"“Are you out of your minds?” wrote Jessica Douglas in an email to the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) ahead of a meeting about the Trump administration's plan to whitewash the Eisenhower Executive Office Building's granite exterior. According to over 2,000 public responses submitted to the NCPC, hundreds of concerned citizens like Douglas have voiced their disapproval of the Eisenhower Executive Office Beautification Project before the commission reviewed the proposal on May 7, emphasizing that paint and granite are about as compatible as oil and water."
"Trump posited the idea of painting over the federal office in a interview with Laura Ingraham last November, when he showed off renderings of the all-white update during a White House tour following the hasty demolition of the East Wing. “It was always considered an ugly building,” Trump said of the National Historic Landmark, which was constructed between 1871 and 1888 from purplish-gray Virginia granite in the French Second Empire style, adding that “grey is for funerals.”"
"Considering the speed at which Trump took a wrecking ball to the White House itself, the DC Preservation League nonprofit and Cultural Heritage Partners law firm wasted no time in filing a complaint with the District Court in Washington, DC, almost immediately after the Fox interview. Together, they sought an emergency injunction to prevent any alterations to the building until the administration “complies with the procedural requirements of federal preservation and environmental law.”"
"The complaint also underscored that painting over granite would trap in moisture and accelerate the material"
Over 2,000 public responses to the National Capital Planning Commission opposed the Eisenhower Executive Office Beautification Project. Concerns focused on painting the granite exterior, arguing paint and granite are incompatible and could cause permanent damage. The Trump administration proposed an all-white update after earlier demolition work at the White House. Preservation groups and a law firm filed a complaint seeking an emergency injunction to stop alterations until federal preservation and environmental law procedures are followed. The complaint stated that painting over granite would trap moisture and accelerate deterioration of the historic material.
Read at Hyperallergic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]