White House State Ballroom


The White House State Ballroom is part of a planned expansion of the White House which is meant to replace the demolished East Wing, torn down in October 2025. The site, in Washington, D.C., has been under construction since September 2025. Announced in July 2025, the purpose of the expansion is to add a venue with a higher seating capacity than the East Room for formal events such as state dinners. The project has been criticized for its funding, design, and permitting process.

Background

Traditionally, formal events at the White House are held in the East Room of the Executive Residence, which has a seating capacity of 200 people, or in specially constructed tents on the White House grounds for state dinners. President Joe Biden held four of his six state dinners outdoors using tents. President Donald Trump described the tents used for events as "not a pretty sight". The tents, described by a former White House chef as "embarrassing" and as resulting in guests being "elbow to elbow", often cost $1 million or more for each event. During President Barack Obama's first term in office, at least as early as 2010, then-private citizen Trump spoke to senior advisor David Axelrod and expressed a desire to build a ballroom on White House grounds.
The White House has undergone a number of renovations and restorations in the roughly 230 years of its existence. The largest of these projects was the White House Reconstruction, which took place from 1949 to 1952, while President Harry S. Truman was in office. In order to save the then 150-year-old building from collapse, the entire interior structure of the Executive Residence was numbered and dismantled. Splitting beams and burned timbers damaged by the British in the War of 1812 were removed. The foundation of the outer walls was stabilized and reinforced. A basement and sub basement were dug, and then all four floors were reconstructed on a new steel frame inside the original sandstone walls. Since then, the White House curator has overseen much smaller projects and redecorations in the actual Executive Residence. New features like swimming pools, tennis courts and bowling alleys were added by various presidents after Truman's renovation. The demolition of the East Wing was the first major structural change to the White House complex since the Truman balcony in 1948.

Planning

Architect James McCrery II, founder and principal of McCrery Architects, was hired on July 13, 2025 by Trump. Plans for the ballroom, to be built alongside a "modernized" East Wing, were announced by the White House on July 31, 2025. Even though the existing building was later demolished, Trump said the ballroom being constructed "won't interfere with the current building", would not be "touching it", and would pay "total respect to the existing building, which I'm the biggest fan of".
The Washington Post reported in August that the project had not yet been submitted for review to the National Capital Planning Commission as required by federal law, and that such approvals often took years. The administration claimed that a 1964 executive order allowed the president to bypass the commission, but after a Post reporter pointed out the legal requirement, the White House said the commission "will be a part of that process at the appropriate time". The National Park Service completed a environmental assessment in late August that found "no significant impact".
A consortium led by Clark Construction was awarded the US$200M contract in August 2025. In September, with plans for the ballroom still not submitted, commission chair Will Scharf clarified during a public meeting of the NCPC that the approval process is only required for construction, not demolition or site preparation work. Initially expected to seat 650, in September Trump said this had been revised upward to 900, and in October he said it would be able to hold 999 people.
In December 2025, the White House announced that Trump had selected Shalom Baranes to pick up the design and that McCrery would move to a consulting role. Though the White House gave no reason, McCrery had reportedly been unable to meet deadlines because his workforce was too small.
The Presidential Emergency Operations Center located beneath the former East Wing was dismantled as part of site preparation. It will be replaced by a new below-grade facility. While this part of the project is top secret according to White House director of management and administration Joshua Fisher, Trump confirmed in October 2025 that "The military is very much involved in this." The secret subterranean security structure would not be part of the disclosed project cost.

Private funding

Reportedly, Trump and private donors will pay for the ballroom. Initially announced at a cost of $200 million, the estimate was raised to $300 million in October 2025 and $400 million in December.
On October 22, the White House released a list of companies and private citizens who had donated to the funding of the ballroom, though without disclosing the amount of each donation: By the end of October, $350 million had been raised.
On November 1, 2025, The New York Times reported that the White House had withheld the names of several donors, among them BlackRock, Nvidia, and Jeff Yass, who have major business concerns that could be impacted by decisions by the Trump Administration.

Corporate donors

reported that while the new building would be architecturally similar to the rest of the mansion, it would feature a "lavish interior including chandeliers and ornate columns". The sides of the ballroom will be made with bulletproof glass. The announcement stated that the project will be an addition of 90,000 sq ft ; despite interpretations that this referred to the floor area of the ballroom itself, an analysis based on released renderings of the plans suggested that the 90,000 sq ft referred to the full floor area of the planned new East Wing, with the ballroom's floor area being closer to. Trump said the ballroom is planned to be attached to the Executive Residence by what he described as a "glass bridge".
The Hill reported that critics of the project said the ornamentation is "out of touch and ostentatious".
On January 8, 2026, the White House announced that the banquet hall would be and there would also be offices for the first lady and a movie theater.

Construction

Construction began in September 2025. Construction continued during the 2025 United States federal government shutdown that October; a White House Office of Management and Budget memo stated that the construction was being funded by private donors and would not be impacted by federal budget negotiations. Demolition of the East Wing began on October 20. According to a White House official, the "entirety" of the East Wing is planned to eventually be "modernized and rebuilt". The Wall Street Journal reported that employees of the United States Treasury Department were directed not to take pictures or video of the construction work; the department's headquarters are next door to the White House.
The project is expected to be finished before Trump's term ends in 2029. Experts interviewed by The New York Times described the proposed timetable for completion before 2029 as "optimistic".
Two magnolia trees are believed to have been removed during the construction of the ballroom in late October 2025. The trees had been planted as commemorative trees for presidents Warren G. Harding and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1947 and 1942 respectively. The Harding tree had previously been in a different location, planted in 1922 by first lady Florence Harding.

Responses

Trump, Trump administration, and Republicans

Trump applauded the construction and highlighted the private donations causing no payment needed from the federal government. The White House Rapid Response team posted to Twitter about the construction, calling it a continuation of a long tradition of presidents modernizing the White House to meet the needs of the modern day. House speaker Mike Johnson also highlighted the many construction projects in the history of the White House and stated, "President Trump’s going to have the greatest improvement of the White House in the history of the building." House majority leader Steve Scalise also referenced the many renovations of the White House and claimed that any opposition was the Democratic Party's need to object to any idea by Trump. Although First Lady Melania Trump did not release a statement on the construction of the ballroom, there were reports that she privately raised concerns over the demolition of the East Wing in order for the construction to take place.