President Trump will demolish the entire East Wing of the White House to make way for his $300 million ballroom.
Trump had previously claimed that renovations would not affect the existing structure of the East Wing, which emerged through a major expansion in 1942.
“It won’t interfere with the current building. It won’t be. It’ll be near it but not touching it — and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of. It’s my favourite. It’s my favourite place. I love it,” Trump said in July.
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However, on Monday pictures emerged of the outer façade of the wing being torn down. The demolition of the entire wing is now set to be complete by the weekend, a senior administration official told The New York Times.
Demolition of a section of the East Wing of the White House on Tuesday
AARON SCHWARTZ/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES
A model of the new White House ballroom on display in the Oval Office
REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that the new “big beautiful ballroom” was necessary to provide event space on the grounds.
“Presidents for decades in the modern time have quipped about how they wish they had a larger event space here at the White House that can hold hundreds more people than the current East Room and State Dining Rooms can,” Leavitt told Fox News.
“In fact, President Obama notably complained that during his tenure he had to hold a state visit on the South Lawn and get a very expensive tent.”
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During a press conference in the Oval Office on Wednesday evening, Trump defended the demolition works.
He said: “Certain areas are being left but we determined that after really a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world, we determined that really knocking it down… you know, the East Wing was not much.
“It was a very small building and rather than allowing that to hurt a very expensive, beautiful building that, frankly, they’ve been after for years.”
Plans for the proposed ballroom
Trump also revealed the cost of the project had risen again from an estimated $250 million. “I think it will be one of the great ballrooms anywhere in the world. It’s about DOLLARS 300 million.” He said it would be funded “100 per cent by me and some friends of mine, donors”.
When asked about a lack of transparency concerning the plans, Trump called the journalist a “third-rate reporter” and said he had shown the plans “to everybody that would listen…. It’s gotten really great reviews.”
The White House also separately released a statement attacking the “manufactured outrage” of those criticising the ballroom and detailing renovations undertaken by previous presidents.
The president said on Monday that the space would be capable of holding 999 people. Last week he hosted a dinner for those who had contributed to the ballroom’s construction so far.
“We have a lot of legends in the room tonight, and that’s why we’re here to celebrate you, because you gave,” Trump told those present, which included representatives from companies including Apple, Google and Amazon.
“They wanted to have a ballroom, and it never happened because they didn’t have a real-estate person.”
Laura Bush, the first lady, and Michelle Obama in the East Wing in 2009
CHARLES OMMANNEY/GETTY IMAGES
Preservationists have warned against proceeding with the demolition until approval from a public review process is granted.
On Tuesday Carol Quillen, the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, issued a statement expressing concern about the size of the new ballroom.
“While the National Trust acknowledges the utility of a larger meeting space at the White House, we are deeply concerned that the massing and height of the proposed new construction will overwhelm the White House itself — it is 55,000 square feet — and may also permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, and lower, East and West Wings,” Quillen wrote.
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The ballroom is one of a number of renovation projects Trump has embraced since returning to the White House in January, which include paving over the Rose Garden and decking the Oval Office in gold. He has also proposed the construction of an arch in the style of the Arc de Triomphe — known in Washington as the Arc de Trump — in front of the Arlington National Cemetery.