Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 16
$450 Million Theodore Roosevelt Library Opens in North Dakota Badlands as 93,000-Square-Foot Landmark
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 16

$450 Million Theodore Roosevelt Library Opens in North Dakota Badlands as 93,000-Square-Foot Landmark

2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 16

Summary

  • $450 million has delivered a new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, a 93,000-square-foot complex set on a butte in the Badlands.
  • Snohetta designed the project as an ecologically minded building of mass timber and rammed earth, with the structure hugging the landscape above the town.
  • The site sits about five minutes from Theodore Roosevelt National Park, tying the library closely to the landscape central to Roosevelt’s legacy.
  • The opening adds to a recent wave of presidential projects, following Barack Obama’s $850 million center in Chicago last month.

Insights

Are presidential libraries evolving from historical archives into branded monuments to a president's legacy?
Can a presidential library legally be built on public land if it also functions as a private hotel?