White House begins demolition of East Wing for Trump’s 90,000-square-foot ballroom

WASHINGTON:  The White House began demolishing the East Wing to make room for President Donald Trump’s $250 million ballroom on Monday.

The East Wing of the White House began coming down Monday afternoon as crews started demolition to make way for what may become the most dramatic structural overhaul in the building’s modern history: a 90,000-square-foot ballroom championed by President Donald J. Trump.

The ambitious project, which effectively doubles the size of the East Wing, marks a bold architectural pivot in the seat of American power, one that reflects the former president’s long-standing penchant for grandeur and his desire to leave a physical legacy that mirrors his aesthetic preferences.

By late afternoon, dust clouds and debris littered the area surrounding the East Wing, as a track excavator tore into the structure. Reporters and bystanders near the Treasury Department caught glimpses of shattered windows, dangling wires, and piles of masonry growing steadily with each swing of the machinery.

“You know, we’re building right behind us — we’re building a ballroom,” Trump told members of a collegiate baseball championship team during a White House visit. The offhand comment confirmed what many in Washington had suspected for weeks: that the former president’s renovation efforts, which began with symbolic tweaks, had now entered a new phase of full-scale transformation.

The ballroom project fulfills a goal Trump has harbored for over 15 years — to add a high-capacity, opulent event space to the White House grounds reminiscent of his private clubs, such as Mar-a-Lago. According to sources familiar with the design plans, the ballroom will feature gilded interiors, massive chandeliers, and panoramic views of the National Mall.

Critics argue the move represents a troubling shift from historical preservation to personal branding, citing Trump’s previous changes to the Oval Office, Cabinet Room, and Rose Garden — now widely compared to the aesthetics of a luxury resort. Others point to his installation of towering flagpoles and ongoing efforts to erect an Arc de Triomphe-style arch near the Potomac River as signs of a broader effort to reshape the city’s visual identity.

“Trump hasn’t just changed the way Washington works. He’s changing the way Washington looks,” said one former White House staffer who asked to remain anonymous. “And we’re only beginning to see the scale of it.”

The East Wing, originally constructed in 1942 during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, has housed the offices of the First Lady and the White House Social Secretary. It also contains the entrance to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC), the secure bunker under the White House — raising questions about security and logistics during construction.