Architectural theatrics, such as we encounter at Washington’s African American museum—an upside-down ziggurat clad with a bronze-tinted aluminum filigree—can generate lots of cultural buzz. But the theatrics rarely prove of enduring value. To get an idea of what’s at stake in the federal architecture brawl, take a tour of the new, enormous, and cacophonous Hudson Yards development on Manhattan’s Far West Side, and continue south along the High Line elevated park, running along a converted freight railway from there down to the new, neo-industrial-chic Whitney Museum of American Art at the park’s south end. You will experience a freakshow of architectural novelties extending for well over a mile.

Celebrated Conservative Philosopher Sir Roger Scruton will chair the British government’s new beauty watchdog, a body which will be tasked with ensuring new buildings “meet the needs and expectations of communities” and compliment the character of local areas in future, in a serious blow for modernism and bland housing developments.