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 The design before the National Capital Planning Commission
includes a pair of 80-foot (24-meter) freestanding columns and a
447-foot (136-meter) steel mesh tapestry that depicts the Kansas
plains where the 34th U.S. president and World War Two Allied
commander spent his boyhood.
The memorial will stand on 4 acres (1.6 hectares) a short walk from
the U.S. Capitol, just off the National Mall. The commission's final
approval would be a major step forward after 16 years of disputes
over the design.
The total price tag of the Republican president's memorial is
estimated at $142 million, including land purchases and
administrative costs.
Even with the commission's approval, congressional hostility to
Gehry's design makes the future of the monument uncertain.
Gehry's use of tapestries, instead of traditional statuary, has
drawn the most criticism, especially from Congress and the
Eisenhower family. The design approved by the panel scrapped two of
the original steel tapestries but kept two supporting columns.
Some members of Congress have criticized Gehry's design as
inappropriate and too big. A 2014 report by the House Natural
Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over the memorial,
blasted it as a "five-star folly" plagued by construction delays,
design problems and rising costs.
The House committee's chairman, Utah Republican Rob Bishop, has told
the New York Times that approval by commissions, such as the
planning panel, had little relevance for funding the memorial.
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House and Senate appropriations bills have not provided construction
funds for three straight years. The Senate bill mentioned
"significant unresolved issues" and said building should not start
until there is agreement on a design and construction among the
public, the Eisenhower family and Congress.
Congress authorized the memorial in 1999 and set a completion date
for 2007. Congress has spent at least $65 million on the memorial.
Besides funding, approvals by other federal agencies and the
secretary of the Interior Department are required before
construction can begin.
Gehry, 86, is perhaps best known for the dramatic Guggenheim Museum
in Bilbao, Spain.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Bill Trott)
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