WWI memorial design receives support of panel

Designer, a Fayetteville native, calls it a ‘relief’

WASHINGTON — After two years of reviews and revisions, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts on Thursday backed a revised design for the new national World War I memorial despite opposition from some preservationists.

Fayetteville native Joseph Weishaar, the project’s designer, smiled broadly after the unanimous vote. He had feared the proposal might encounter more opposition.

More meetings with the fine arts commission lie ahead as the project advances, but memorial backers portrayed the endorsement as a big step forward.

“I don’t think that could have gone better, actually. I’m surprised,” Weishaar said after leaving the meeting. “We’re moving forward, and it looks positive. …It’s such a relief.”

The memorial’s supporters had appeared before the commission six times already.

Weishaar, a 2013 graduate of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas, won an international design competition in January 2016 to design the memorial.

He was 25 years old at the time.

The Arkansan teamed with New York sculptor Sabin Howard on the project, which initially featured a 200-foot bas relief sculpture at its core.

The design the commission backed features a 56-foot-long sculpture.

Former U.S. Sen. John Warner, D-Va., who served in World War II, and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun attended Thursday’s hearing and urged commissioners to support the latest design concept.

Terry Hamby, chairman of the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, told the fine arts commissioners he was speaking on behalf of 4.7 million Americans who served during the Great War, “veterans who no longer can speak for themselves and have been forgotten by their nation.”

“I speak for my grandfather, who lost his hearing in World War I and never heard my voice; my great uncle, who was killed in action at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel … your relatives who served in World War I and millions of other families of World War I veterans,” he said.

The design, Hamby said, would honor a “generation of Americans who served their nation, not to conquer, but to protect liberty and bring peace to a world gone mad.”

The war, which began after the June 28, 1914, assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, lasted more than four years, sowing destruction in the heart of Europe and leveling several empires.

The United States entered the war in April 1917, enabling England, France and their allies to defeat the nations aligned with Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Millions of people died in the conflict, including 116,000 Americans.

The memorial, which will be built along a stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue, is to be built at Pershing Park. Congress designated the 1.76-acre trapezoid-shaped space near the White House as the site of a national World War I memorial in 2016.

The original design, unveiled in January 2016, would have made dramatic changes to the park, which was designed by landscape architect Paul Friedberg and opened in 1981.

But plans for sweeping changes were derailed after the existing site was declared eligible for the National Register of Historic Places by the Washington, D.C., State Historic Preservation Office.

At Thursday’s hearing, supporters of the existing park argued against the revised plan, arguing that it was not consistent with Friedberg’s earlier work.

The 56-foot long sculpture and surrounding water works would have an “adverse effect on Pershing Park’s signature design feature — a cascading pool — and would destroy the park’s character-defining visual and spatial relationships,” said Charle Birnbaum, president and CEO of the Cultural Landscape Foundation.

But fine arts commissioner Alex Krieger said he didn’t believe that “strict preservation of the original [Friedberg] design is more important than the congressional decision to designate the entirety of Pershing Park as a memorial.”

A balance must be struck between preserving the existing park and adding the memorial, Krieger said.

“I think you’re heading the right direction,” he told memorial boosters.

Plenty of work lies ahead before construction can actually begin, and a plethora of details must be decided. The commission will continue to weigh in as the project progresses.

Thursday, there was discussion about the placement of flag poles, the depth of the water feature and the desire to minimize “accidental engagements” (i.e., lessen the chances that visitors fall in the fountain.)

Decisions about the materials that are used, the size of pathways, plants and other items must still be decided, all while the artwork is completed.

Howard predicted it will take five years or so to complete the sculpture. The commission is still raising money for the project, which will cost an estimated $42 million.