Monumental Architecture and the Commission which Approves It (Episode 33)

Listen as host Peter H Miller, Hon AIA interviews Thomas E. Luebke, FAIA. Luebke serves as The Secretary of the United States Commission of Fine Arts, responsible for reviewing and approving public building design.

His federal agency's work is focused on buildings and monuments on the National Mall in Washington DC which extends east to west from the U S Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. This includes 11 Smithsonian buildings, the Washington Monument, the WW ll and Viet Nam Memorials, and the Lincoln Memorial. The Fine Arts commission works closely to review buildings and monuments managed by the National Park Service and the General Services Administration.

Part of Mr. Luebke job entails publishing books. His agency has produced three, the most recent of which is titled AMERICAN SHRINES: The Architecture of Presidential Commemoration, a beautifully illustrated 350-page hard cover opus maximum which traces the evolution of monument design from abstract religious form to Victorian florid, to Beaux Arts. Along the way, narrative landscape architecture shaped many of our memorials, notably the Viet Nam and FDR memorials.

Listen in as Thomas Luebke explains the meaning behind these national monuments, their historical context and the important mission of the U.S Commission of Fine Arts:  "to ensure that our memorials display the national qualities that Americans believe are worth celebrating, emulating and perpetuating...to identify the purpose of the American nation and to convince citizens of our mission's worth."

This episode is sponsored by
John Canning & Co..

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