In the United States, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, a recent association (1998) for the protection of “cultural landscapes”, took action before the Federal District Court of Washington DC in order to interrupt the renovation of the basin in front of the Lincoln Memorial, ordered by Trump. The suit targets the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, as well as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The foundation is asking the court for a temporary suspension order and works.
The presidential decision originated in an anecdote reported by Trump himself. A friend from Germany told him, while visiting the place, “It’s dirty and disgusting. This is not representative of this country. ». Presenting himself as a swimming pool expert and boasting of having had more than 100 built during his real estate career, Trump announced last April his intention to redevelop the pool. He said he wanted a turquoise shade “like in the Bahamas”before being convinced by his entrepreneur to opt for what he called the “blue american flag”.
The appeal is based on three main complaints: violation of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which requires prior consultation for any intervention likely to affect a listed historic site; the absence of referral to the Commission of Fine Arts, although consulted during previous modifications to the reflecting pool; and the lack of prior environmental assessment, required by federal law before the application of the planned paints. The urgency of the injunction is justified by the fact that the work is already very advanced at the time of the appeal. If the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, the blue covering will have to be removed.
The renovation responds to Trump’s ambition to redesign the monumental landscape of Washington DC on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of American independence, on July 4. The president presented the project as an act of economic common sense. Where previous estimates indicated 300 million dollars (265 million euros) and three years of work to replace the granite, he claims to have found a solution costing 2 million dollars (1.7 million euros) in two weeks.
The National Park Service, the agency responsible for the site, awarded a $6.9 million (6 million euros) contract to the company Atlantic Industrial Coatings, specializing in industrial coatings and based in Virginia, without holding a call for tenders. This company had not previously received any federal contracts. To circumvent the legal obligation to call for competition, the administration invoked an exemption clause reserved for emergency situations likely to cause serious harm to the government, without ever publicly specifying what this risk consisted of, other than the July 4 deadline. THE New York Times revealed that the contract had meanwhile been increased to $13.1 million (12 million euros), more than seven times the initial presidential estimate, after adding $6.2 million (5.5 million euros) the previous week.
The current dark gray color of the pool is not a trivial choice or a simple patina of time, but a constitutive element of the design of the work. The suit specifically cites a 1999 National Park Service report on the Lincoln Memorial, which found that the dark color of the tiles creates the illusion of greater depth and more striking reflection. Designed by the architect Henry Bacon, the same one who designed the Lincoln Memorial, the basin is designed as an optical surface oriented axially, so that the monuments are reflected there. During the renovation during the Obama presidency of 2010-2012 (30 million euros), the background was intentionally dyed a neutral gray to preserve this reflective quality. The Lincoln Memorial is one of Washington’s most iconic monuments. Inaugurated in 1922, it pays tribute to Abraham Lincoln, president of the United States from 1861 to 1865, who led the country during the Civil War and signed the proclamation abolishing slavery. It takes the form of a Greek-inspired temple.
