The Trump administration has threatened to demolish the Kennedy Center if planned renovations for the performing arts venue are not allowed to be carried out, court documents show.
Attorneys from the justice department have also asked for President Donald Trump’s name to be put back on the building after it was removed in June following a court order.
“An order blocking the Board from appropriately recognising President Trump,” the lawyers argued, “will cause donors to flee, financial contributions to dry up, and structural rehabilitation to stop”.
The venue has been among the storied sites in Washington that Trump has sought to renovate since he returned to the White House in 2025.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that without the renovations the venue “will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down”.
They also called the venue “embarrassing to the Nation’s Capital”.
After the “decrepit structure” is taken down, justice department attorney Brantley Mayers wrote, a determination of what to build on the site will follow, including the option of a large outdoor amphitheatre overlooking the Potomac River.
The threat to demolish the building comes just weeks after the Kennedy Center board voted to add Trump’s name back to the facade of the venue and to proceed with a two-year closure for proposed renovations.
Many of the board members who voted are Trump allies who were appointed by the president.
In late May, a US judge ruled that the president’s name had been added to the venue unlawfully, as it cannot be renamed without congressional approval.
The judge ordered that the name be removed, and so it was taken down in June.
The case stemmed from a broader legal dispute over the renaming of the cultural institution, which US law designates as a memorial to President John F Kennedy.
It is the latest in series of projects that Trump has taken on since returning to Washington.
He has been renovating the reflecting pool on the National Mall, he wants to construct a 250-foot victory arch, has demolished the White House East Wing to build a ballroom, and has added his name to institutions such as the Kennedy Center and US Institute of Peace.
