President Donald Trump appears ready to leave yet another mark on the nation’s capital with a triumphal arch that could rival the Lincoln Memorial in scale.
The 79-year-old former real estate developer, who has sought to impose his taste on federal architecture and the White House, may be planning to build an arch on the other side of the Potomac River, according to an X post from AFP White House Correspondent Danny Kemp.
Kemp shared a photo of the Resolute desk in the Oval Office with a satellite map of D.C. spread across it, complete with a miniature model of the Lincoln Memorial—and, across the water, a model of an arch that does not yet exist.
“On Trump’s desk in the Oval Office today was a plan for a triumphal arch on the other side of the river from the Lincoln Memorial,” Kemp wrote.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment on the photo.
The arch, which is topped by a winged golden angel, appears to be planned for the traffic circle at the terminus of the Arlington Memorial Bridge—echoing Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, which was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Two miniature arch models were displayed on the desk, with the smaller one apparently matching the scale of the Lincoln Memorial model. It appears that the arch would be slightly taller than the 99’ temple-like tribute to America’s 16th President, which finished construction in 1922.
Back in September, D.C. architect Nicolas Leo Charbonneau, a principal at Harrison Design, posted a rendering of a triumphal arch at the same traffic circle.
“A proposal for a triumphal arch in DC for #America250, in the traffic circle in front of Arlington National Cemetery. America needs a triumphal arch!” Charbonneau wrote.
It is unclear if Harrison Design has been tapped by the White House to plan the arch. The Daily Beast has reached out to the company for comment.
Trump has big plans for the United States’ 250th anniversary next year, including the construction of a $34 million National Garden of American Heroes and a UFC fight on the White House lawn.
In his second term, the commander-in-chief has devoted himself to renovating the White House—mostly by covering it in gold, but also by paving over the historic Rose Garden and building a $200 million ballroom larger than the White House itself.
