Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and Members of the National Capital Planning Commission.

My name is Carol Quillen, and I speak on behalf of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. I appreciate the opportunity to share comments about the East Wing Modernization Project.

Thank you all for your service. You have a big responsibility. This Commission, composed of public servants and eminent citizens, oversees the collaborative planning process for our nation’s capital, something in which every American has a stake.

As the Commission’s Comprehensive Plan states, Washington, D.C., is the symbolic heart of the United States. Its design and architecture should embody the enduring values of the American people and the bold aspirations of our founding. Visiting the capital should ground all Americans in these shared values so that, together, we can build a more perfect union for our children and our children’s children, as our forebears did for us.

For this city to ground Americans in our enduring values, its layout and key buildings must connect to our history. We need to see the through line from the 1791 L’Enfant plan to the Comprehensive Plan of today. We must be able to recognize the places where our history happened, so that visiting them reminds us both of our founding values and of those who, generation after generation, fought to make these values concrete.

Because connecting to our history serves people in the present, this Commission identifies historic preservation as a key component of the Comprehensive Plan for the nation’s capital. You are stewards of places that matter to all Americans, places where we can learn where we came from and who we can become. By acting as responsible stewards, you can inspire each of us to recommit to our highest ideals.

At the same time, this Commission also must consider the needs of the public servants who occupy our historic landmarks now.

It’s a hard job. Simultaneously honoring 1) the obligation to connect the broader public to our enduring values through historic preservation and 2) the needs of public servants who now occupy our iconic buildings is a weighty challenge. I know this, because my colleagues at the National Trust strive to do that every day.

At the National Trust, we activate the power of historic places to serve people now. And, because we do this every day, I can say with confidence that you don’t have to choose. You don’t have to choose between respecting our history for the American people and accommodating modern government’s needs. In the case of the East Wing Modernization Project, you can do both.

Doing both, however, will require that you take your time, that you move deliberately, that you engage seriously with ideas offered by the tens of thousands of architects, planners, scholars, and patriotic citizens who have submitted comments. These people are worth hearing out. The American people have good ideas.

We know you can build a 1,000-person ballroom that, unlike the plan currently under review, truly honors the iconic status, the primacy, and the historic significance of the People’s House.

Comments submitted to you show how this could be done. The resulting ballroom would be smaller AND it would hold 1,000 people for a seated dinner. It would be lower in height AND it would still accommodate the functions proposed in the current plan. It would respect the building’s original architectural style. And, by retaining the historic axis along Pennsylvania Avenue between the Capitol and the White House, it would preserve the material representation of the symbolic connection between the legislative and the executive branches in a nation committed to representative government and public accountability.

This consultative process exists for a reason. To borrow words U.S. Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch used to describe our legislative process, it enables you to tap the combined wisdom of many, and not just that of one man or faction.

Listening to the views of the American people and incorporating the best of our ideas will result in a better overall project as it builds a shared sense of purpose on a contentious issue. Getting to this point takes patience. Democratic deliberation is slow. It’s also the hallmark of a free people.

Thank you again for the opportunity to be here today. We at the National Trust remain ready to work with you to improve this project.

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