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A coalition of architects and historical preservation groups have sued to stop President Donald Trump from remaking Washington D.C.’s famous Kennedy Center in his image.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court Monday, the plaintiffs asked a judge to immediately block the Trump administration from remodeling the struggling institution without explicit approval from Congress.
“For more than half a century, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has stood on the Potomac River waterfront as a living memorial to a slain president, a national gathering place for the arts, and a defining landmark within the monumental core of the nation’s capital,” the complaint reads.
“Given the numerous public statements and actions by the Board of Trustees and Mr. Trump — which at minimum signal an intent to hastily gut the Kennedy Center down to its structural steel studs — immediate and effective judicial relief is required to prevent irreparable harm to the Kennedy Center.”
It comes after the Kennedy Center’s new board, installed by Trump last February and with Trump himself as chairman, unanimously voted to close the institution for two years pending renovations.
In December the board added Trump’s own name to the building’s facade, declaring it “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” — which experts have described as illegal.
It was part of a year-long “anti-woke” makeover that has led to plunging ticket sales, high-profile artists canceling planned performances, and the Washington National Opera cutting its historic ties with the institution.
In a Truth Social post in February, Trump promised a “Revitalization and Complete Rebuilding”, following a “Grand Reopening that will rival and surpass anything that has taken place with respect to such a Facility before.”
But Monday’s court complaint argues that this work cannot legally go forward without multiple consultation and review processes, as well as specific authorization from Congress.
The plaintiffs include conservationist groups such as the D.C. Preservation League, the Society of Architectural Historians, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, as well as architecture groups such as the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects.
“Historic fabric, once demolished, cannot be restored. The Kennedy Center’s original marble facade, its interior finishes, its concert hall, and its Modernist spatial design represent a unique and irreplaceable architectural legacy,” the complaint says.
“Demolition, new construction, major reconstruction, major renovation, or major aesthetic transformation of the Kennedy Center would permanently destroy historic fabric, degrade the monumental core’s vistas and public grounds, and compromise the Kennedy Center’s memorial purpose and architectural integrity, causing permanent, irreversible harm that no subsequent remedy can fully undo.”
The Trump administration has not yet responded in court, and did not immediately respond to questions from The Independent.
