President Trump\u2019s proposed 250-foot-tall triumphal arch would change the skyline of Washington to such an extent that it would intrude on views at dozens of historic sites around the capital, according to an assessment by National Park Service staff.<\/p>\n
It would disrupt the symbolic relationship between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, obstruct sightlines from the Kennedy Gravesite and Robert E. Lee\u2019s home, and alter what official documents call \u201cone of the most magnificent\u201d views<\/a> in Washington at the National Cathedral four miles away, the Park Service said.<\/p>\n The assessment of the arch\u2019s impact on surrounding historic properties is a key step the administration must complete before the project can receive final approval by the National Capital Planning Commission, which could come as soon as its next meeting on Sept. 3.<\/p>\n The Park Service is supposed to seek ways to reduce such \u201cadverse effects\u201d on historic sites under the National Historic Preservation Act<\/a>. But the arch is expected to move forward with little change given that Mr. Trump has shown no interest in the most obvious remedies \u2014 scaling down the project, or building it somewhere else.<\/p>\n Precisely because the arch was designed to be so large and prominently located \u2014 it\u2019s taller than the capital\u2019s height limits allow<\/a>, and more than twice as tall as the nearby Lincoln Memorial<\/a> \u2014 it would be visible from many significant sites around Washington, altering what are considered defining characteristics of those places.<\/p>\n The recently updated list of affected sites, which the Park Service has asked outside groups to comment on by Thursday, is notable for its length and the many major buildings (and surrounding districts and landscapes) on it:<\/p>\n Historic sites \u2018adversely affected\u2019 by the proposed arch<\/p>\n 1. Memorial Avenue Corridor Cultural Landscape<\/p>\n 2. Arlington Memorial Bridge and Associated Features<\/p>\n 3. Lady Bird Johnson Park Cultural Landscape<\/p>\n 4. Arlington National Cemetery Historic District<\/p>\n 5. Arlington House Historic District<\/p>\n 6. Arlington House (Robert E. Lee Memorial)<\/p>\n 7. Arlington House Cultural Landscape<\/p>\n 8. Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Grove<\/p>\n 9. Mount Vernon Memorial Highway Historic District<\/p>\n 10. Lincoln Memorial Cultural Landscape<\/p>\n 11. Lincoln Memorial<\/p>\n 12. National Mall Site and National Mall Historic District<\/p>\n 13. The Mall Cultural Landscape<\/p>\n 14. Washington Monument<\/p>\n 15. Washington Monument and Grounds Historic District<\/p>\n 16. Washington Monument and Grounds Cultural Landscape<\/p>\n 17. Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway Historic District<\/p>\n 18. East and West Potomac Park Historic District<\/p>\n 19. L’Enfant Plan of the City of Washington, District of Columbia<\/p>\n 20. Arlington Ridge Park<\/p>\n 21. Pentagon<\/p>\n 22. Fort Myer National Historic Landmark District<\/p>\n 23. George Mason Memorial<\/p>\n 24. Thomas Jefferson Memorial<\/p>\n 25. Thomas Jefferson Memorial Cultural Landscape<\/p>\n 26. United States Capitol<\/p>\n 27. Georgetown Historic District<\/p>\n 28. Old Naval Observatory<\/p>\n 29. Observatory Hill Historic District<\/p>\n 30. Alban Towers Apartment Building<\/p>\n 31. American Institute of Pharmacy Building<\/p>\n 32. George Washington Memorial Parkway<\/p>\n 33. Halcyon House<\/p>\n 34. Francis Scott Key Bridge<\/p>\n 35. The National Cathedral<\/p>\n 36. National War College<\/p>\n 37. Vigilant Firehouse<\/p>\n \u201cThese adverse effects are intentional and inherent in the design of the arch; it is intended to dominate the surrounding landscape,\u201d wrote Roger W. Kirchen, Virginia\u2019s State Historic Preservation Officer, in a June letter to the Park Service after it began the review.<\/p>\n Adverse effects mean \u201cyou\u2019re building something that will irreversibly harm the experience in these other locations,\u201d said Ed Stierli, the vice president for government affairs with the National Parks Conservation Association. Given that the administration is expected to proceed anyway, he said, this list looks like a reflection of the career civil servants and the Trump political staff \u201ccontradicting each other on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n The assessment is part of what\u2019s known as a Section 106 review under the preservation law, which requires federal agencies to consider how a wide range of \u201cundertakings\u201d \u2014 new courthouses, road expansions, pipeline permits \u2014 would affect sites that are on or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The law prescribes no particular outcome but is meant to get agencies to pause, consult experts and the public, and consider alternatives or design changes.<\/p>\n State preservation officials in Virginia and Washington and other organizations have charged that the arch review has been rushed and began too late for meaningful change. The review started after the site was selected, and after the design was approved by another federal panel<\/a>. David Maloney, Washington\u2019s historic preservation officer, proposed an alternative location on the Anacostia River<\/a> due south of the Capitol, a solution that appears off the table as the White House sprints to complete the project before the end of Mr. Trump\u2019s term.<\/p>\n The National Park Service did not respond to questions about the review process.