Trump vanity project: Even without one pediment, ballroom will overwhelm White House grounds

 

Aerial views, headling, adn renderings:  New York Times, 2/17/2026

Junho Lee and Ashley Wu report on the following changes:

1. one pediment, not two
2. changed windows and doorways
3. new garden to replace destroyed Jacqueline Kennedy Garden
4. asymmetrical pathway

Related posts:

January 2026

That's one way to avoid a review of your White House ballroom vanity project, Donald Trump.  (1/15)

Will Scharf, top White House aide and chair of National Capital Planning Commission, sez he is ready, willing and able to rubberstamp the project.   (1/10)

Architect Shalom Baranes reveals latest plans for reconstructed East Wing.  (1/9)

Dear AP headline writer.  Trump White House vanity project ballroom is not under construction.  What's being done is demolition and site preparation.  Best, Retiring Guy. (1/8)

Ballroom asbestos blitz.  (1/7)

Sleepy Don goes marble shopping.  (1/4)

Trump looks to ram his vanity project through planning process.  (1/2)

December 2025

White House ballroom vanity project:  Mainstream media leaves it to specialist to explain drone-free roof.   (12/30)

Trump unprecedented destruction.  (12/30)

“East Wing Modernization Project" on agenda for 1/8/2026 meeting of National Capital Planning Commission.  (12/28)

And the lawsuits just keep on comin'!  (12/24)

National Trust for Historic Preservative chair Carol Quillen doesn't seem to get the fact that Will Scharf and his fellow toadies were appointed to be Trump's mouthpieces.  (11/22)

What contractor in his right mind is willing to take on this fraught project?  (12/18)

So now it's a matter of national security!  (12/15)

White House ballroom:  AIA architects to Shalom Baranes, "Don't do it!"  (12/13)

USA Today reminds us that Sleepy Don's pile driver anecdote was pure bullshit.  (12/12)

New photos show ongoing demolition and site preparation at site of latest Trump vanity project.  (12/10)

With Donald Trump, it's just one scam after another.  (12/7)

Quote from Shalom Baranes, Trump's new White House ballroom architect:  "My work would be impossible without my fellow immigrants".  (12/7)

Archinect News thinks Donald Trump and Shalom Baranes are a weird pairing.  (12/7)

White House ballroom price tag:  $200 million.  $300 million.  $350 million.  Do I hear $400 million?  (12/7)

Washington Business Journal editor-in-chief puzzles out why Shalom Baranes accepted White House ballroom commission.  (12/6)

Trump sez au revoir to McCrery Architects.  (12/5)

Above the law and all of those pesky building codes:  Trump tries to steamroll his way through the White House ballroom planning process.  (12/4)

White House Ballroom correction:  This is not construction; its demolition and site preparation. (12/4)

Sleepy Don sends a shot across the bow to White House ballroom architect James McCrery II (12/1)

November 2025

White House East Wing hallway will not be decorated for Christmas this year.  (11/30)

Portrait of a Sleepy and Insecure Man.  (11/30)

Compensation Chronicles:   Donald Trump ballroom design keeps getting bigger and bigger! (11/29)

White House ballroom vanity project:  Meet the Trump toadies serving on the National Capital Planning Commission.  (11/26)

Sleepy Don feuds with White House ballroom architect. (11/26)

Operations and maintenance costs for Trump's gilded ballroom will be paid for by taxpayers.  (11/25)

Why did demolition of the East Wing of White House proceed without formal review?  Ask Will Scharf, Assistant to the President and White House Staff Secretary.  (11/18)

White House Ballroom oversight gaps emerge: Let us count the ways  (Part 1:  National Capital Planning Commission).  (11/18)

That's assuming it even gets built by the end of 2028.  (11/16)

What did Donald Trump know about the demolition of the East Wing of White House and when did he know it?  (11/2)

What did Clark Construction know about the demolition of the East Wing of White House and when did they know it?.  (11/2)