US President Donald Trump wants to “keep his real estate juices flowing” by completely renovating the White House. Seemingly not content with disrupting global trade or his own federal government, the property-developer president plans to reimagine the monument, which was originally built in 1792.
Among his big ideas are a “beautiful, magnificent” new ballroom, and plans to pave over the Rose Garden to make a terrace area, in the style of his own Mar-a-Lago resort. The tasteless 45th and 47th president seems hellbent on making his mark this time around. He recently told a reporter: “It keeps my real estate juices flowing.” Just last week, he was photographed rearranging the presidential portraits in the entrance hall of the White House.
So far, the president’s most lasting impression on the White House is in the Oval Office, where he continues adding more golden touches flown in from his Mar-a-Lago estate, including seven golden urns atop the mantlepiece. There’s also some golden cherubs above the doorways, gold lief appliques, a huge golden trophy from the FIFA World Cup, gilded mirrors, and tables with golden eagle on the base of the legs. There may be plans for two ornate chandeliers to be hung side by side, the New York Post reports.
The room’s cornice mouldings have also been stripped back and painted in preparation for gold leaf, while a new big map of the newly named “Gulf of America” has been erected behind Trump’s desk.
The US President even wants to pave over the grassed area of the Rose Garden where he regularly holds press conferences, because wet grass often causes women’s heels getting snagged. First lady Melania had previously re-designed the space, so Trump will match the white limestone bordering the area, and finish off with hedges of red tulips and white roses.
One of the most striking changes in the White House includes the addition of a gigantic ballroom – which architects will keep in line the the building’s Georgian architecture. Guests will be able to access the grand ballroom through doors in the East Room – currently the biggest room in the house – but which according to Trump, is not adequate for large gatherings.
He previously scoffed at Obama and Biden for hosting guests and state dinners in tents on the South Lawn. “When a foreign leader comes over… they should not be in a tent,” he previously said. Trump said he had offered to build a 160-foot-long ballroom in the past, covering the $100 million (£75 million) cost himself, but despite repeatedly approaching “top people” at the Biden administration, he didn’t get a reply.
He said at a reception in the East Room in February: “I am very good at building ballrooms. I build beautiful ballrooms… like I have at Mar-a-Lago, as beautiful as it can be. I offered to do it to the Biden administration, a very active administration, but I didn’t hear back [so] I’m going to try to make the offer to myself … because we could use a bigger room … I think we’ve outgrown the tent stuff.”
Last week, Trump reluctantly cut down the historic, 200-year-old “Andrew Jackson magnolia” that was half dead and propped up by wires near the entrance of the White House. “The bad news is that everything must come to an end, and this tree is in terrible condition, a very dangerous safety hazard, at the White House Entrance, no less, and must now be removed,” he announced on Truth Social.
The president plans to replace the tree with a new sapling – a direct descendant of the original magnolia.
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