President Donald Trump plans to change the landscape of Washington, D.C., by erecting an arch that will serve as a gateway to the nation’s capital.
Trump unveiled his plans at a dinner Wednesday night to thank donors who contributed to his $250 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom at the White House, per USA Today.
The president showed three 3-D models of a giant arch, which looks similar to Paris’s imposing Arc de Triomphe. He said its proposed location is across from the Lincoln Memorial.
“That’s Arlington Memorial Bridge,” he said, pointing to a map. “And at the end of it, you have a circle that was built 150 years ago. You have two columns on one side, two columns on the other, yet in the middle, just a circle. And everyone in the past had said something was supposed to be built there. But a thing called the Civil War interfered. That’s a good reason.
“It’s going to be really beautiful. I think it’s going to be fantastic,” Trump said, holding up the three models of the arch, The Hill reported. “There’s a rendering of what it will look like. You have three sizes.”
“Whichever one would look good. I happen to think the large one,” Trump said.
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Additional details were not revealed, including the cost and if the city OK’d the project. A timeline was also not announced.
Trump, a former real estate developer, has sought to put his mark on both the White House and D.C.
For example, he paved over the grass in the Rose Garden, put in marble tile in the White House Palm Room, put up presidential portraits along the colonnade and redecorated the Oval Office.
He pointed to other presidents who spearheaded changes to the White House, per USA Today.
“James Monroe, who added the South Portico, to Andrew Jackson, who added the North Portico, to Theodore Roosevelt, who added the West Wing,” he said. “And Harry Truman, who added the Truman Balcony.”
“It’s so relaxing for me. Real estate is relaxing,” he said. “For a lot of people, real estate is a very trying business. I’ve always liked it. I’ve always done well with it.”
