Questions have also been raised about whether the administration is legally allowed to complete the construction.
The US National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit to stop the construction, saying “no president is legally allowed to tear down portions of the White House without any review whatsoever”.
The Trump administration has pushed back against the concerns by highlighting White House construction projects undertaken by previous administrations.
Some significant renovations have been carried out by previous presidents, but the ballroom proposal is the most extensive change in more than 70 years.
“Harry Truman oversaw a massive White House renovation in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but this happened because the White House was structurally unsound and falling apart, so there was little opposition to the project,” says Dr Matthew Dallek, a political historian and professor at George Washington University.
A federal judge did temporarily block construction following the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s challenge – but this ruling was appealed by the Trump administration and building work was allowed to resume until a hearing in June.