Design Review: What's Wrong with Expanding the White House on a Whim

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By
James S. Russell

I had no intention of diving into the controversy over Trump’s anointing Classicism and other traditional styles as the official architectural expression of federal buildings. With so much else that is criminal, vengeful, authoritarian, and just plain cringy about Trump and his minions, the appearance of a few more columns and pediments on whatever buildings the federal government will get around to putting up has not struck me as essential to crusade against.

But now Trump has embarked on the most significant alteration to the White House since its original completion early in the 19th century. He proposes to add a 90,000 square foot addition to replace the East Wing which was conceived by Thomas Jefferson but largely completed in 1902 for Teddy Roosevelt.

It’s easy to get up in arms about this. Does the White House really need a ballroom seating 900? The rendering shows an array of tables and cheap convention-hotel gilded chairs so vast that diners may pine for the relative intimacy of rubber chicken in a hotel conference center.

In truth, the White House could probably use a strategic plan that looked dispassionately at what should and should not be jammed into the building while maintaining and restoring its historic grace and flow.

https://www.postalley.org/2025/10/21/design-review-whats-wrong-with-expanding-the-white-house-on-a-whim/

[Dave Bowman]

1. In the end the White House will look like a brothel.