The White House has released its latest renderings of a 250-foot triumphal arch that will dwarf the Lincoln Memorial across the Potomac, with a figure resembling the Statue of Liberty and gilded lions and eagles.
The renderings were submitted Friday to the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal design panel that will consider the designs at its meeting next week.
President Trump proposed the structure, which would sit on the Memorial Circle roundabout at the southwestern end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge by the Potomac River, near the Arlington National Cemetery. It would become the tallest triumphal arch in the world, to celebrate America’s semiquincentennial and further cement Mr. Trump’s mark on Washington.
The proposed design is more than twice as high as the 99-foot-tall Lincoln Memorial, 30 feet taller than the Monumento a la Revolucion in Mexico City and more than 80 feet taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which it resembles.
The arch’s designs include inscriptions reading “One Nation Under God” and “Liberty and Justice For All,” as well as two eagles by the side of a gold and winged Lady Liberty. The base is guarded by four gilded lions. Renderings were credited to Harrison Design, an architecture firm in Washington.
The president has touted the grandiose and symbolic nature of the arch, stating that the building is for “me.” He says major cities around the world have such monuments — minus Washington.
Construction will be partially funded by American taxpayers, according to the spending plan for the National Endowment for the Humanities released earlier this week, which includes $2 million for the arch itself, plus $13 million in matching grants “reserved for the arch.”
Mr. Trump has initiated numerous plans to stamp his vision across the capital, including remodeling the White House and a proposed National Garden of American Heroes with 250 statues.
Last October, he showcased models of the arch at a White House fund-raising dinner for his $400 million White House ballroom. The project involved the demolition of the White House’s East Wing last fall to make way for the 90,000-square-foot ballroom.
