WASHINGTON — The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts voted Thursday to advance a 250-foot-tall triumphal arch set to cement President Donald Trump’s legacy in the nation’s capital.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum formally introduced the United States Triumphal Arch project before the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) and a packed hearing room. The Department of the Interior, through the National Park Service, would oversee the arch’s construction and maintenance. Aimed for a July 2028 completion, the reportedly $15 million project would celebrate, according to Burgum, “American freedom, American unity, American strength and the American dream.”
Planned to be built within an empty traffic circle of an artificial island on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, the towering arch would greet anyone crossing the Memorial Bridge between Washington’s Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. The arch as planned would be more than twice the height of the 99-foot-tall Lincoln Memorial, but about half the height of the roughly 555-foot Washington Monument, not considering changes in elevation.
The crowning 60-foot Lady Liberty, as well as the smaller eagles and lions, would be plated in 24-carat gold. Likewise, large gold lettering would display iconic phrases from the Pledge of Allegiance. While vehicular traffic would navigate the Circle as presently situated, pedestrians would be able to enter the structure and ascend to an observation deck for presumably exclusive views of the capital.
“Carefully designed, thoughtfully placed, such a structure will enrich Washington’s historic fabric, adding a new chapter to the infinitely rich history of our nation’s capital,” Burgum predicted.
“Great nations build beautiful structures and works of art that cultivate national pride and love of country,” he continued. “In this tradition, the United States Triumphal Arch will be a project of which all Americans will be proud.”
Taking over when Burgum departed for Capitol Hill, Harrison Designs principal architect Nicolas Charbonneau proceeded to detail additional elements for the Commission and respond to their inquiries.
Trump-appointed Chairman Rodney Mims Cook Jr. initially asked about the pilings and foundation infrastructure to support the massive structure and prevent it from sinking into the ground of Columbia Island.
“This is personal for the president,” Cook said.
Vice Chairman James McCreary II expressed accessibility concerns related to subterranean elements of the design, the potential for the City to obstruct the arch with barricades and the balance between pedestrian and vehicular traffic flows.
“I’m wondering if this arch doesn’t better participate in the language of Washington, D.C.’s monumental architecture, because without it, rather than with it,” he also observed. “And I do use that word intentionally, ‘participate in,’ because I think that this arch does participate in the monumental form. This arch does contribute to it, it extends it, and it will become part of the federal enclave, it will become part of Washington’s great memorial population, if you will.”
Both Cook and McCreary also questioned if the sculptures were necessary, with the latter noting lions are not native to North America.
McCreary declined to comment to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Just under 1,000 public comments from individuals and preservation organizations had been submitted to CFA for formal consideration, Secretary Thomas Luebke reported. All were reportedly in opposition to the project, citing concerns with its scale, cost, supposed egotistical intent and perceived contrast with the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
Despite a packed room, however, there were no disruptions during the presentation, though a notable security presence also ensured order. A small protest outside CFA’s office at the National Building Museum preceded the meeting.
H. Edward Phillips III, an attorney from Tennessee, was the only member of the public to speak in support of the arch. He praised the symbolism the project would exhibit connecting the union’s capital to the South in the aftermath of the Civil War, noting how it would touch the veterans of his family.
“I’ll look at their service and I know that it should be honored and I don’t see this as offensive,” he testified.
Phillips also echoed Cook’s unifying characterization that “the binding of the wound of this nation, that bridge and keeping that connection between those two structures is paramount in what you are doing.”
“It’s an entrance into Arlington and ‘from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion— that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth,’” Cook concluded, his voice breaking at the end, quoting President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. “This is really important to all of us and we have to get this right.”
The commissioners then voted unanimously to approve the concept designs; a final vote is anticipated for its May 21 meeting. The Commission then moved to consider proposals for a new White House visitor screening center and an external renovation of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building adjacent to the Executive Mansion.
“It’s quite beautiful, as you can see. And this monumental arc will beam at 250 feet tall in honor of 250 years,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a Wednesday press briefing.
“Long after everyone in this room is gone, our children and grandchildren will remain inspired by this national Monument,” she concluded. “Beginning construction this year on the architectural arc is a fitting way to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence. Great nations build beautiful structures that cultivate national pride and love of country, and this Triumphal Arc should be a project that all Americans of all political persuasions can support because it’s a monument for every American to celebrate 250 years of our nation’s proud history.”
Trump teased the arch project a week before the East Wing of the White House was demolished in October to make way for a 89,000-square-foot modernization project featuring a new state ballroom.
The president later promised the project would be create the “GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World.”
“The one that people know mostly is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, and, we’re gonna top it by, I think, a lot,” Trump remarked on Dec. 14. “The only thing they have is history. You know, 1860 is something I always say the one thing you can’t compete with, but eventually we’ll have that history too. But we’re gonna have something the likes of which has never been done before. And it’s been waiting for 200 years, literally.”
He then revealed Vince Haley, the director of the Domestic Policy Council, was placed in charge of the project.
The project is already the subject of litigation. Three veterans filed a lawsuit in February, later joined by Democrat lawmakers, arguing the arch “would dishonor their military and foreign service and the legacy of their comrades and other veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and would degrade their personal experience when visiting Arlington Cemetery or traveling around Memorial Circle and on the Memorial Avenue Corridor.”
Established in 1910, the CFA is an independent federal agency charged with “giving expert advice to the President, the Congress and the federal and District of Columbia governments on matters of design and aesthetics, as they affect the federal interest and preserve the dignity of the nation’s capital.”
Trump fired the six commissioners appointed by former President Joe Biden in October 2025, replacing them with supporters to allow for a court-mandated review of the East Wing Modernization project. The Biden administration had moved to replace appointees from Trump’s first presidency before their terms were complete, citing diversity preferences.
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