Architect submits most-detailed renderings so far for White House ballroom
By Kaanita Iyer, Sunlen Serfaty, CNN
(CNN) — The most-detailed renderings yet of President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project were briefly made available Friday, showing the massive scale of the planned 89,000-square-foot space.
The renderings from Shalom Baranes Associates — which were posted by the National Capital Planning Commission on its website and then swiftly taken down — show the new East Wing could span approximately one street block, significantly longer than the West Wing. It also appears to be more than half the length of the Treasury Building, which it would be next to.
CNN has reached out to the NCPC, the planning agency for federal land that must approve the project; the architecture firm; and the White House regarding why the proposal was removed from the website and for additional comment.
The project is facing a legal challenge from the nation’s top historical preservation group, with a federal judge expressing deep skepticism last month over Trump’s authority to construct the ballroom without express authorization from Congress. Yet, construction is moving ahead, with Trump claiming earlier this week that the project is ahead of schedule and within budget. The White House has said the ballroom would be privately funded.
“When completed, it will be the finest Ballroom ever built anywhere in the World, one that has been sought by Presidents for over 150 years — and now they are getting THE BEST!” Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that future presidential inaugurations — which are traditionally held in the US Capitol — could be held in the ballroom.
The National Capital Planning Commission is set to meet next on March 5 to discuss the proposal. Trump has appointed loyalists to the NCPC, as well as to the Commission of Fine Arts, the other organization that must review the ballroom plans.
Demolition of the East Wing began in October, making way for Trump’s 15-year ambition to construct an event space on the White House grounds that expands the building’s entertaining capacity — but that also resembles the gilded spaces of his private clubs.
The most recent estimate for the cost of the ballroom is $400 million. Private donors for the project include prominent companies, such as Apple, Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Google, Coinbase, Comcast and Meta.
The White House hired Shalom Baranes Associates as the new architect for the ballroom construction in December, with sources previously telling CNN there were disputes between the president and the architect originally contracted for the project.
The expansion will feature a ballroom of approximately 22,000 square feet, which can accommodate 1,000 seated guests, and the overall size will be roughly 89,000 square feet, the new architect told the NCPC last month.
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CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo, Betsy Klein and Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.
