Trump Administration Threatens to Demolish the Kennedy Center and Replace It With an Amphitheatre
The Trump administration has told a federal court that it may demolish the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, and replace it with an outdoor amphitheatre overlooking the Potomac River.
A US Justice Department attorney filed a civil action warning that if renovation plans proposed earlier in 2026 remain blocked by the courts, the administration may seek to tear down the building entirely. The filing describes the Kennedy Center as caught in a "financial and structural death spiral," losing "tens of millions of dollars each and every year" due to declining revenue and a decaying structure. The official who wrote the filing, identified by the Washington Examiner as Mayers, a top official in the DOJ's Civil Division, argued that an open-air amphitheatre could take the building's place if the renovation is cancelled (Washington Examiner; Dezeen).
The Kennedy Center, the US national arts centre established by federal statute under US Code Title 20, was designed by American architect Edward Durell Stone and opened in the 1970s. Its travertine-clad facade and multiple performance halls have made it one of the most recognisable cultural buildings in the capital.
The threat to demolish it is the sharpest turn yet in a months-long standoff. In 2025, President Donald Trump replaced the Kennedy Center's board of trustees with his own selections and had his name applied to the building's exterior. A court order removed that signage in June 2026. The administration also released renderings of its desired updates to the complex — plans that would require years of closures — but a judge blocked them earlier in 2026 (Dezeen).
The legal fight has cost the institution on multiple fronts. Donors and high-profile artists have pulled out of supporting the Kennedy Center amid the legal battles, and visitor numbers have dropped significantly, according to reporting by NPR and the New York Times (NPR; New York Times).
A separate question still pending before the courts: whether Trump may inscribe "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J Trump" on the building underneath the Kennedy Center wordmark.
The DOJ's demolition warning appears designed as leverage. If the court continues to block the renovation, the filing argues, the building's deterioration and financial losses leave the government with little option but to start over — on the same riverside site, in a very different form.
