As if truffling thuggishly in pursuit of the Nobel peace prize wasn\u2019t enough, the spectacle of bulldozers ripping into the White House is yet more evidence of Donald Trump\u2019s unstinting quest for epic self-aggrandisement. Having decreed the East Wing not fit for purpose \u2013 namely, his purposes of swank and show \u2013 he plans to replace it with a faux classical bulletproof ballroom, capable of seating up to 650 partygoers.<\/p>\n
Renderings show a vast, glacially white aircraft hangar of a structure embellished with an ornate coffered ceiling, gilded Corinthian columns and drooping gold chandeliers. Nero, who conceived the original <\/a>domus <\/a>aurea<\/a>, would feel right at home. Costing $250m (\u00a3187.5m), a sum to be extracted from sycophantic donors, Trump\u2019s ballroom is one of the most grandiose White House projects to be implemented in more than a century, as he strives to bend the building \u2013 and US architecture more generally \u2013 to his will.<\/p>\n His fetishisation of classicism \u2013 a recurring comfort blanket for despots of all stripes \u2013 is bleakly predictable<\/p>\n On re-assuming the presidency, one of his first executive orders \u2013 under the title Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again<\/a> \u2013 mandated that \u201ctraditional and classical architecture\u201d should be the preferred style for all federal public buildings, with Trump having the final veto on designs. A similarly prescriptive order was enacted during Trump\u2019s first spell in office, only to be rescinded by Joe Biden.<\/p>\n So, having been here before, the American Institute of Architects is wearily wary, stating: \u201cAIA is extremely concerned about any revisions that remove control from local communities, mandate official federal design preferences, or otherwise hinder design freedom, and add bureaucratic hurdles for federal buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n Doomed \u2026 a part of the East Wing is demolished to make way for the new ballroom. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n White House occupants do have a history of tweaking, expanding and remodelling. Theodore Roosevelt added the West Wing, Richard Nixon installed a bowling lane and Harry S Truman commissioned an entire reconstruction. Several first ladies have revamped the decor and furnishings, notably Jackie Kennedy, whose soign\u00e9 interiors were designed to connect the presidential home more resonantly with American history.<\/p>\n The now doomed East Wing, dating from 1902, has been a much-changed addition. Intermittently housing the office of the first lady, what\u2019s left of it sits above the presidential emergency operations centre, a high security bunker built during the second world war. Vice-president Dick Cheney and his retinue retreated there<\/a> during the 9\/11 attacks, as did Trump<\/a> at the start of the George Floyd protests in 2020.<\/p>\n The man who landed the ballroom job is James McCrery, founder of Washington-based McCrery Architects and a trenchant advocate of classical architecture. \u201cAmericans love classical architecture,\u201d he has said, \u201cbecause it is our formative architecture \u2013 and we love our nation\u2019s formation.\u201d Ironically, McCrery began his career working for Peter Eisenman, the high priest of deconstructivism, before a conversion of Damascene proportions prompted him to renounce the avant garde and \u201crethink his modernist education\u201d.<\/p>\n No fan of the White House \u2026 Trump holds a table seating chart of the ballroom in the renovated Oval Office. Photograph: Alex Brandon\/AP<\/p>\n Specialising in the design of \u201ctraditional\u201d Catholic churches, McCrery was appointed by Trump during his first term to serve on the US Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency with the power to review the \u201cdesign and aesthetics\u201d of all construction within Washington DC.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s style edicts and building bombast exude a dictator-for-life megalomania vibe, as he barrels through his second term, with an unconstitutional third potentially in his sights. However, he is said to dislike the White House, finding it on the poky side, preferring to decamp to his Floridian resort Mar-a-Lago at every opportunity. The tone for his latest stay in the White House was set by his patio-fication of the Rose Garden, but he is now clearly aiming for a legacy more substantial than a bit of paving.<\/p>\n His record as a \u201cpatron\u201d of architecture has been shaped by his rollercoaster career as a property developer. To him, buildings are simply extruded capital. He has an enduring fondness for Louis XIV bling, epitomised by his enrobing of a 1960s Manhattan skyscraper in golden bronze cladding to transform it into the gleamingly phallic Trump International Hotel and Tower. His more recent engoldening of the Oval Office<\/a>, described by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt as a \u201cgolden office for the golden age\u201d, has been unflatteringly compared to a professional wrestler\u2019s dressing room<\/a>.<\/p>\n An imperial wheeze \u2026 model of the new White House ballroom. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Trump\u2019s experience as a developer was formative, in that it taught him he could get away with just about anything. It crystallised a poisonous bravado, now hardwired into the national political sphere. His fetishisation of classicism, a historically recurring comfort blanket for despots of all stripes, is bleakly predictable.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gives Trump a narrative of authority and tradition,\u201d says Daniel Abramson, professor of architectural history at Boston University, \u201cand fits into his overarching strategy of undermining the established elites, including in architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n Another imperial wheeze, announced at a reception for prospective ballroom donors, is a huge triumphal arch, to be erected just across the Potomac river from the Lincoln Memorial. Modelled on the Parisian original and topped with a gilded, winged goddess of victory, the \u201cArc de Trump\u201d is intended to commemorate the US\u2019s 250th anniversary next year. In launching this newest vanity project, Trump said: \u201cWe love to fix up Washington.\u201d Again, Nero would doubtless approve.<\/p>\n