Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial
540 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20024
Gehry's memorial passed through years of separate family objections, congressional scrutiny, and agency review. NCPC denied preliminary approval to the April 2014 submission, then approved a revised design that October; a later compromise changed the central tapestry from Kansas imagery to the Normandy coast in peacetime.
What got built
This photograph was verified against the project and published with recorded first-party, public-domain, or reusable-license rights. How the visual evidence works.
What changed
- The Commission of Fine Arts unanimously approved Gehry's original concept, giant woven steel tapestries roughly 80 feet tall depicting Kansas farmland, in September 2011.
- Eisenhower's son John and granddaughter Susan publicly opposed the design; Representative Darrell Issa opened a formal House investigation into the memorial's design competition process in February 2012.
- The National Capital Planning Commission denied preliminary approval on April 3, 2014, finding the design failed to preserve sightlines to the Capitol and Maryland Avenue's historic vista.
- Gehry submitted a revised design in September 2014 that removed the east and west tapestries and moved the remaining columns back from Independence Avenue; the NCPC approved this revision October 2, 2014.
- Following a later family compromise, the remaining steel tapestry's image changed in December 2016 from the Kansas prairie to the Normandy coast in peacetime, as the National Park Service describes it; the boyhood statue moved to a side promenade.
- The memorial broke ground November 3, 2017, and was dedicated and opened to the public September 17, 2020; that public milestone is distinct from construction completion.
Why it changed
The revision chronology reflects separate documented processes. Family objections and a later compromise affected the imagery and placement of the boyhood statue, while NCPC's April 2014 action addressed sightlines and was followed by approval of a revised design in October 2014.
Details
- Status
- Built, with documented differences from the rendering.
- Where
- Washington, DC
- Neighborhood
- National Mall / Southwest Washington
- Developer
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission, with the U.S. General Services Administration
- Architect
- Frank Gehry (Gehry Partners)
- Rendering credit
- Gehry Partners, published by Architect Magazine
- The built result
- Photographed by Eric T Gunther, 2020-12-20
Sources
- Architect Magazine: original 2011 Gehry concept renderings architectmagazine.com
- Wikipedia: Eisenhower Memorial design history, NCPC rejection, and family compromise en.wikipedia.org
- National Park Service: Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial nps.gov
Research checked . Status and figures are updated when a source changes.
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