<\/p>\n As the administration moves swiftly through the review, it is simultaneously pushing to overhaul the rules governing historic reviews nationwide<\/a>, curbing public participation and the kinds of places and harms that would be considered. The new regulations are unlikely to take effect before the arch review is complete. But the president\u2019s prized project illustrates how consequential the rules changes would be. In fact, nearly all of the \u201cadverse effects\u201d of the arch would no longer be recognized.<\/p>\n The harms identified by Park Service staff largely describe changes to the setting and views at historic sites, not physical damage to them. But the sightlines, surrounding landscapes and symbolic links to other monuments and memorials are documented features of their historic designations \u2014 ones that shape how visitors experience these places today.<\/p>\n The proposed regulatory changes would narrow the focus of reviews to material harm, like damage from construction.<\/p>\n \u201cVisual sightlines, relationships, setting, context \u2014 none of that matters,\u201d said Greg Werkheiser, a lawyer and founding partner of the firm Cultural Heritage Partners, which works on preservation cases.<\/p>\n Those very features are at the core of opposition to the arch. The case against it by veterans, preservationists, historians and Washington residents is that it would alter the meaning and feel of the places around it \u2014 not just the ground inside Memorial Circle, where it would be built.<\/p>\n The arch would obstruct views toward Arlington National Cemetery and Robert E. Lee\u2019s Arlington House.Credit…Eric Lee for The New York Times<\/p>\n The arch would interrupt a carefully planned corridor<\/a> between the Lincoln Memorial and Lee\u2019s Arlington House that was designed to symbolize the reunification of the North and South after the Civil War. From Lee\u2019s memorial, much of the Lincoln Memorial would be obscured by the arch<\/a>. From Arlington Memorial Bridge connecting the two sides of the river, the arch would insert a \u201ctriumphal\u201d symbol into a space that\u2019s also the solemn entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.<\/p>\n Gary Langston, a retired Army officer who has spoken against the arch during its public design reviews, wants officials to imagine a veteran visiting the gravesites of fallen fellow service members.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you\u2019re going to look up and you\u2019re going to see this thing looming over you,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cAnd then it\u2019s going to have a viewing stand with tourists looking down at you.\u201d<\/p>\n The plans for the arch include an observation deck that its proponents say would introduce sweeping new views of the capital region. But the immediate proximity to the cemetery means that tourists looking west would often be observing private funerals and grieving families, veterans say. And if they look toward the Lincoln Memorial and Capitol to the east, they would turn their backs on the cemetery.<\/p>\n The Park Service assessment acknowledges that from ground level inside some parts of the cemetery, the arch would become part of the scenery. It would also obstruct views from the Eternal Flame at President Kennedy\u2019s gravesite, on a hillside facing the Lincoln Memorial.<\/p>\n The arch would obstruct views of the Lincoln Memorial from the Eternal Flame at John F. Kennedy\u2019s gravesite.Credit…Mark Reinstein\/Corbis, via Getty Images<\/p>\n Mr. Langston and other veterans also fear that the thrum of construction \u2014 projected by the administration to run for 20 hours a day for multiple years \u2014 would disrupt burials. \u201cAtmospheric or audible\u201d effects would no longer matter under the new rules either. That would limit protections for places whose significance and function depend on silence, said Sara Bronin, who served during the Biden administration as the chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the federal agency responsible for the Section 106 rules.<\/p>\n Beyond the cemetery, the arch would become part of the experience of visiting the front steps of the Jefferson Memorial and the upper stories of the U.S. Capitol. It would be visible from the Georgetown waterfront and the grounds of the Washington Monument.<\/p>\n To supporters of the arch, those may be features, not intrusions. The arch will become one of the most iconic landmarks not only in Washington, but also throughout the world, said Davis Ingle, a White House spokesman.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, the families of the fallen, and all Americans alike,\u201d Mr. Ingle said in a statement, \u201cserving as a visual reminder of the noble sacrifices borne by so many American heroes throughout our 250-year history so we can enjoy our freedoms today.\u201d<\/p>\n Under the Section 106 process today, once the Park Service identifies affected historic properties, it is then supposed to seek ways to \u201cavoid, minimize or mitigate\u201d any harms. But it\u2019s hard to see how that\u2019s possible with the arch, preservationists said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been no effort to avoid\u201d harms by considering alternative sites, said Rebecca Miller, the executive director of the D.C. Preservation League. \u201cThere has been no effort to minimize, because the president has told them not to. And what is the mitigation for destroying the cultural landscape? I don\u2019t know that you can mitigate this.\u201d<\/p>\n If the proposed regulatory changes are adopted, the phrase \u201cavoid, minimize or mitigate\u201d would be deleted.<\/p>\n Julia Jacobs contributed reporting. 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