Amid a summer schedule filled with trade negotiations and policy meetings, President Donald Trump has dedicated significant time to overseeing a personal and ambitious transformation of the White House and its grounds.
Barely six months into his second term, Trump has initiated the most extensive alterations to the executive mansion in recent memory, with plans that have now entered an advanced stage. In a series of meetings with officials from the National Park Service, the White House Military Office, and the Secret Service, the president has outlined his exacting specifications, many of which mirror the gold-trimmed aesthetic of his private clubs.
The centerpiece of his vision is a new 90,000-square-foot ballroom to be constructed off the East Wing, a project Trump has called a “great legacy.” The White House has released renderings of a vast space featuring gold and crystal chandeliers, gilded Corinthian columns, a coffered ceiling with gold inlays, and a checkered marble floor—a style that closely resembles the Louis XIV-style event room at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump has pledged that he and other private donors will cover the $200 million cost.
His ambitions extend beyond this major addition. Two towering flagpoles, with galvanized steel, tapered designs personally dictated by Trump, were installed in June on the North and South Lawns. The Rose Garden, once a lawn, has been paved over with stone to replicate the patio at Mar-a-Lago, complete with presidential seals embedded in the stone and drainage grates styled like American flags. The Oval Office has also been redecorated with extensive gold finishes ordered from a craftsman who worked on his Palm Beach estate, and features small gold cherubs brought directly from Mar-a-Lago.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles stated, “President Trump is a builder at heart and has an extraordinary eye for detail. The President and the Trump White House are fully committed to working with the appropriate organizations to preserving the special history of the White House.”
Trump has justified the projects with both aesthetic and practical reasoning. He has long criticized the use of temporary tents for state dinners, which he says will be eliminated by the new ballroom, which triples the current indoor event space. “When it rains, it’s a disaster,” he said, describing guests getting messy in their evening gowns. He insists the new structure will not touch the main building and “pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.”
The president’s desire to build a ballroom dates back to at least 2010, when he offered to construct one for the Obama administration, an offer that was not accepted. While Trump has claimed that his predecessors also aspired to build a new ballroom, former officials dispute this. Deesha Dyer, a social secretary in the Obama administration, said, “We never had the desire nor did I ever hear or participate in a conversation to build a ballroom on the White House lawn.”
Now unencumbered in his second term, Trump has pressed forward. While his cosmetic changes to the Oval Office will likely be temporary, the larger structural alterations may prove lasting. The new flagpoles, the paved Rose Garden, and a quarter-billion-dollar ballroom are unlikely to be removed by future administrations.
Presidential historian Tim Naftali of Columbia University noted that while some presidential changes endure, others do not, citing Theodore Roosevelt’s addition of mounted animal heads to the State Dining Room as a detail that did not survive. “What President Trump does inside the Trump ballroom may not survive the Trump presidency,” Naftali said. “As long as the bones of the structure are good, future presidents will be able to redesign that space as they see fit.”
However, Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Foundation, observed that nearly every president has put their mark on the building, and changes that were once controversial have often become integral to its identity over time.
For his part, Trump seems to view the renovations as part of his legacy, akin to the Truman Balcony. His interest in the details is pronounced, having once asked his Cabinet members during a meeting, “Who would gold-leaf it?”
The changes have found praise from some, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “I’ve been coming to this building for 65 years and I have to say that it has never looked better,” Kennedy said, contrasting the current look with what he called the “drab” appearance of the White House during his uncle’s era. Ironically, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy is celebrated for her extensive, historically-minded redecoration of the State Floor and her redesign of the Rose Garden—the very space Trump has now paved over, citing concerns about women’s high heels sinking into the soil.
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