A newly released National Park Service study has backed President Donald Trump’s proposed memorial arch, despite acknowledging its adverse effects on sightlines connecting several major Washington landmarks, including the Washington Monument and the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials.
Published on Friday, the document notes that the 250-foot-tall (76-meter) monument will likely diminish the historical significance of numerous locations near its planned site beside Memorial Bridge.
For decades, Washington’s buildings and memorials have been deliberately arranged to honor key historic events and foster symbolic visual links across the capital. However, the study concludes that the arch will interfere with visual alignments connecting a wider range of iconic sites than previously anticipated.
But the Park Service report says “the same characteristics that make Memorial Circle sensitive from a preservation perspective are also the characteristics that make it the historically appropriate location for the undertaking.”
The project’s effects cannot be “fully avoided without either relocating the Arch away from the historically identified site or eliminating the principal commemorative feature, both of which would fail to meet the undertaking’s purpose and need,” the report said.
“For this reason, alternative locations outside Memorial Circle are not reasonable avoidance alternatives,” the report said.
The 133-page report by the Park Service supports Trump's plans for the controversial arch and could play an important role in bolstering the administration's case in its fight against a legal challenge filed by three veterans and an architectural historian.
The proposed arch is one of several projects the Republican president is pursuing to leave his lasting imprint on Washington, including renaming and renovating the Kennedy Center, building a huge new White House ballroom, refurbishing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and rebuilding a golf course in East Potomac Park that could significantly reduce the public’s access to running and biking paths.
The proposal for a towering, gilded arch received initial approval this summer from a key federal commission, even as an earlier report from the park service said the project could impact the “integrity” of dozens of historic properties because it would change “character-defining visual and spatial relationships” between them.
One of the most obvious elements cited by the park service is that the arch would break alignment between the Lincoln Memorial, Memorial Bridge and Arlington House that was formerly Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s home. That alignment was “intended to physically and symbolically unite North and South through a coordinated monumental composition extending across the Potomac River,” the report said.
The Lincoln Memorial Arlington House connection was one of dozens of historic sites and structures listed as being impacted directly by the proposed structure. It added that the National Mall, the U.S. Capitol, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Georgetown Historic District, Old Naval Observatory, Key Bridge, National Cathedral and other sites also would be affected.
Nicolas Sansone, an attorney with Public Citizen Litigation Group representing the plaintiffs, said Friday that the new report “confirms what we've been saying all along: the project will have an enormous impact and transform the National Mall.”
The report underscores the legal challengers' claim that a project of this size and importance “is a decision for Congress to make” and should not be rushed through by executive decree, Sansone said.
The arch design, proposed by Trump, has already received early approval from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. The commissioners were all appointed by Trump. The National Capital Area Planning Commission approved the site and preliminary plans at its July meeting. The commission is expected to take up the matter again this fall.
