Trump arch monument design approved despite ‘odd’ features, key agency says – National

U.S. President Donald Trump moved a step closer to beginning construction on a “Triumphal Arch” he wants built in Washington, D.C., after it received preliminary approval from a key agency on Thursday, though the plans didn’t go unopposed.

The arch, which is set to stand at 250 feet tall and include a Lady Liberty-like statue on top flanked by two eagles and guarded at the base by four gilded lions, is one of several construction or reconstruction projects Trump hopes to complete during his second term, including renaming and renovating the Kennedy Center and demolishing the White House East Wing to build a ballroom with an underground bunker, though the latter faces extensive legal and public pushback.

The familiar phrases from the American Pledge of Allegiance, “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All,” would be engraved in gold on either side of the monument.

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members were appointed by Trump, approved design concepts for three projects: the arch, a plan to paint the grey granite exterior of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and construction of an underground facility to conduct security screenings of tourists and other guests.

During the review, members probed the project’s lead architect, Nicolas Charbonneau, about the arch’s structural integrity, wheelchair accessibility, plans for pedestrianization and the golden adornments at its base and on top.

“It seems odd,” commissioner James McCrery said of the golden eagles, CBS News reported.

“I’d say work on the lions,” he added, noting that they are “not a beast natural to the North American continent,” before recommending a larger doorway, scrapping an underground access walkway and even reducing the overall size of the arch.

At its current height, it would obscure the Lincoln Memorial, which is 99 feet, and be almost half the height of the Washington Monument, which is about 555 feet tall.

McCrery still voted in favour of the preliminary designs, but said the arch could “better participate” in the city’s skyline.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who pitched the arch at the meeting, said the original plans for Columbia Island, the government-owned land where the arch would stand, called for a monument that “embodies American freedom” to be built there. But those efforts fell by the wayside, he said, allowing the plot to become a “barren” and “grass-covered” traffic circle in need of beautification.

His department oversees the National Park Service, which manages the land where the arch would be built. Burgum said Washington is the only major western world capital without such an arch.

The approvals mark the first step in a longer process; next, commissioners will review updated designs at a later date.

The results of the review came in on the same day that a judge halted above-ground construction of Trump’s US$400-million ballroom, but allowed the administration to proceed with below-ground work on a bunker and other “national security facilities” on the site.

— With files from The Associated Press

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