Where will D.C.'s WWI Memorial go? Planners aren't entirely sure
The planning committee behind D.C.’s long-awaited WWI Memorial is reconsidering the memorial’s ultimate location, according to Curbed D.C. The WWI Centennial Commission hopes to change the planned location from Pershing Park in Penn Quarter to the National Mall near Constitution Gardens.
But Pershing Park isn’t entirely off the table. “We are fighting for the Mall, but the commission has not abandoned Pershing Park either,” WWI Centennial Commission’s Colonel Tom Moe said, according to Curbed D.C. Not all members of the commission are in agreement, though. Edmund Fountain, co-founder of the WWI Memorial Foundation, hopes to keep the memorial in Pershing Park.
The WWI Memorial’s location is not the only thing that’s unclear. The committee has not released information on whether Joseph Weishaar, the architect chosen to build the new memorial, will remain in charge of planning if the memorial does move to the National Mall location.
In January 2016, the committee chose the WWI Memorial’s design out of 360 entries. This design, titled “The Weight of Sacrifice,” was submitted by Weishaar and sculptor Sabin Howard. The plan involves replacing the existing kiosk and adding a path across the pool that provides access to the proposed 65-foot long wall.
In March 2017, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts asked the WWI Commission to revise the current design so that it wouldn’t “overwhelm the existing park design.”
“This has been a bizarre journey,” WWI Memorial Foundation President David Dejonge told Curbed D.C.