WASHINGTON--After paving over the Rose Garden and adding gold leaf in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump will embark on his most dramatic addition to the White House yet: a new, $200 million ballroom to be built adjacent to the mansion's East Wing.
Trump, a former real estate developer with a penchant for decorating, has long complained the White House lacked a large-scale ballroom for entertaining.The White House on Thursday announced plans to break ground in September on the project, which could prove to be the most extensive one since Harry Truman completed an entire renovation in 1952. The White House was originally finished in 1800 and partially rebuilt after being burned by the British during the War of 1812.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that work on the 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) facility will be completed "long before" Trump's four-year term ends in January 2029.The $200 million cost of the ballroom, which will be able to seat 650 people, will be donated by Trump and other donors, she said.
Presidents have used the intimate State Dining Room for events, as well as the larger East Room for bigger VIP lists, and sometimes will have a tent temporarily constructed on the South Lawn to host big dinners."When it rains, it's a disaster," Trump said of the tents when asked about the new ballroom on Thursday.
Trump's home at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, has a grand ballroom and a smaller one, both with glittering chandeliers and white walls decorated with gold flourishes.The Republican president has been determined to put his stamp on the executive mansion. He installed gold-filigreed decorations in the Oval Office and erected giant flagpoles on the north and south lawns.
The Rose Garden is currently a construction site with the grass uprooted and replaced by a concrete patio of the type Trump enjoys at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump first offered to build a $100 million ballroom at the White House back in 2010, an offer to then-President Barack Obama that went unanswered.The East Wing of the White House will be "modernized" as part of the project. Offices there, including the one used by First Lady Melania Trump, will be temporarily relocated, Leavitt said.
As if to reassure traditionalists, the White House said the theme and architectural heritage will be "almost identical" to the rest of the house.It said Trump in recent weeks held meetings with members of the White House staff, the National Park Service, the White House Military Office and the U.S. Secret Service to discuss design features and planning.
"It'll be a great legacy project," Trump said on Thursday.
