The White House faced the wrecking ball. Are these federal buildings next?

When the Trump administration demolished the White House’s East Wing in October to make room for an oversized, questionably-funded ballroom, it not only sparked global outrage but deep concern among architects and preservationists about the limits of presidential power in relation to the nation’s architectural heritage. This month, the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a federal lawsuit to block the ballroom, on the grounds that, by skirting any formal review processes, President Trump broke the law.

There are potentially more changes on the books: The administration has called for the historic Eisenhower Executive Building to be repainted and the ‘terrible’ Eero Saarinen-designed Washington Dulles Airport main terminal to be rebuilt because it was ‘incorrectly designed.’ There are also plans for an Arc de Trump.

Preservationists and leading architects are understandably concerned about what other significant federal buildings might be next. And they don’t have to look far: the General Service Administration (GSA) issued an ‘accelerated disposition’ list – an ever-changing selection of sites in Washington, D.C. and other major cities – that have been identified as a ‘burden to taxpayers,’ and destined for sale on the open-market.

These predominantly modernist, brutalist and deconstructivist buildings were picked-out, it would appear, because they don’t reflect the administration's recent Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again executive order; doubling-down on its preference for a more conventional form of classical architecture favoured by the founding fathers 250 years ago. While these buildings aren’t being torn down per se, there are little protections in place to ensure they won't be. Here are some of the buildings that may come under threat in the year ahead, according to architects and preservationists.

U.S. Tax Court Building

Architect: Victory Lundy
Year: 1974
Location: Washington, D.C.

Prior to the mandate to make federal architecture beautiful again, the GSA adhered to a doctrine set forth by New York senator Daniel Moynihan that promoted the idea that public architecture should embody the principles of dignity, enterprise, vigour and stability but not in one particular style. ‘For 60 years, this approach worked very well,’ says George Smart, founder of extensive online archive USModernist.

Though no longer on the ‘list’ as of November 2025, the U.S. Tax Court Building is one structure Smart notes could still be at risk simply because of its decidedly brutalist appearance. Designed by Victor Lundy in 1974, the structure is defined by its broken monolithic form, windowless walls and dramatic overhangs. Reviewing plans in the late 1960s, renowned critic Ada Louise Huxtable described the building as ‘a progressive, sensitive, contemporary solution fully responsive to Washington’s classical tradition.’

For Smart, the building adds a sculptural and experiential quality to the urban landscape. ‘One of the current classicist arguments goes back to the founding fathers—they intended for us to have a Greco-Roman ethic around construction and that's what we should continue to honour,’ he notes. ‘However, they also thought slavery was great. Everything evolves: our policies, constitution methods and the architectural styles involved. It’s important to save the best of these as they come along and remember them as we continue to grow as a civilisation.’

J. Edgar Hoover Building

Architect: Charles Francis Murphy
Year: 1965
Location: Washington, D.C.

Designed by Charles Francis Murphy in 1965, the massive J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI Headquarters) is another Brutalist edifice up for sale that has long drawn ire from the president. He’s repeatedly called it ‘one of the ugliest buildings in the city,’ and for it to be ‘completely revamped,’ if the FBI were to stay. However in July 2025, the administration announced that the agency would vacate its long-held seat and move to the nearby, neoclassical Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

‘Was the FBI Headquarters ever really that good of a building, I don't think so,’ concedes critic Aaron Betsky. ‘I do, however, think that all such brutalist buildings represent an attitude towards government and how it should be held.’ For Betsky, the whole point of these kinds of buildings was to represent a government that was there to help.

Still, argues Brigitte Cook of the New York preservation practice PBDW Architects, ‘Preservation is not about imitating the past, it’s about understanding and honouring the full breadth of our history, both good and the difficult, and protecting it so future generations can learn from it.’

HUD Building

Architect: Marcel Breuer
Year: 1968
Location: Washington, D.C.

The GSA list currently includes the 1968 Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, the headquarters of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), designed by Marcel Breuer. Current HUD Secretary Scott Turner has called it the ugliest structure in Washington, D.C. Though on the National Register of Historic Places, the office block is up for sale.

Where is HUD headed? It will most likely move to a newly-constructed site, not a reused historical building. This reveals the sheer financial and carbon impact of the administration’s current push to relocate numerous government agencies.

Dulles International Airport Main Terminal

Architect: Eero Saarinen
Year: 1962
Location: Washington, D.C.

At the beginning of December, the administration ordered the Department of Transportation to put out a call for proposals to redevelop Washington, D.C.’s larger international airport, Dulles – in particular its main terminal building. Defined by sweeping curvilinear eaves and dramatically slung roof, the emblematic 1962 structure was designed by midcentury modern powerhouse Eero Saarinen in his signature ‘space age’ style.

According to reporting from PBS, president Trump stated that the airport was incorrectly designed. ‘We’re going to turn that around and we’re going to make it into something really spectacular,’ he said. The style of the proposal the administration ultimately chooses might not be so hard to guess.

Wilbur J. Cohen Building

Architect: Charles Klauder
Year: 1940
Location: Washington, D.C.

The 1940, Charles Klauder-designed Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building (home to the Social Security Administration) is another non-Brutalist building still on the GSA List that Trump wants sold by 2026

Ironically, the building is neoclassical; just a more Art Deco-influenced Stripped Classicism derivation that the administration, apparently, deems inappropriate. What might be drawing Trump’s attention to Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building? Ten large murals – including seminal 20th-century painter Philip Guston’s Reconstruction and Well-Being of the Family – depict elaborate scenes that promote progressive values. ‘Some have called the building the Sistine Chapel of New Deal art,’ says Sara C. Bronin, the former Biden administration-appointed chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. ‘Through Section 106 [of the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act], covenants could be placed on these properties that protect their most significant elements.’