Washington — President Donald Trump’s design Arc de Triomphe He wants it to be built at the entrance to the US capital, and it will be subject to review and likely vote on Thursday by a key federal agency, one of several projects he is pursuing. Next to the White House Hall To leave his permanent mark on Washington.
Trump said on social media that the arch “will be the greatest and most beautiful Arc de Triomphe anywhere in the world” and “a wonderful addition to the Washington, D.C. area for all Americans to enjoy for many decades to come!”
Among the agenda for the monthly meeting of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose seven members were appointed by the Republican president, was his plan to paint the gray granite exterior of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House white.
The third project related to the White House is construction Underground center Conducting security checks for tourists and other guests is also up for consideration.
Commissioners are scheduled to review design plans for all three projects. They will be reviewing the bow and paint job for the first time. The White House Visitors Center was discussed at the March meeting. It was not clear whether the committee would approve any of the projects on Thursday.
A separate oversight panel, the National Metropolitan Planning Commission, opened its consideration of the visitor center last month. The Trump Arch design should soon receive consideration and a vote of approval.
The arch is 250 feet (76 m) high from its base to the torch held aloft by a Lady Liberty-like figure atop the structure. The statue will be flanked at the top by two eagles and guarded at the base by four lions – all gilded. The phrases “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice for All” will be written in gold letters above both sides of the memorial.
The arch will be built on a man-made island managed by the National Park Service on the Virginia side of the Potomac River at the Memorial Bridge end of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The arch would dwarf the Lincoln Memorial, which stands 99 feet (30 meters) high, and is nearly half the height of the capital’s famous obelisk. Washington Monument (about 555 feet or 169 meters).
The 250-foot height will honor 250 years of America’s existence, White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said Wednesday.
But it is already the subject of litigation. A group of veterans and a historian filed a lawsuit in federal court to block construction on the grounds that the arch would disrupt the line of sight between the Lincoln Memorial and the Arlington House in Arlington National Cemetery, among other reasons.
The U.S. Secret Service, the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service and the Executive Office of the President want to break ground in August on a 33,000-square-foot (3,066-square-meter) center to screen tourists and other visitors to the White House.
It will be built beneath Sherman Park, federal land southwest of the White House, to provide a safer place for screening for those taking White House tours or attending events. The new facility will have seven lanes to facilitate processing and reduce wait times.
Officials want it up and running by July 2028, six months before Trump’s term ends.
Trump said the Executive Office Building is beautiful, but he doesn’t like its gray exterior.
“It’s one of the most beautiful buildings anywhere in Washington,” Trump said in August. “I think it’s incredible, but you have to get past the color because the stone they used was a really bad color.”
Two suggestions were presented to the committee: cover the entire building bright white or paint most of it white while leaving the granite untouched in the exposed basement and basement.
In written materials, the White House said the building had been largely neglected since its construction. She said the building’s color, design and massing were not “visually consistent with the surrounding architecture” and lacked “any symbolic cohesion with the White House.”
The paint job is also the subject of litigation in federal court.
The building is located across a corridor from the west wing. Completed in 1888 after 17 years of construction, its granite, slate, and cast iron exterior makes it one of the finest American examples of the French Second Empire style of architecture.
It originally housed the Departments of State, War, and Navy, and currently houses offices for the Vice President and the National Security Council, among others.
The building is a National Historic Landmark and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.