Trump Administration Signals Plan to Demolish Kennedy Center Over Financial and Structural Decline

The administration of US President Donald Trump has said it may demolish the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and replace it with an outdoor amphitheatre if courts continue blocking its proposed renovation of the building.

A Justice Department attorney filed a civil action this week stating the administration may seek to demolish the Edward Durell Stone-designed John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, should the renovation plans proposed earlier this year remain tied up in litigation.

The filing cites the centre's finances and the condition of the structure as justification, stating the institution has lost "tens of millions of dollars each and every year" and describing it as being in a "financial and structural death spiral."

Should the renovation and renaming efforts fail, the document proposes constructing an outdoor amphitheatre overlooking the Potomac River on the site, an idea it says has circulated informally for years among various parties.

"Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site," the filing states.

The document also credits the president directly with the centre's prospects for survival. "The Board recognises that President Trump's efforts and prestige provide the sole hope for the Center's financial survival, and structural renewal," it continues, adding that without his involvement, donors will not contribute.

The Kennedy Center was designed by American architect Edward Durell Stone and opened in the early 1970s, and has served since then as one of Washington's major cultural institutions. It was established and formally named through federal statute.

The building has been at the centre of an ongoing dispute since 2025, when Trump replaced members of its board with his own appointees and had his name applied to its exterior. That signage was later removed by court order, though the underlying naming dispute remains unresolved.

This week, a judge is expected to rule on whether Trump can have the phrase "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J Trump" inscribed on the building beneath the Kennedy Center wordmark.

The administration has separately released renderings of proposed updates to the centre that would require the building to close for several years. Those renovation plans were blocked by the courts earlier this year, prompting the latest filing over the possibility of demolition instead.

A coalition of architecture organisations, including the American Institute of Architects and Docomomo US, sued the administration over the proposed renovations in March, adding another layer to the legal dispute surrounding the building's future.

The centre's finances have also come under pressure from the controversy itself. A number of donors and high-profile performing artists withdrew their support earlier this year, and visitor numbers have fallen significantly amid the ongoing legal battles, according to reporting by The New York Times.

The Kennedy Center dispute is one of several architecture and public space interventions the Trump administration has pursued in Washington, DC, including a plan to reline the National Mall's Reflecting Pool in blue and a separately approved triumphal arch design for the city.