WWI commission announces winning design for D.C. memorial

A national memorial to “The Great War” will feature three main sections for recreation and reflection and preserve parts of the District of Columbia park that now sits there, the World War I Centennial Commission said Tuesday as it kicked off an ambitious scramble to fund and construct the tribute before the 100th anniversary of the war’s end.

An independent jury selected the winning design, titled “Weight of Sacrifice,” from among five finalists culled from an initial field of 350 entries from around the globe.

Although it is hardly final, the concept envisions two squared-off spaces set apart by greenery and sloped walkways. One of the areas would feature a free-standing sculpture and walls that depict soldiers in bronze relief. The other would retain free-standing walls and a statue from the existing space, known as Pershing Park.

A third, open section would draw in visitors from a heavily trafficked dining area outside the historic Willard InterContinental hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Joe Weishaar, a 25-year-old University of Arkansas graduate and architect in training, submitted the winning design with veteran sculptor Sabin Howard of New York.

World War I is not recognized on the National Mall alongside memorials for World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The omission has galled historians and descendants of veterans.

“Today, we take a great step forward in righting that wrong,” said Libby O’Connell, a commissioner on the centennial body tasked by Congress with honoring the 4.7 million Americans who served in the 1914-1918 conflict in Europe, including 116,516 who didn’t make it home.

The memorial’s planners landed on the existing park — a small block near the White House and City Hall — as a natural fit for the memorial because it is named for World War I Gen. John J. Pershing.

Some advocates said the memorial should be on the main cross-section of the Mall with the other memorials to overseas wars.

A 2003 law, though, essentially banned new commemorative works on the strip of federal land, making it difficult to construct a memorial after the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial opened along the Tidal Basin.

D.C. officials objected in 2012 to “nationalizing” the city’s World War I site in a tree-lined section near the Lincoln Memorial, kicking off a scramble to find the new site, although it, too, is posing challenges.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation, a nonprofit, objected Tuesday to the selected design, saying it would essentially demolish Pershing Park. The site could be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, it noted, which would restrict changes to the park.

Edwin Fountain, vice chairman for the commission, said Mr. Weishaar’s “simple, elegant” vision preserved key aspects of the park, but jurors also insisted on choosing the best design.

“I wouldn’t call it a compromise,” he said.

Controversy and public memorials tend to go hand in hand within the nation’s capital. Maya Lin’s design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial sparked an outcry at first from those who didn’t like its sparse, black design. Family members of Dwight D. Eisenhower objected to architect Frank Gehry’s concept for a memorial to the former president and five-star general.

Chris Kelley Cimko, a spokesman for the Eisenhower Memorial Commission, said many people, including all of the living former presidents and other top officials, have rallied around the project, which is estimated to cost $150 million — roughly $25 million of which will be paid from private donations — and could be completed in time for the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019.

“As the World War I Memorial Commission is already discovering, there will always be fans and critics — historically, no memorial has received complete agreement,” he said.

Mr. Fountain said the World War I project, which must be privately funded, is estimated to cost $30 million to $40 million.

The commission hopes to get approval from the National Park Service and other agencies by early next year and dedicate the memorial in time for Nov. 11, 2018, or Armistice Day, which marks the end of hostilities between the Allied nations and Germany.

The concept, which could change during the approval process, would raise a sunken, squared-off portion of Pershing Park that is relatively hidden from view, making the part more inviting to passers-by.

On Tuesday, it received the imprimatur of Sandra Pershing, the widow of the general’s grandson, Jack Pershing.

“He felt very strongly that there should have been a memorial for all who served in every capacity,” she said of her late husband. “The general had a nice park, but he was all by himself.”