Crews are demolishing the East Wing of the White House to make way for the construction of President Trump's $300 million, 90,000 square-foot ballroom, despite outcry from historical preservation groups and a lack of federal approval.
The Trump administration dismissed widespread criticism as "manufactured outrage" in a fact sheet released Tuesday, which outlines the various renovations that presidents have made to the property over the last century and suggests this one is no different.
"Unhinged leftists and their Fake News allies are clutching their pearls over President Donald J. Trump's visionary addition of a grand, privately funded ballroom to the White House — a bold, necessary addition that echoes the storied history of improvements and additions from commanders-in-chief to keep the executive residence as a beacon of American excellence," the White House said.
The White House has undergone renovations both large and small since its creation in 1792. But this would be the biggest addition — in scope and size — since the 1940s, Priya Jain, the chair of the Society of Architectural Historians' Heritage Conservation Committee, told NPR.
"In the list that was issued yesterday, if you look at it closely, all the changes after 1942 have been limited to the interior," Jain said. "And the ones on the exterior either involved simple restoration or minor site additions like the tennis court and the pavilion, which are limited by their scope, size and visibility to have any negative impact on the historic building."
Here's a look at how presidents have changed the White House.
1700s and 1800s: The White House is built and rebuilt
The cornerstone for the White House was laid in the newly designated nation's capital in October 1792, a year after President George Washington selected the site himself.
The neoclassical building was designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban and constructed by a team of enslaved and freed Black Americans and European immigrants over the course of eight years.
President John Adams and his wife, Abigail, were the first to inhabit the residence, which was still unfinished by the time they moved in toward the end of his term in November 1800. President Thomas Jefferson moved in the following year and went on to decorate the "president's house" with furnishings he had inherited from all of his presidential predecessors.
But almost all of it was lost in 1814, when British troops set fire to the building during the War of 1812. President James Madison and first lady Dolley Madison both fled Washington, D.C., to safety, the latter managing to bring a full-size portrait of former President George Washington with her. Both returned to a temporary residence to finish out his presidency.
Hoban oversaw the rebuilding of the White House. Its second incarnation, which closely resembled the first, officially reopened with President James Monroe's arrival in 1817.
Monroe later tasked Hoban with the building's first major addition, the South Portico — the iconic rounded entrance lined with Ionic columns — was completed in 1824. Construction of the North Portico was completed in 1830, under President Andrew Jackson.
Early 20th century: The creation and expansion of the West Wing
The next big changes happened under President Theodore Roosevelt.
In 1901, he renamed it the "White House" in all formal communications, making its longtime nickname official. (It was originally called the "president's house" or "executive mansion", but most people started referring to it by its limestone white-wash coloring in the early 1800s.)
In 1902, Roosevelt began a major renovation of the physical building that "transformed it from a crazy quilt of alterations over time into a cohesive statement of modern times," the late author and historian William Seale wrote.
The biggest change was the relocation of his office from the second floor to the West Wing, originally called the Executive Office Building. The separate, one-story structure was accessible by walkway and housed the offices of presidential staff and secretaries as well as a Cabinet meeting room.
The project expanded the first family's living quarters (necessary, since the Roosevelts had six young kids) and modernized the building's heating and plumbing systems. It also created the East Terrace — a new entryway for guests that would later become the East Wing.
Subsequent presidents continued to build on Roosevelt's renovations.
President William Taft remodeled and expanded the West Wing in 1909 to create the Oval Office. President Calvin Coolidge had the roof rebuilt and a third floor added in 1927, after an engineering report showed that the roof trusses were weakened and unsafe.
The West Wing was remodeled after a 1929 fire and further expanded in 1934, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt relocated the Oval Office to its current location for more privacy, built more offices underground and installed an indoor swimming pool for his polio therapy (financed by private donations).
Mid-20th century: Controversial additions and a major renovation
FDR also had the East Wing created in 1942, primarily to cover up an underground bunker and to house more staff and offices during the war.
According to the White House Historical Association, the wartime construction of the East Wing was highly controversial. Republicans criticized it as wasteful and accused Roosevelt of "using the project to bolster his presidency's image."
"The secretive nature of the construction, tied to military purposes, further fueled suspicions," wrote association president Stewart McLaurin. "However, the East Wing's utility in supporting the modern presidency eventually quieted critics."
The next major renovation, and perhaps the biggest one, happened under President Harry Truman in the late 1940s.
In response to structural deficiencies, his architects decided to gut the entire interior, leaving only the exterior walls intact, between 1948 and 1952. The project cost the equivalent of $60 million — funded and authorized by Congress — and drew intense scrutiny from preservationists and the public.
One of the most controversial changes was the addition of a balcony to the second floor of the South Portico. While opposed by some architectural purists and Truman's opponents in Congress for both aesthetic and financial reasons, the Truman Balcony has become a hallmark of both first family leisure and official White House events (think: Easter Egg roll).
"The Truman Balcony was something that was really controversial at the time, and now it's one of the most beloved parts of the White House for the president and their family to be sitting outside looking out on the South Lawn," Kate Andersen Brower, author of The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, told NPR's Here & Now.
Truman funded the balcony himself, using money from his allocated household account. Brower said Trump's ballroom is the biggest renovation since then — but is different in key ways.
"[Truman] wasn't going to take no for an answer, but he did go through the channels to get approval for this renovation. And we're not seeing President Trump do the same thing," she added.
Late 20th century onward: Presidents personalize the grounds
Recent decades have seen frequent but relatively minor changes to White House grounds.
President John F. Kennedy created the modern Rose Garden in 1963 — and it remained relatively unchanged until this August, when Trump had it paved over and turned into a patio.
In the 1970s, President Richard Nixon converted the indoor swimming pool into the White House Press Room and installed a one-lane bowling alley, while President Gerald Ford had a swimming pool (also privately funded) built outdoors.
In the early 2000s, President George W. Bush modernized the press briefing room and the Situation Room and installed the first-ever solar electric system on White House grounds (President Jimmy Carter first installed solar heating panels on the White House roof in 1979, but they were removed in the 1980s).
President Barack Obama adapted a tennis court so it could also be used for basketball, and First Lady Michelle Obama planted the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn.
Trump has changed the grounds already
Trump himself has made a slew of renovations since his second term began in January, and not just to the Rose Garden.
He's also bedecked the Oval Office with gilded frames and golden details, and added a Presidential Walk of Fame to the walkway between the West Wing and executive residence. It features portraits of every previous president except for President Joe Biden. Instead of a headshot, Biden's frame features a picture of an autopen, which Trump has repeatedly accused him of using (despite the fact that the practice is not prohibited).
The White House says Trump is carrying on a "proud presidential legacy" of making upgrades to the building, in this case increasing its capacity to host major functions. The East Room currently seats about 200 people for dinner, meaning many large White House events are hosted outside in fancy tents with floors and chandeliers.
Brower, the author, says there is a case to be made for expanding the entertaining space at the White House, with caveats: "I don't think that it has to be of this size and scope, two football fields big and larger than the White House itself."
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