The federal Commission of Fine Arts is set on Thursday to review plans for a hulking 250-foot “triumphal arch” to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, one of several construction projects President Trump has conjured up in an effort to leave his aesthetic mark on Washington.
Mr. Trump has reason to be optimistic about the fate of the review: He fired all of the panel’s members in October and replaced them with his allies.
His intention is for the arch to rise up from a roundabout near Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial. The design prominently features the heavy gold embellishments that have come to be known as a signature Trump style.
The proposed arch, whose cost the administration has not released, carries the feel of a Trump design for another reason: It is simply massive.
Though it is loosely modeled on the Arc de Triomphe, the neoclassical monument in Paris commissioned by Napoleon, the arch Mr. Trump proposes would dwarf that by some 86 feet.
In fact, the proposed arch would be taller than nearly every other monumental arch across the United States and across the world. Here’s a sampling:
Many of the world’s monumental arches are war memorials, such as New Delhi’s India Gate and New York City’s Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Arch. Some commemorate revolutions, like Mexico City’s Monumento a la Revolución, and others, like Lisbon’s Rua Augusta Arch, symbolize the strength of a people.
Asked in October who the proposed Washington arch would be for, Mr. Trump responded, “Me.”
If built as planned, the arch would remake Washington’s landscape. Its proposed location means it would be in full view when entering or leaving the capital via the Arlington Memorial Bridge. Its proposed height means it would be taller than the Lincoln Memorial and nearly as tall as the U.S. Capitol building.
The White House expects to complete construction before the end of Mr. Trump’s term. But questions remain on how the arch would be built, including who would pay for it.
It remains possible that, like Mr. Trump’s planned 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom, the proposed arch could get caught up in a legal quagmire.
A group of Vietnam War veterans, as well as an architectural historian, have sued in federal court to stop its construction. The lawsuit argues that the arch would require congressional approval under various statutes, including the Commemorative Works Act of 1986, which dictates that a memorial built in the proposed location must be of “pre-eminent historical and lasting significance to the United States.”
Several congressional Democrats filed an amicus brief in support of that lawsuit in March. Washington, the brief states, “is not the President’s backyard to renovate, relandscape, and build in as he sees fit.”
