New renderings shared Friday offer the clearest look yet at President Donald Trump’s proposed White House ballroom addition — a project advancing even as it is challenged in court and questioned on Capitol Hill.
Shalom Baranes Associates, the firm handling the project, shared the renderings with the National Capital Planning Commission, a committee charged by Congress with overseeing major federal construction projects in the region. The renderings include various angles of the ballroom building, an approximately 90,000-square-foot addition that would also include offices for White House staff. The White House has dubbed the project its “East Wing Modernization.”
The images reveal at least one significant change from earlier designs: the removal of a large triangular pediment above the ballroom’s southern portico. Rodney Cook Jr. — a Trump appointee who chairs the Commission of Fine Arts, another federal panel reviewing the project — had warned in January that the pediment was “immense” and pressed the architects about whether it could be reduced.
Despite the revisions, the proposed addition would remain the same height as the White House at its highest point — a priority for Trump and a major concern for outside architects and historical preservationists. Critics have warned the project could overshadow the iconic main mansion and alter long-protected sightliness around the complex. The new renderings indicate the building could block views of the White House residence from certain viewpoints, such as locations on 15th Street NW, according to the designs shared Friday.
Bruce Redman Becker, an architect who was appointed to the Commission of Fine Arts by former president Joe Biden and removed by Trump last year, said the renderings show “a poorly proportioned pseudo-neoclassical structure that is completely out of scale with the White House.” He also said that the images shown in the renderings did not comply with decades-old guidelines developed by the National Park Service for construction projects at the White House and its neighboring park, which call for new additions to be compatible with the historic structure.
“The design team clearly ignored these guidelines, and should be asked to revise and resubmit plans that follow the guidelines,” Becker said.
Shalom Baranes Associates did not immediately respond to a voicemail with questions about the project. The White House has defended the ballroom project’s design, saying it will comport with the historic mansion.
The project renderings were available on the National Capital Planning Commission’s website on Friday evening after being briefly removed.
The Commission of Fine Arts also received several dozen public comments that were “in some way critical” of the planned project, Thomas Luebke, the commission’s secretary, said at its public meeting last month. One commenter said the proposed building dominated the White House’s main mansion, Luebke said.
The White House has said that it hopes to win approval for the project from the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts at planned hearings next month. Both commissions are now led by Trump appointees who have signaled their support for the project.
Crews have spent roughly five months preparing to erect the building, which included a controversial teardown of the East Wing in October despite promises from the administration that construction wouldn’t “interfere” with the existing building. Trump officials have said aboveground construction could begin as soon as April.
The project is subject to a legal challenge with a ruling expected as soon as this month from U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who is weighing whether the administration’s plan to rely on private donations allows it to bypass congressional approval. Congressional Democrats and watchdog groups have questioned the financing arrangement.
The project is being underwritten in part by donations from corporations with business before the federal government, funneled through a nonprofit intermediary that stands to collect millions of dollars in fees. Among the companies is Amazon, founded by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos.
Trump has argued that the approach spares taxpayers the expense. He has defended the project, calling it an overdue addition to the White House grounds and a necessary feature for presidents seeking to entertain VIP guests.
“It is on budget, and ahead of schedule!” Trump wrote Tuesday on his Truth Social platform.
Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.
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