We need your help!

On November 14, Cultural Heritage Partners, our founders Greg and Marion Werkheiser, and the D.C. Preservation League filed suit against President Trump, the General Services Administration, and the National Park Service to prevent damage to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) from painting, repointing, and power cleaning the National Historic Landmark without required historic preservation and environmental review. We presented evidence to the court that painting the building’s polished granite and porous slate surfaces will trap moisture and deteriorate the building, and preparing polished granite for painting requires abrading its surface, inflicting harm that cannot be reversed. The threat of permanent harm and visual effects to the building and adjacent landmarks triggers requirements for a public process under the National Historic Preservation Act and National Environmental Policy Act.

In response, the Trump Administration agreed on Monday to pause the plan until December 31. In the interim, Judge Dabney L. Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is expected to decide our motion seeking a preliminary injunction halting alterations unless and until the President complies with federal historic preservation and environmental laws. 

We filed the lawsuit to respond to the exceptional vulnerability of historic preservation at this current moment, after the President drew national outrage when he ordered the demolition of the entire East Wing of the White House without a public process (and after promising the public that it would not be harmed). The EEOB, which is separate from the White House grounds, is subject to even greater protection under the law, and any action to alter the building would undermine important legal protections that apply to the Nation’s historic properties and cultural resources everywhere—not just in Washington, D.C.

Read our complaint and 800 pages of supporting evidence on our website: 

Read the lawsuit: https://www.culturalheritagepartners.com/eeob/

What can you do?

An injunction may not guarantee that the President refrains from altering the building. Political pressure and media attention are urgently needed to help secure the right outcome and build momentum towards preservation. Please take action TODAY to:

—Sign a petition opposing changes to the building without completing required reviews here.
—If you are an expert in architectural history, landscape architecture, masonry, or historic preservation, sign up to provide historical expertise, either on background or as part of the support for our lawsuit. Send this request along to any potential experts you know!
—Contact your Congressional representatives to explain why painting a historically unpainted building is so harmful, why the integrity of historic buildings and districts matters, and how this decision has ripple effects for historic places across the Nation.

Thank you for your support and for your commitment to protecting our cultural heritage and the rule of law.

Warm regards,
Cultural Heritage Partners, PLLC
culturalheritagepartners.com