Demonstrators gathered outside the Kennedy Center in Washington chanted “take it down” in unison, as workers stripped US President Donald Trump’s name from its facade.

A board handpicked by Trump had voted in December to rebrand the iconic performing arts venue, created half a century ago to honour the assassinated president.

Several dozen attendees cheered on the construction workers who spent around 30 minutes taking Trump’s name off of the building.

The removal complied with a judge’s ruling the landmark cannot be renamed without an act of Congress.

The work began around 3.20pm AEST on Saturday, hours after the Department of Justice said the government would miss the court-ordered deadline because of thunderstorms that could pose safety risks for the workers, seeking a 12-hour extension.

Democratic US Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who brought the lawsuit that forced Trump’s name to be removed, called the request to extend ⁠the two-week-old deadline “inexcusable” and part of “a pattern of non-compliance,” according to the DOJ filing.

Protesters gather to watch the president’s name being removed. Photo: AAP

The ‌centre opened in ​1971 as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat assassinated in 1963. Trump, a Republican, has packed its board of trustees with allies since ​resuming office last ‌year.

Hours before the DOJ filing, a federal judge in Washington had declined the department’s request to pause an order to remove Trump’s name.

US District Judge ​Christopher Cooper said he would not lift the order while a federal appeals court considers his ruling that only Congress could rename the venue.

The Trump administration appealed that order to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which also rejected the government’s request for a ​pause ​on Friday.

The White House and the Kennedy Center did not ​immediately respond to requests for comment.

Cooper ruled on May 29 that only Congress ‌could rename the arts centre. His order had required Trump’s name to be removed from the building’s facade, its website and other materials.

In urging the appeals court to pause the order, the DOJ said: “It does not make sense to alter the Center’s name and signage now, only to potentially revert the name again after what should be a successful appeal.”

Trump in February announced a two-year closure of the centre for a major renovation.

The US president has made a broader push to ​reshape Washington’s monumental core, including plans for a 75m arch and a 8400 square metre ballroom on the site of the East Wing of the White House, ​which Trump had demolished in October.

-with AAP