A President's House architect is ready to 'fight' the Trump administration's potential exhibit removal next month

Fallon Roth, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Aug 22, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — When Troy C. Leonard, who worked on designing the President’s House almost two decades ago, first found out that exhibits at the site are at risk under the Trump administration, he said, he was crushed.

“I was devastated that the exhibit that we had worked so hard on and spent so much time and thought so critically about was to be altered, changed, erased, deleted,” Leonard, partner and principal at Kelly Maiello Architects, said in an interview Thursday.

In 2007, Kelly Maiello, which describes itself as a minority-owned architecture firm and was previously led by the esteemed late Emanuel Kelly, was chosen in a national competition to design the site at Independence National Historical Park.

The President’s House Site, located near the Liberty Bell, memorializes the nine people President George Washington enslaved there and examines the juxtaposition of slavery and freedom during the founding of America through videos, illustrations, and informative panels.

Six displays about slavery at the President’s House were flagged for the Trump administration’s review by park staff, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last month, after President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered the review of content that would “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

The fate of those materials about slavery is in limbo, but they could be removed, covered up, or altered as soon as next month, the administration has said. Trump railed against federally funded museums discussing slavery in a Truth Social post Tuesday.

“The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” he wrote.

If Trump applies that same approach to the President’s House, Leonard said Thursday, his firm is ready to counter any design suggestions that threaten the site’s integrity.

“I’m against any changes to design that deal with the content. And if that’s the case, then I’m certainly willing to fight and do whatever is possible to make sure that that doesn’t happen,” he said.

His comments follow a joint statement warning against efforts to change the site from Kelly Maiello and the steering committee of Philadelphia’s Design Advocacy Group, which promotes equity in architecture and development.

“There is nothing untrue or insane about the President’s House on Independence Mall,” the statement is titled, a reference to Trump’s order about the parks: “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

The statement warns that visitors to the President’s House will be “denied the truth” if any alterations to exhibits occur.

Philadelphia’s historic sites, including Independence Park, will likely get an influx of visitors next year as the nation celebrates the its 250th anniversary.

DAG and Kelly Maiello also highlighted the extensive effort designers, archaeologists, and historians took to ensure that the President’s House is historically accurate and thoroughly and respectfully portrays the stories of the nine people Washington enslaved.

Leonard said Thursday that crafting the President’s House was different from anything that the firm had taken on before. It was the team’s first time entering and winning a national competition, designing a memorial, and fostering a deep collaboration with other stakeholders, such as artists, historians, and film producers.

It took dozens of meetings for all stakeholders to be satisfied with the project — which makes the jeopardy of the site’s exhibits all the more heartbreaking.

“It’s knowing how long and how hard we had to fight for everything, everything from each word, each brick — everything about the project was meticulously thought about and discussed,” Leonard said. “And we were very happy and very proud by the end product because of that hard work that we invested.”

Roz McPherson, who served as project director of the President’s House, told The Inquirer earlier this month that emphasizing diversity in the creation of the project was intentional, including hiring professionals from nonwhite backgrounds. The site also incorporated original structural remnants from the house found during the archaeological dig.

McPherson is now part of a group of activists, led by the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, who are strategizing to protect the President’s House Site from Trump and are planning to hold a public town hall at Zion Baptist Church in North Philadelphia on Sept. 3. Many of the activists involved today helped shape the President’s House 23 years ago.

Leonard said the President’s House was likely Kelly’s “proudest project in his career,” and noted that Kelly Maiello would not have been the architect firm on the project if it not for Kelly, who died in January 2024. Renowned for his architectural work, Kelly was also a Temple University professor and a social equity advocate.

“It’s especially important to make sure that the integrity of the project remains as it is, as a real testament to the work that he invested,” Leonard said.