The East Wing of the White House is Demolished

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November 14, 2025 by Danny Hastings

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Last month, President Donald Trump had the entire East Wing of the White House demolished to prepare for construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom.¹ The White House made the announcement and released renderings of the ballroom three months prior, noting that the current building lacked space large enough “to host major functions honoring world leaders and other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building entrance.”² The president later spoke to reporters from the roof of the White House while surveying the grounds.³

President Trump initially said that the project “won’t interfere with the current building” and “will be near it but not touching it.”⁴ However, after the demolition, he said that “in order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure.”⁵ The East Colonnade, which connected the East Wing to the White House, was also demolished, along with the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden and several historic magnolia trees.⁶ The $300-million-project will be funded by private donors, which include Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Lockheed Martin.⁷

What Was the East Wing?

The East Wing housed offices for the first lady and her staff, a movie theater, and an underground bunker called the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.⁸ The White House Military Office and Office of Legislative Affairs were also located there.⁹ The East Wing served as a ceremonial and public-facing space, where 500,000 visitors entered the White House annually and where the first lady decorated the hallways for Christmas.¹⁰

The East Wing was originally built as a carriage entrance in 1902 under President Theodore Roosevelt before it was renovated into its modern form by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 40 years later.¹¹ The White House Historical Association (WHHA) explains that the expansion “to house additional staff and offices” reflected “the growing complexity of the federal government during World War II.”¹²

Construction of the East Wing while the country was at war was itself controversial. “Congressional Republicans labeled the expenditure as wasteful, with some accusing Roosevelt of using the project to bolster his presidency’s image,” the WHHA explains. “The secretive nature of the construction, tied to military purposes, further fueled suspicions.”¹³ Despite the initial criticism, the East Wing came to be seen as a necessary addition the White House.

President Trump’s Changes to the White House

As a real estate developer, Trump reached out to President Barack Obama’s administration in 2010 about adding a ballroom to the White House—a proposal which ultimately went nowhere.¹⁴ In his second term, President Trump has already transformed much of the White House to match his personal tastes.

He added gilded embellishments to the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, paved over the lawn of the Rose Garden to create a patio, installed large flag poles on the North and South Lawns, and renovated the bathroom off the Lincoln Bedroom with marble features.¹⁵ Along the West Colonnade, he created a “Presidential Walk of Fame” with portraits of each president (though, as a jab to his predecessor, President Joe Biden’s portrait was replaced with a photo of an autopen).¹⁶ President Trump added portraits of himself throughout the White House, replacing those of President Obama and First Lady Hillary Clinton, whom he views as his greatest political rivals.¹⁷ He also unveiled plans for a large victory arch between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery in honor of America’s 250th birthday next year.¹⁸

The Rationale for Redevelopment

The Trump administration and other supporters of the project say a proper ballroom is long overdue. The White House does not have space to host large-scale events without erecting tents outside.¹⁹ Its largest rooms can fit only 200 people, but up to 900 people will be accommodated by the new ballroom.²⁰ When state dinners are set up outside, the “only bathroom facilities for a tent are porta-potties,” says Gahl Hodges Burt, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s social secretary. “Setting up a kitchen out there is hugely expensive. When the tent is up, the helicopter can’t land. And the grass dies.”²¹

Supporters also note that past presidents across the political spectrum have made their own changes to the building to fit their needs, especially as the roles and responsibilities of the office of the president have grown. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “Nearly every single president who has lived in this beautiful White House … has made modernizations and renovations of their own.”²²

Major changes made to the White House include the additions of the North Portico, the West Wing, the Oval Office, and the Truman Balcony, plus the East Wing itself.²³ And under the Truman administration, the entire interior of the White House was gutted and renovated to reinforce the crumbling building after decades of neglect.²⁴

Iconic features of the White House today were once disparaged when their construction required the demolition of something else. When the Victorian conservatories (greenhouses) attached to the White House were destroyed in 1902 to make way for the West Wing, The Washington Post declared that President Theodore Roosevelt’s “attempt to ‘modernize’ [the White House] has destroyed its historic value and does not seem to have made it much more desirable as a residence.”²⁵ Criticism about cost, necessity, design, and what is lost has been a constant as the White House has changed over the last two centuries.

Criticism and Concern

A Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that 57 percent of Americans disapprove of the East Wing demolition while 26 percent approve of it.²⁶ Critics agree that the White House has often been a work in progress since construction began in 1792, but they worry about the pace of the project, lack of transparency, and historic preservation. The East Wing was demolished less than three months after the ballroom plans were made public. Former presidents who made sweeping changes to the White House, like President Truman, worked with many stakeholders and advisory groups.

“Working with the House and Senate, Mr. Truman appointed a bipartisan, six-person commission to oversee the project,” The New York Times notes. “He consulted the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Commission of Fine Arts, which approved sketches made by Lorenzo S. Winslow, the White House architect, as well as smaller details like fabric samples and color schemes. Funds for the project—more than $5 million at the time—were approved by Congress after significant debate.”²⁷

The current project has no congressional involvement or oversight, and the private funds used to finance it are not subject to transparency laws.²⁸ After the demolition of the East Wing, President Trump fired all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts, which would review designs and provide recommendations, though the White House would not be compelled to adhere to them.²⁹ The White House, along with the Supreme Court and Capitol Building, is exempt from the National Historic Preservations Act of 1966, which requires a review process for construction projects.³⁰

Former First Lady Michelle Obama noted that presidents and their families are only temporary residents of the White House; it is often referred to as “The People’s House” to symbolize that the building—and its power—belongs not just to the president, but to the American people.³¹ She also characterized the East Wing demolition as disrespectful to the Office of the First Lady, saying that “to denigrate it, to tear it down, to pretend like it doesn’t matter—it’s a reflection of how you think of that role.”³² Others, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, call attention to the optics of this situation, criticizing the president as out of touch.³³ As they see it, President Trump’s priority in the middle of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history was to tear down a historic part of the White House to build a ballroom as millions of Americans were concerned with health care, housing, and hunger.³⁴

Discussion Questions

What are the strongest arguments that support the demolition of the East Wing of the White House? What are the strongest arguments against it?
What are the benefits and drawbacks to funding the project entirely with private donations, rather than with congressionally appropriated funding?
Should the construction of a ballroom be a priority for the Trump administration?
Do you think the White House should be covered under the National Historic Preservations Act of 1966 and require approval for any changes made to it?
How do you think the White House should balance historic preservation with the needs of the 21st-century presidency?

Other Resources

For more examples of significant modifications made to the White House, see An Ever-Changing White House by WHHA President Stewart McLaurin.

As always, we encourage you to join the discussion with your comments or questions below.

Sources

Featured Images: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

[1] PBS: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-east-wing-of-the-white-house-has-been-demolished-heres-a-look-at-its-history

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