Trump announces planned D.C. site for massive sculpture garden
He said Friday his administration had selected Washington’s West Potomac Park as the site of the National Garden of American Heroes.
President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration had selected Washington’s West Potomac Park as the site of his planned National Garden of American Heroes, raising questions about whether Congress would need to approve the project.
“This magnificent exhibition of statues will be located in West Potomac Park, which we are transforming into one of the World’s most beautiful public spaces,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump has previously said the project will feature life-size statues of roughly 250 Americans, including presidents, civil rights leaders, scientists, athletes, and entertainers. The list of figures, outlined in earlier executive orders, has included names such as John Adams, Martin Luther King Jr., Amelia Earhart, Albert Einstein, and Kobe Bryant.
West Potomac Park, which sits along the Potomac River near the Jefferson Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, is among the most tightly controlled federal lands in the District of Columbia. Large portions fall within the “reserve” area governed by the Commemorative Works Act, in which any new memorial project would probably require congressional approval as well as review by federal planning bodies. White House officials have previously said they will follow “all legal requirements and approvals” for the planned garden but have not specified whether that includes obtaining congressional approval.
The law also says that a commemorative work “may not be authorized until after the 25th anniversary of the event, death of the individual, or death of the last surviving member of the group.” Several dozen people on previous lists released by the White House, including Bryant, singer Whitney Houston, and former Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, have died within the past 25 years.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether they would seek congressional approval for the project.
The National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts — two federal panels on which Trump has installed allies — would probably need to review plans for the garden.
The garden’s design team has also taken shape, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to publicly describe the selections.
The president has chosen architect Michael Curtis as the garden’s lead designer, in addition to a team that includes architect Michael Franck, architect CJ Howard, sculptor Brian Kramer, and urban planner Dhiru Thadani, the people said. Curtis, Franck, Howard, Kramer, and Thadani did not immediately respond to questions about their selections.
Curtis and Franck have ties to the National Civic Art Society, which advocates for classical architecture in monuments and memorials and has influenced several of Trump’s architectural projects.
Trump officials had eyed West Potomac Park for months as the site for the massive sculpture garden, the Washington Post reported in January. Some Washington residents have said they were worried about losing access to the park’s fields, which are used by local sports leagues and for informal recreation.
Trump on Friday criticized the state of the park as “a totally BARREN field of Prime Waterfront Real Estate,” casting his plan as part of his initiative to remake Washington.
“When finished, West Potomac Park will be a World Class Masterpiece with elegant Landscaping, and adorned with Beautiful Statues, and be yet another one of my great projects to make Washington, D.C., the Safest and Most Beautiful Capital in the World,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump also posted another message on Friday touting his planned White House ballroom, saying that its scheduled opening would be in September 2028 even amid a legal battle and funding questions. The president is also pursuing plans to construct a 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery, with the White House seeking to start work on that project.
Some local advocates have called Trump’s announcements haphazard, saying that more public discussion and consideration should be given to his plans to remake Washington.
“The Mall is once again looked at as empty real estate to be filled,” said Judy Feldman, an art historian who leads the National Mall Coalition, a preservation-focused nonprofit group. She suggested that an alternate approach to displaying important figures could include positioning them around the promenade between the Smithsonian museums, rather than building a stand-alone sculpture garden.
In recent weeks, a new organization called the National Garden of American Heroes Foundation had circulated a fundraising pitch for the project. The pitch, which was obtained by the Post, lists Meredith O’Rourke, a longtime Trump fundraiser, as a contact for prospective donors.
O’Rourke referred questions about the project to the White House.