WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 -- The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted 20-3 on Thursday to close its main building for up to two years and permanently inscribe the president's name on its marble facade, a decision the three dissenting Democratic members immediately characterized as a deliberate effort to work around a federal judge's prior ruling blocking those same actions.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the architect of the renaming proposal, brought two designations before the board. The building would be called "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump." The outdoor plaza would become "President Donald J. Trump Plaza." The board, filled predominan...