One of the most iconic features in Washington, D.C., is facing a major change.
Last month, President Donald Trump announced plans to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “American flag blue.”
At 2,030 feet long and 170 feet wide, the iconic pool has historically featured an achromatic basin, allowing for the water to serve as a mirror to its surroundings. The president’s proposal will alter the look and meaning of the historic monument.
In response, the Cultural Landscape Foundation, a D.C.-based nonprofit focused on preserving landscape heritage, is suing the Trump administration.
In the lawsuit announced on May 11, the foundation claims the “application of blue paint to the basin of [the] Reflecting Pool on the National Mall is being done in violation of federal law.”
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, as well as other structures on the National Mall, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which gives them specific legal protections. Any proposed change, including modifying the pool basin’s color, is subject to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which mandates consulting with stakeholders and the public before proceeding.
“These are the legal ways to avoid, minimize, and mitigate any adverse effects,” Charles A. Birnbaum, president and CEO of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, tells Fast Company. “The government is not doing that.”
With the lawsuit, filed against the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, the organization seeks a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to stop the work, which is already underway.
To be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, a space must fit specific criteria, including nonphysical attributes like feeling and cultural association. Birnbaum says changing the reflecting pool’s color impacts the qualities that helped it land on the list in the first place.
“The reality is that to change the color [and] to change the reflectivity changes the materiality, it changes the craftsmanship, and it certainly alters the feeling,” Birnbaum says.
In a separate statement Birnbaum added, “A blue-tinted basin is more appropriate to a resort or theme park.”
This is not Trump’s first Section 106 violation. Similar controversy exists around proposed changes to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which he wants to repaint, and the construction of a massive state ballroom, for which the East Wing of the White House was already demolished. Trump also had the White House Rose Garden paved over and is forging ahead with vanity projects like the Triumphal Arch.
The legal action is just one of many taken by the Cultural Landscape Foundation and other organizations seeking accountability and due process for changes to the built environment.
Birnbaum contends that the landscape foundation is proceeding “because [the] law should be followed.”
