing key programs — and partly about meeting Trump’s beauty standards.

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/hud-weaver-building-brutalist-trump-scott-turner-rcna201930

April 18, 2025, 6:15 PM CDT

By Ja'han Jones

The Trump administration’s reasons for attempting to sell the federal building that houses the Department of Housing and Urban Development range from silly to sinister.

In a statement Thursday, HUD and the General Services Administration said that maintenance costs and the search for a more efficient use of space are behind their recent decision to try to sell off the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building in Washington.

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But there seems to be another, more puerile reason the administration is looking to ditch HUD’s current building: to meet Trump’s beauty standards.


The Weaver Building is an example of Brutalist architecture, a style Trump evidently dislikes. Earlier this year, he signed an executive order aimed at promoting “beautiful federal civic architecture,” which encourages the federal government to steer clear of Brutalist architecture and embrace classical architecture, given Washington’s current “discordant mixture of classical and modernist designs.” The executive order specifically cites the Weaver Building’s style as one the government should seek to avoid.

And Turner followed Trump’s lead in March, when he said HUD’s headquarters “is known as the ugliest building in D.C.,” adding: “We want to create an environment here — including our building — where people want to be proud of where they come to work and carry out the mission and the assignment that we have.”

When you elect a dodgy real estate executive, questionable design enthusiast and wannabe king as president, this seems like a natural outcome....................

[Ocelot II]

1. I'm not a big fan of Brutalist architecture either, but I prefer it to

whatever nouveau-Baroque/dictator-chic monstrosity Trump would favor - it would probably be too overdone for Albert Speer.