Trump team proposes White House ballroom and also considers adding second floor to part of West Wing

“The Trumpification of Washington”: after a ballroom and a peace institute, the president’s name now also hangs on the facade of the Kennedy Center

Shalom Baranes, the architect who took over the project late last year, told a meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington that the ballroom will be more than 2,000 square feet and is designed to accommodate 1,000 seated guests. Trump had at one point suggested he wanted a ballroom that could seat about 1,300 people, but Baranes said the president’s team is not exploring an option to increase the size of the project.

The total area of ​​the new East Wing, including two floors and the ballroom, would be 8,270 square meters, he said. It will include a two-story colonnade connecting the East Room of the White House to the new ballroom. Baranes said the administration is also considering a one-story addition to the West Wing colonnade “to restore a sense of symmetry” to the entirety of the White House.

Heritage conservationists and opponents of the project have criticized the demolition of part of the White House that housed the first lady’s offices and a movie theater. They also raised concerns that the new building could overshadow the main building. However, a federal judge hearing a lawsuit alleging the project is an abuse of presidential power said last month he was reluctant to order the government to immediately halt work.

Trump aides have said they did not need approval for the demolition, but are asking for the green light for the new construction. Baranes said Thursday that the new structure will be the same height as the existing building. When one of the commissioners asked if the height of the ballroom could be reduced, Baranes replied that it was “not impossible.”

In December, the White House submitted a formal application to the NCPC and the Commission of Fine Arts for the project. The NCPC is chaired by Will Scharf, who serves as Trump’s White House staff secretary. Scharf opened the meeting by saying the public would have a chance to comment on the project at a future meeting. Two commissioners expressed reservations about the size of the project. But most members expressed broad support, including Scharf, who reiterated Trump’s view that a ballroom is necessary to host state dinners with foreign dignitaries.

“I think it’s remarkable that when the president of the United States flies to the United Kingdom, he is received at Windsor Castle,” Scharf said. “When the king … comes to the United States next year, he will more than likely be received … in a tent on the South Lawn with portable toilets.” After all, large state dinners have been organized by American presidents for years in lavishly decorated tents on the grounds of the White House.

READ ALSO.

Donald Trump sued for construction of new ballroom: “President cannot simply demolish parts of White House without consultation”

White House Management and Administration Director Josh Fisher said at the start of the presentation that Trump’s team determined that outdated roofing, water seepage, aging electrical infrastructure and other factors made demolition and reconstruction of the East Wing the most economical strategy for the project as a whole.
Plans for improvements to Lafayette Park, across from the White House, and for a “more efficient security screening center for visitors” would be submitted in the coming weeks and months, he said.

Tech giants trip over each other at Trump dinner to finance new ballroom: “You gave enormous amounts”

Choose marble

Before the demolition of the East Wing, Trump had said the new ballroom would not touch the existing main building. A July announcement, still available on the White House website, states that the ballroom will be “significantly separated from the main White House building.” Demolition had already begun when the government confirmed in October that the entire East Wing would be demolished. Trump wants the ballroom completed before the end of his term in three years. Last week, while on vacation in Florida, he looked at marble and onyx options for the ballroom from an Italian stone importer.