President Donald Trump’s massive proposed triumphal arch could block historic views around the nation’s capital, disrupting the careful design of some of the country’s most well-known monuments, a National Park Service initial assessment found.
The assessment by NPS staff was released as part of a fast-tracked historic preservation review that kicked off Friday. The documents provide the agency’s first public appraisal of how the arch proposal could affect historic properties.
The park service oversees the land across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial where the Trump administration wants to build the world’s largest arch, which would be taller than the two largest triumphal arches in the world: one in Pyongyang, North Korea, and the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City.
The public, including historians and cultural experts, has 10 days to weigh in on whether the 250-foot arch, including a 60-foot golden figure on its roof, would negatively alter the Washington skyline and other historic properties.
