President Donald Trump has proposed an idea to build an “Upper West Wing” on top of the White House briefing room as he continues to make changes to historical elements of the residence.
Months after he was pictured taking a walk along the White House roof in August 2025, the president, 79, has now confirmed he’s interested in building a second level on top of the colonnade that connects the West Wing to the rest of the White House residence, according to The New York Times.
Speaking to the outlet on the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 7, Trump said he was calling the project the “Upper West Wing,” adding that it was currently in its design phase. He said he’d be moving forward with the plans if he liked what he saw.
The president also said that the additional floor could have extra office space for West Wing aides, or that it could potentially be an area for “first ladies’ offices for future first ladies.”
PEOPLE sought comment from the White House regarding the potential plans, which are in the early stages and have yet to be finalized.
Donald Trump holds a rendering of the planned White House ballroom on Oct. 22, 2025.
Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty
Trump’s comments came before the White House presented their latest plans for the residence’s East Wing renovation project in a public meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission, held on Thursday, Jan. 8.
Shalom Baranes, who is the architect working on the much-talked-about ballroom project, said during the meeting that the White House had been considering adding a one-story addition to the West Wing to restore “symmetry” once the East Wing renovations are complete, per New York Magazine’s Intelligencer.
“We’re considering the idea of a modest one-story addition to the West Wing,” Baranes explained. “The reason to think about that is so that we would reinstate the symmetry around the central pavilion of the White House.”
“We have not looked at that at all yet. We hope to do so in the future,” he added, according to the outlet.
On Aug. 5, 2025, President Trump was pictured stepping out on the roof of the West Wing for around 10 minutes, where he was seen looking out at the new Rose Garden and over toward the planned site for the privately funded White House Ballroom, which began construction back in September.
Asked by reporters what he was doing up on the roof, the president shouted down at the time, “Taking a little walk,” and teased he was looking for “more ways to spend my money for the country,” according to White House pool reports.
Reporters asked if he was actually considering more renovations beyond the Rose Garden and ballroom, and he made a motion with his hands while responding, “Something beautiful.”
Donald Trump takes shouted questions from reporters while walking on the West Wing roof on Aug. 5, 2025.
Win McNamee/Getty
Trump’s recent White House updates already mark the largest changes to the property in modern history.
During his interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, the president also discussed plans to tear up the brick walkways in Lafayette Park and replace them with granite, insisting he’d be spending his own money to do so.
“I’m spending my own money and I’m going to redo it,” Trump told the outlet of the park, adding that the changes would have an estimated cost of around $10 million.
“I pay everything,” Trump told the Times when questioned if taxpayers or donors would be footing the bill.
He insisted that his decision to tear up the walkways was because protesters could currently pluck bricks from there and throw them, per the outlet.
Heavy machinery tears down a section of the East Wing of the White House in October 2025.
PEDRO UGARTE/AFP via Getty
The changes to the White House residence include the sprawling ballroom that Trump is building on the grounds of the executive mansion. Last month, the president said the renovations will now cost $400 million — a significant jump from earlier estimates.
Trump announced the updated price tag during a Hanukkah reception at the White House on the evening of Dec. 17, 2025, where he also revealed that a federal judge had allowed construction on the controversial project to move forward. He repeated the figure multiple times while thanking the official for clearing the way for continued work, describing the ruling as an act of “courage.”
“We’re donating a $400 million ballroom,” Trump said at the event, according to footage shared by CSPAN. “Myself and donors are giving them, free of charge, for nothing.”
The revised figure marks the latest increase for the project, which Trump previously said would cost $250 million and later $300 million. The White House initially estimated the ballroom would cost $200 million.
An excavator works to clear rubble after the East Wing of the White House was demolished in October 2025.
Eric Lee/Getty
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Trump commented on the ballroom plans during his recent interview with The New York Times, insisting that the main point of the changes was so there could be a secure site in the residence to hold an inauguration.
The president told the outlet the ballroom would have bulletproof glass, four to five inches thick, that “can take just about any weapon that we know of.”
“It’s not like it was 30 years ago,” Trump said. “You’ve got to make a speech today. They got the long ranges. They can go 10 football fields. Okay?”Â
He continued to tell the paper, “It’s being designed very much with the inauguration in mind. It’ll be able to hold six times what the Capitol can hold, and it’s all bulletproof glass, drone-proof roof, yeah, serious. The biggest drone could crash into it — you’d hear a noise up there. It wouldn’t be bad.”