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Trump shows off new ballroom designs as he defends $400 million project
The planned White House addition, a top priority of the president, is facing a key vote this week. A federal judge may also rule this week to halt the project.
Trump shows off new ballroom designs as he defends 0 million project
— Freedom Writers Collaborative (@fwcollaborative.bsky.social) 2026-03-30T12:41:16Z
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/03/30/trump-ballroom-defense
The ballroom has been a top priority for Trump, who rapidly demolished the East Wing last year to make way for it. He has solicited millions of dollars from private companies to pay for the project, and he frequently mentions it in speeches and unscripted remarks.
It has proved less popular with voters, polls have found. Fifty-eight percent of Americans said they opposed tearing down the East Wing to build the ballroom, according to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted last month, while 25 percent said they supported it.
Members of the public sent more than 35,000 comments about the project to a federal commission reviewing the project, and a Washington Post analysis found more than 97 percent of those comments were critical of the president’s plans.
The design has been panned by architects and historic preservationists, who say that the 90,000-square-foot addition is too large and will overshadow the 55,000-square-foot White House. James McCrery II, Trump’s first architect on the project, clashed with the president over his plans to enlarge the ballroom, then was replaced.....
The New York Times on Sunday wrote about concerns over the ballroom’s design, an article that appeared to irk the president, who mentioned it several times aboard Air Force One
It has proved less popular with voters, polls have found. Fifty-eight percent of Americans said they opposed tearing down the East Wing to build the ballroom, according to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted last month, while 25 percent said they supported it.
Members of the public sent more than 35,000 comments about the project to a federal commission reviewing the project, and a Washington Post analysis found more than 97 percent of those comments were critical of the president’s plans.
The design has been panned by architects and historic preservationists, who say that the 90,000-square-foot addition is too large and will overshadow the 55,000-square-foot White House. James McCrery II, Trump’s first architect on the project, clashed with the president over his plans to enlarge the ballroom, then was replaced.....
The New York Times on Sunday wrote about concerns over the ballroom’s design, an article that appeared to irk the president, who mentioned it several times aboard Air Force One
3 replies
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Here is the article that pissed off trump. This ball room is poorly designed because trump is too senile to know that you do not have stairwells that lead nowhere
🚨Trump's Ballroom Design Has Barely Been Scrutinized.
— DCminx 🕊ðŸŒðŸ”¥ðŸŒ± (@dcminx.bsky.social) 2026-03-30T11:50:06.353Z
Critics warn it still has many issues — its portico is too big, its stairs lead nowhere, fake windows and its columns will block views from inside the ballroom. Gift link ⬇ï¸
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/29/upshot/white-house-ballroom.html?unlocked_article_code=1.W1A.afQQ.qVDTrxPFKb6j&smid=url-share
But it’s harder to argue that a major addition to the White House needs swifter public scrutiny than its fence (these commissions have meanwhile continued to push back on projects that are not the president’s personal priorities). Many concerns about the ballroom are also not minor ones. And without further work, the details provoking those concerns will become lasting features of the capital.
For starters, the ballroom is set to become the dominant anchor at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue, a link planned by Pierre Charles L’Enfant to connect the Capitol and the White House.....
During the planning commission review earlier this month, the project’s architect, Shalom Baranes, acknowledged that the south portico was more ornamental than functional.
“Is it an absolutely essential part of the program? I would say no, it’s not,” he said. “Really it’s an aesthetic decision to have it there.”
That decision, however, is part of the reason the White House driveway planned by the famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted must be rerouted, breaking its symmetry (the kind of detail the planning commission might have dwelled on in the past).
Inside the East Wing, the ballroom itself is far larger than industry standards suggest is necessary for 1,000 guests (by that standard, it might fit 1,500 people). Mr. Baranes said the extra space was needed to accommodate TV cameras, journalists, security and ceremonial processions. But one result is that events with fewer than 1,000 people could feel empty.
For starters, the ballroom is set to become the dominant anchor at the end of Pennsylvania Avenue, a link planned by Pierre Charles L’Enfant to connect the Capitol and the White House.....
During the planning commission review earlier this month, the project’s architect, Shalom Baranes, acknowledged that the south portico was more ornamental than functional.
“Is it an absolutely essential part of the program? I would say no, it’s not,” he said. “Really it’s an aesthetic decision to have it there.”
That decision, however, is part of the reason the White House driveway planned by the famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted must be rerouted, breaking its symmetry (the kind of detail the planning commission might have dwelled on in the past).
Inside the East Wing, the ballroom itself is far larger than industry standards suggest is necessary for 1,000 guests (by that standard, it might fit 1,500 people). Mr. Baranes said the extra space was needed to accommodate TV cameras, journalists, security and ceremonial processions. But one result is that events with fewer than 1,000 people could feel empty.