President Donald Trump’s makeover of the White House shows no signs of stopping.
Wednesday, in a wide-ranging two-hour interview with the New York Times, Trump said he wants to build a second level atop a portion of the building’s West Wing.
The West Wing, the most famous segement of the White House, consists of two parts — a primary volume containing the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room and other office space, plus the West Colonnade, which connects to the Executive Residence and houses a press briefing room and offices.
President Trump and President Mario Abdo Benitez of Paraguay walk along the West Wing Colonnade, the site of a potential new expansion.
The proposed ‘Upper West Wing,’ Trump said, would sit atop the colonnade and would house additional offices – potentially ‘first ladies’ offices for future first ladies.’ In August, the president was photographed ‘taking a little walk’ on the roof to scope out the site. The new scheme is currently under design; if the president approves of it, he said he’ll move forward with the project.
Trump atop the West Wing Colonnade in August 2025.
It won't be the first time the West Wing has been redesigned – Presidents Taft, Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt conducted renovations and expansions. But the scope and speed of Trump's desired changes to the White House are unprecedented. This latest potential alteration comes on the heels of the demolition of the East Wing to make way for a large $400 million ballroom, a move preservationists say is illegal. (White House officials said Thursday that the East Wing had structural issues, leaks and mold)
An aerial view of the White House with the demolished East Wing (right), the Executive Residence (centre) and the West Wing Colonnade (left).
According to Shalom Baranes, the Washington, D.C.-based architect whose firm has designed the ballroom, an additional storey atop the West Wing could help balance the scale of the Executive Residence, the West Wing and the ballroom.
‘The reason to think about that is so that we would reinstate symmetry along the central pavilion of the White House,’ he said at a presentation to the National Capital Planning Commission. (It’s unclear if Baranes is designing the West Wing expansion. Wallpaper* has reached out for comment).
President Trump shows a rendering of the proposed ballroom.
In addition to the Upper West Wing proposal, Trump announced changes to Lafayette Park across the street; promised to make improvements to the Eero Saarinen-designed Dulles Airport; and lauded his marble-clad update of the historic Lincoln Bathroom.
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