Trump’s arch adds elevators as costs jump to $100m

Trump’s arch – A revised design for President Donald Trump’s planned 250-foot arch in Washington, D.C. adds multiple elevators, more interior spaces, and new accessibility features—pushing the estimated cost to at least $100 million. Despite more than 600 letters opposing th

For a project already measured in monuments—250 feet tall, centered on some of Washington’s most sensitive sightlines—the new renderings presented at the May 21 meeting of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts added a different kind of weight: complexity inside the arch.

The latest concept design includes an internal gallery floor with three event spaces. four elevators built into the vertical supports of the arch and a fifth elevator between the gallery floor and the observation deck. It also adds four spiral staircases and a ground-floor ticketing area. The estimated cost for the arch, already ambitious in size and symbolism, is now at least $100 million.

The seven-member commission appointed by Trump in January 2026 approved the new concept unanimously. even after receiving more than 600 letters over the past month—99.5% of them in opposition. The commission secretary. Thomas Luebke. noted that three letters were in favor. but two of those letters called for “serious changes” to the design.

Full schematic designs have not been completed. The commission opted to approve the project without reviewing them.

The arch is being designed by the Washington, D.C., office of the Harrison Design architecture firm. Nicholas Charbonneau. a principal at the firm. showed the commission new renderings and diagrams detailing the internal layout of the arch’s vertical supports. the gallery level. and the observation deck.

On the gallery floor, the proposed “program space TBD” is mapped to multiple spaces that could include a café, a gift shop, and informational displays, Charbonneau said. The plans also indicate those spaces have no windows.

Taken together, the rooms and the deck would total about 10,000 square feet—roughly the area of two basketball courts. Charbonneau told the commission that. if built. the arch would be accessible only to a small number of people at any given time. with the National Park Service considering a limit of 80 visitors per hour. The design’s elevator-heavy approach—five elevators for a capacity that could be capped—has already become a flashing cost signal.

Elevators are expensive in large projects, and commercial elevators can cost up to $100,000 per landing to install, plus ongoing operations and maintenance. With five elevators planned, the project’s budget is likely to rise by several million dollars.

While the interior details were presented, the reviewing commissioners appeared more focused on the arch’s exterior. In line with an earlier suggestion from the commission’s last design review. ground-level pedestals with golden lion statues are no longer part of the rendering—an unusual change for a Trump-aligned project. given the shift toward removing golden objects rather than adding them.

Commissioner Mary Anne Carter. chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. said the removal of the statues was an effort to soften the relationship to nearby Arlington National Cemetery. “I think simpler is better in many ways,” Carter said. “Remember that the gravestones in Arlington are very simple white markers. and so I think losing a bunch of the adornments is actually very helpful.”.

But outside the commission room, opposition was not persuaded that removing the golden statues fixes what critics see as a much larger problem: the arch’s scale and its impact on Washington’s monument geography.

During the public comment period. individuals and organizations said the arch’s overall girth—about the size of a 15-story building stretching 170 feet wide—and its proposed location could obstruct historic sightlines between key Washington. D.C. landmarks. Elizabeth Merritt. deputy general counsel for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. argued that the arch would disrupt relationships between prominent sites. “If built as planned at this proposed location. the new triumphal arch would skewer these very deliberate relationships between the Lincoln Memorial. Arlington Memorial Bridge. and Arlington House. ” Merritt said.

One major change that was not made in this round involved Vice-chair James McCrery’s earlier suggestion to remove the large. winged Lady Liberty and bald eagle statues from atop the arch. McCrery’s proposal would have sent the sculptural figures to “external” reviewers for study. and during the April meeting he questioned whether the top of the structure needed them. “I wonder if you need those up there. if it’s not even a better. more Washingtonian design without [them]. ” he said.

That idea did not survive into the May approval process. Charbonneau told the commission in May that Trump himself shut down the line of inquiry. “The president considered the commission’s suggestion to look at the arch without the sculptural figures on the roof. but elected not to pursue such an option. while respectfully noting the differences of aesthetic opinion that may exist on the subject. ” Charbonneau told the commission.

The approval still came with a political and procedural message from the commission chair. Rodney Mims Cook Jr., chair of the commission, said, “Washington is not a static city. It must grow to allow the next 250 years of Americans to celebrate their accomplishments, too.”

Cook made the motion to approve the arch concept. He included one carve-out for a future review of specific sculptural plans for the niches in the sides of the arch. which are currently rendered empty. In responding to passionate opposition from the public. Cook tried to frame the project as an addition rather than a break. “To answer the number of you who have spoken today, it matters to all of us,” he said. “We’ve been in this profession for a long time, as many of you have as well. You think a different thing than we do.”.

For now. the commission has moved the project forward without completed schematic drawings—while the interior design has simultaneously grown more intricate. more costly. and more logistical. Whether the expanded elevator plan and the added interior program space can coexist with the monument sightline concerns raised during public comment is the question that will follow the arch into the next phase.

Trump arch Commission of Fine Arts Harrison Design National Park Service elevators Arlington National Cemetery cost estimate Washington DC development National Trust for Historic Preservation