The Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday gave initial approval to President Donald Trump’s proposal for a new monument in Washington, D.C., designed to acknowledge the country’s 250th birthday.
The federal panel unanimously approved the design, clearing a major bureaucratic hurdle for Trump’s pet project, though its construction remains threatened by a lawsuit that raises concerns the arch would disrupt views between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
“I’ve been watching very carefully, and the designs just get better and better and better and better and better,” James McCrery II, the commission’s vice chairman, said. “It’s very, very, very good.”
Nicolas Charbonneau, the lead architect, said the proposed monument, dubbed the “Independence Arch,” could reach 250 feet in a nod to the semiquincentennial. At that height, the new monument is set to become the world’s tallest ceremonial arch, towering over iconic structures such as the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial and dwarfing France’s similar Arc de Triomphe. The new arch’s height could be reduced to 166 feet by removing the golden-winged Lady Liberty statue sitting atop the monument, according to the commission.
The arch would be located inside an empty traffic circle near the Arlington National Cemetery. The land is controlled by the Interior Department’s National Park Service. Critics have argued that the Interior Department must seek approval from Congress before proceeding and raised fears that the arch is a maximalist structure that would dominate the city’s skyline, distracting from the country’s most revered monuments. A group of Vietnam War veterans filed a lawsuit to stop the project in February, citing both aesthetic and legal issues.
While commissioners gave their initial sign-off to the proposal this week, some members acknowledged concerns and said the project’s design could still change. McCrery expressed openness to removing the Lady Liberty statue and the two eagles atop the structure. He also backed removing four golden lions that would sit at the base of the arch, saying that they could be replaced with an animal native to North America.
“I think everyone is against architectural excess,” McCrery said. “It will be determined later whether that is an accurate characterization of this design.”
Trump released architectural renderings of the triumphal arch on Friday. The artwork depicts “ONE NATION UNDER GOD” inscribed on one side of the arch facing the National Mall and “LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL” etched on the opposite side.
“I’d like it to be the biggest one of all,” the president reflected in late January. “We’re the biggest, most powerful nation.”
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On Thursday, Commission of Fine Arts Chairman Rodney Mims Cook Jr. said the project was “personal” to the president.
“This is personal to everyone in the room, and the president wants to do something that in his heart he feels is good,” he said. “This is really important to all of us, and we have to get this right.”
