President Donald Trump has kept the details of his White House ballroom project mostly secret — including long-held plans to destroy the East Wing.
But Justice Department lawyers trying to fight off a legal challenge have revealed new information about the building in court filings, including its proposed height, future worksite plans and the status of architects scrambling to finish designs for a $300 million building as crews prepare the site on which it will be built.
The lawyers also said that crews will start building aboveground in April at the earliest, and the architectural plans could change between now and then. Trump and his former lead architect on the project clashedover the size of the 90,000-square-foot addition, and Trump has hired a new firm.
“The design process for the Project remains on-going,” the lawyers said.
Here’s where things stand with the project:
The East Wing’s demise
Trump knew he was going to tear down the East Wing at least two months before doing so, according to National Park Service records released Monday.
On Oct. 21, The Washington Post first published a photo of an excavator tearing town part of the East Wing, the start of a three-day demolition of the annex. The destruction of part of the White House dating back to Thomas Jefferson shocked congressional lawmakers, historians and preservationists.
But the planned demise of the East Wing was known to a tight inner circle of White House officials involved with the ballroom project. In an Aug. 28 report, Park Service officials noted that the ballroom building would require the “existing East Wing and East Colonnade … be deconstructed.” They detailed how Park Service crews would document, remove and preserve fabrics, furniture, building materials and the Kennedy Garden arbor before demolition began. The Park Service also said it would take high-resolution digital photographs of the East Wing and use scanning equipment to create a 3D model of the building.
The White House and the Park Service didn’t publicly mention those preservation efforts — or that crews would destroy the East Wing within two months.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the demolition process or other project details.
Size
The White House has been tight-lipped about specifications for the building since announcing the project in July. While press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it would span 90,000 square feet, the administration has declined for months to detail the exact site location and dimensions, including height. The approach has drawn complaints from outside architects, historic preservationists and Democrats who say Trump owes the public more transparency about a major project that will reshape White House grounds.
The Aug. 28 Park Service report, released Monday as part of the Justice Department’s filings, gave a possible height: 55 feet.
That would make the building shorter than the White House’s main mansion, which is about 60-feet high on its north side and 70-feet high on the south side. In the absence of concrete information, some in the architecture community, including the American Institute of Architects, have voiced concerns about the possibility for the building to overshadow the mansion.
Trump and his former chief architect on the project, James McCrery II, had argued about ensuring the addition didn’t dominate the landscape — with the president pushing to go big — before McCrery left the project in late October.
The Park Service in its review warned its size could have “permanent adverse impacts on the cultural landscape.” The ballroom would “dominate the eastern portion of the site, creating a visual imbalance with the more modestly scaled West Wing and Executive Mansion,” Park Service officials wrote in a 31-page environmental assessment of the project.
But the officials also listed the main benefits they believe the ballroom would bring to the White House: a more seamless and dignified setting for large gatherings, and, in doing so, eliminate the past practice of pitching large tents for such occasions, which have damaged the South Lawn.
The Park Service concluded the building would have “no significant impact” on the surrounding environment, decided a more extensive review was not needed and gave the project its implicit blessing. The administration started work in September.
Building design still in process
The ballroom building is still being designed. The size, dimension and seating capacity could change in the coming months.
Democrats, historical preservation groups and some architects have criticized the project’s shifting specifications over the past 4-4½ months. The White House initially said this summer that the ballroom would cost $200 million and fit 650 people, while Trump in recent weeks asserted that it could cost $300 million or more and would fit about 1,000 people.
The release of Monday’s court documents only added to the uncertainty. In the Aug. 28 report, Park Service officials said the ballroom would be able to seat more than 1,000 guests “depending on final design configuration.”
When McCrery left the project in late October, Trump replaced him with Shalom Baranes, who’s been designing and renovating government buildings in Washington for decades, including the main Treasury building near the White House, the Federal Reserve and the headquarters of the General Services Administration.
The Justice Department said the “architectural elements” were not set in stone and could change in the coming months
Pushback
Critics have insisted that Trump does not have the authority to unilaterally remake a building known as the “People’s House.” Historic preservationists, Democrats and some conservatives have denounced the president for demolishing the East Wing before receiving approval to build the ballroom from a pair of federal review panels: the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) and the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA).
On Friday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a group charged by Congress with helping to preserve historical buildings, sued the Park Service, Trump and others. The group a judge to issue a temporary restraining order forcing work on the project to stop until the NCPC and CFA grant those approvals.
On Monday, Justice Department lawyers countered in court filings that Trump plans to submit the project to both panels. But in the meantime, crews need to keep doing sensitive, underground work, and any delay will jeopardize national security. An emergency bunker was located beneath the East Wing for decades. The White House has declined to specify plans for it, citing matters of national security.
Future plans
Administration officials in legal filings also revealed more details on their potential next steps.
John Stanwich, the Park Service’s liaison to the White House, said in court documents that Trump officials are getting ready to submit draft architectural drawings and other materials to the 12-member NCPC board, which is charged by Congress with overseeing federal construction projects and is now led by Trump allies, including the president’s staff secretary and former personal lawyer.
Tammy Stidham, a Park Service official who sits on the commission, told the court that White House officials contacted her Monday to arrange a meeting with NCPC staff, who are setting one up.
The White House is also planning to engage with the CFA once that panel has a quorum and the administration is planning to nominate new members to the commission. Trump in October fired the CFA’s members.
Stanwich also laid out work plans for the ballroom building in the coming months. Clark Construction, a contractor on the project, finished aboveground demolition earlier this month and expects to complete subterranean demolition by the end of the year, Stanwich told the court. In January, crews plan to start work on footings and underground structural concrete that will anchor and support the ballroom.
Aboveground “construction will not commence for many months — April at the earliest — and, critically, the design process for the Project remains on-going,” Justice Department lawyers said in court documents.
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