The Kennedy Center's board voted to close the venue for a two-year renovation on Tuesday, but President Trump immediately threatened to block that work unless his name is restored to the building.

The president's threat came just hours after Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C. denied an attempt by the venue's board to affix an inscription that says "renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump" under President John F. Kennedy's name on the front portico, and to rename the center's grounds after Trump.

Shortly after Cooper's ruling, the board-stacked with Trump's own appointees, and chaired by the president himself-passed a resolution to close the center for a two-year renovation.

Trump said in a social-media post afterward that the venue will close immediately, but that the renovation can't begin until an appeals court rules on the board's approved name for the center. He signaled plans to go to the Supreme Court if he loses.

A Kennedy Center spokeswoman said the board intends to appeal Cooper's ruling and "move forward with recognizing Chairman President Trump's historic contributions to the revitalization of America's Cultural Center."

In his decision Tuesday, Cooper said the board's attempt to rename the venue violated the order he issued in May, which required Trump's name to be removed from the building-where the board had voted to add it in December.

"Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress's blessing," wrote Cooper, an Obama appointee.

The board has argued the renovation can't be completed without honoring Trump and that there is nothing in the law that stops it from acknowledging his efforts to save the institution. It is Trump's name that is drawing in donations to repair the dilapidated building, which will have to be demolished if it can't be fixed, Justice Department attorneys told Cooper in court papers.

Cooper seemed to disregard that assertion, saying the board "offered no proof that current or future donations hinge on President Trump's name being on the building."

The renovations are expected to cost $285 million, according to court filings. Congress appropriated more than $250 million for the repairs last year.

Cooper said he didn't need to decide now if the board can lawfully add a second inscription in the future to recognize an endowment the board created in Trump's name. The board said that inscription wouldn't be installed until the fund reaches $100 million.

The ruling marked the latest twist in ongoing litigation over Trump's efforts to overhaul the iconic cultural art institution in Washington, D.C.

Trump has taken a keen interest in the Kennedy Center since taking office for his second term, among several renovation projects in and around the nation's capital, and has expressed frustration with the legal hurdles that his efforts to remake the institution-which he says is dangerously rundown and in dire financial straits-have met.

Trump joined the board's virtual meeting on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said, along with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose wife Allison Lutnick was appointed by Trump to the center's board. Trump expressed anger with Rep. Joyce Beatty, (D., Ohio), the ex-official board member who sued to get Trump's name taken off the building, calling her destructive, one of the people said.

Trump's name first went up on the building in December and came down a little over five months later. Scaffolding wrapped in a white tarp has covered much of the building's name ever since. The board said in court papers that it has been protecting the marble facade, which it suggested may have been damaged when Trump's name was taken down.

Beatty's attorneys hailed Cooper's ruling on Tuesday as "a victory for the memory of President Kennedy and for our nation."

"Two times the court has told President Trump the same thing: You are not above the law," Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky said in a joint statement.