Historians describe arch’s approval as break with two centuries of precedent
The National Capital Planning Commission is scheduled to meet Thursday to approve site and building plans for the 250-foot arch at Memorial Circle, the traffic circle between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. A federal lawsuit filed in February by Vietnam War veterans seeking to block construction remains pending.
The project’s rapid advance through federal review has drawn criticism from historians, preservation officials, and veterans who say the process violated planning laws and broke with more than two centuries of precedent for major Washington memorials. For more than 200 years, open competitions have been used to select architects for the Washington Monument in 1814 and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1981. NPR found that no such competition was held for the arch design.
The National Park Service, the federal agency managing Memorial Circle, reached out to preservation and planning groups for consultation only after both federal commissions had already voted to move the project forward. The NPS gave the few groups it contacted 10 calendar days to comment on more than 180 pages of materials.
Two state historic preservation officers objected to the truncated timeline. David Maloney, the D.C. State Historic Preservation Officer, wrote in a June 15 letter that a 10-day consultation was not appropriate “given the scale, visibility and effects of the proposed Federally funded monument on historic properties.”
Roger Kirchen, director of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, wrote separately that 10 days was insufficient to verify the accuracy of the information about the arch and its effects. He also said his office was being consulted “after all or a majority of the federal agency’s decisions have been made and the project is planned for imminent start of construction.”
Kirchen noted in his letter that when viewed from the Lincoln Memorial, the arch would frame Arlington House, the mansion where the Confederate general Robert E. Lee had kept dozens of enslaved people. The bridge connecting the Lincoln Memorial to Arlington, he said, was designed to symbolically reunite the North and the South after the Civil War.
“It injects an incongruous and conflicting imperialistic symbol into that space,” Kirchen wrote. “These adverse effects are intentional and inherent in the design of the arch; it is intended to dominate the surrounding landscape.”
Judy Feldman, an art historian who chairs the National Mall Coalition, said the arch would break the visual connection between the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery and Lee’s house.
“You put that arch there, you are breaking that vista and that meaning,” Feldman said. “In a way, it’s like the South has won. The triumphal arch is on the southern side and the South is separating itself out.”
The arch traces its conceptual origins to an essay published in April 2025 by design critic Catesby Leigh on a conservative think tank website. Leigh included two sketches to illustrate his proposal for an “Independence Arch” commemorating the nation’s 250th birthday.
“And let’s hope President Trump mandates an Independence Arch that shows them the way,” Leigh wrote.
One sketch was submitted by Nicolas Charbonneau, an architect for the firm Harrison Design. The other came from the National Monuments Foundation, an organization led by Rodney Mims Cook Jr., a developer whom Trump had nominated to lead the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal agency that reviews memorial proposals in Washington.
Days after Leigh’s article appeared, Charbonneau posted his sketch on Instagram and said the studio had “created a proposal for a triumphal arch along the axis of Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.” In September, he posted another sketch showing a taller arch with a golden Lady Liberty statue atop it, flanked by two birds.
By October, Trump was showing drawings of the arch at a White House fundraising dinner, holding models of the structure and saying, “I happen to think the large one’s more fun.”
At the Commission of Fine Arts meeting on April 16, 2026, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum introduced Charbonneau as the “lead designer on this project.” The design at that point showed the arch at 250 feet tall, with gold birds rather than grey ones. Cook, who had been appointed by Trump to chair the commission, listened to the presentation with a black “Make Design Great Again” hat on the table. Chamberlain Harris, Trump’s 26-year-old executive assistant and a White House aide whom Trump had also appointed to the commission, urged approval.
“To be consistent with other Western capitals that have arches, I would just urge my fellow commissioners to move forward with the concept approval of this project,” Harris said.
The commission voted unanimously to approve the arch concept. Members had not been shown a budget or finalized drawings. On June 4, the National Capital Planning Commission also voted to move the project forward.
Charles Birnbaum, a landscape architect and founder of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, said: “It’s a small little club of people that have a fairly narrow lens for what they’re interested in. We’re seeing a complete avoidance of public review and public process that has underpinned this type of work since the Commission of Fine Arts was created in 1910.”
The Commission of Fine Arts received nearly 1,700 public comments about the arch, the overwhelming majority of them negative, including from architects and engineers who said the design was too large, did not fit the location, and could endanger pedestrians.
Asked about criticism that the arch’s framing of Lee’s mansion was offensive, the White House provided a statement from spokesperson Davis Ingle saying the arch would “enhance the visitor experience at Arlington National Cemetery for veterans, the families of the fallen, and all Americans alike,” and would serve “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.”
The National Capital Planning Commission is expected to meet again Thursday to approve site and building plans.