President Donald Trump unveiled plans Friday for the construction of a large arch in Washington, D.C. to commemorate the United States’ 250th anniversary, but on Saturday, the architect behind the project revealed that his recommendations went ignored by the White House, and went on to blast the project over its location and size.
“I don’t think an arch that large belongs there,” said Catesby Leigh, an art critic who pitched the idea of constructing an arch to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary to the White House last year, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
Dubbed the “Independence Arch,” the White House plans for the structure to stand 250 feet tall and be built across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial. Its size and location, however, has “alarmed some architectural experts,” the Post reported, as it may obstruct pedestrian views of the Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.
“I would be very concerned about the scale,” said Calder Loth, a former senior architectural historian for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, speaking with the Post. “It would make Arlington House just look like a dollhouse – or you couldn’t see it all, with the arch blocking the view.”
Leigh’s first pitch to the White House was for a temporary 60-foot-tall arch to commemorate the United States’ 250th anniversary, but Trump instead decided to go bigger, and to construct a permanent fixture. Speaking with the Post, Leigh said that if Trump insists on a permanent, 250-foot-tall arch, it should instead be constructed elsewhere.
“If you’re going to build an arch that big, you should build it in another part of town and one possible site that comes to mind is Barney Circle,” Leigh said. “There’s nothing around it competing with it.”