Commission of Fine Arts Gives Preliminary Approval for Trump's Triumphal Arch

In the six months between April 2025, when art critic Catesby Leigh argued that Washington, DC needs a triumphal arch, and October 15, when Donald Trump revealed a model of a triumphal arch to reporters in the Oval Office in October 2025 (as “Arch de Trump”), the proposed monument grew more than fourfold, from “60 feet in height and width” to 250 feet (76.2m)—a symbolic number aligned with the USA's 250th anniversary this year. Both Leigh and Trump eyed Memorial Circle, a traffic circle on the western side of the Potomac River at the end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge (image above), for an arch. Curiously, an Independent article today quotes Rodney Mims Cook, Jr., chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts, saying DC actually needs three arches!

While the location between a memorial and a cemetery may carry symbolic weight, the site also appears to be politically advantageous. In legal filings, the Trump administration has argued that columns and statues planned for the site in the 1920s but never built provide “the statutory authority” for them to erect the arch to their wishes. Nevertheless, a lawsuit filed in February contends that Trump cannot build the arch without the authorization of Congress, citing the Commemorative Works Act of 1986, which details a multi-step process for building monuments in the DC metropolitan area. 

Concerns over the size of the proposed arch, particularly its impact on views between the 99-foot (30.2m) tall Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, were brought up during the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) meeting this morning by both commissioners and the public, but they were far from the only comments. Cook and the other CFA commissioners handpicked by Trump (including former ballroom architect James C. McCrery) also critiqued access to the circle, which would happen via tunnels under the traffic lanes, the appropriateness of lion statues, and the solidity of the arch's side elevations, among other concerns. Public in-person comments, plus the roughly one thousand comments submitted online, were overwhelmingly against the project.

While the overall tone of the CFA review was positive and the meeting ended with all of the members voting in favor of the concept, they requested that Harrison Design address the commission's comments for a future submission, when the commission will vote on the necessary final approval. In addition to the critiques listed above, the comments included exploring a design option without the rooftop sculptures, providing information on the engineering of the foundation, and showing a rendering of the view from the cemetery toward the Lincoln Memorial.