President Donald Trump has never hidden his developer’s instincts, and in his second term those instincts are being poured into the White House itself. The onetime real estate mogul is reshaping the executive mansion and the nation’s capital with a series of gilded, ambitious projects that bear his unmistakable imprint. From gold-trimmed interiors to a $200 million ballroom, Trump is determined to leave behind not just a political legacy but a physical one.
Since returning in January, Trump has ordered a wave of renovations: the Oval Office now gleams with 24-karat ornamentation, the Rose Garden’s grass has been replaced by stone, flagpoles tower on the North and South Lawns, and the Cabinet Room boasts brighter lights to sharpen television images. The centerpiece is yet to come—a 90,000-square-foot state ballroom replacing the East Wing. Scheduled to break ground this September and finish by 2028, the hall will host 650 guests, more than triple the East Room’s current capacity. Trump and private donors are footing the bill.
“There have always been updates and changes to the White House. This is probably the first time when there are so many at once,” Stewart McLaurin, the president of the White House Historical Association who gave Trump a tour of a new gift shop last week, told Politico. “He’s taking the time to be involved in it. He’s actually very hands-on, and I think that comes in some measure from his background as a developer and his interest in building and construction.”
Trump’s plans reach beyond 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Determined to polish the capital before America’s 250th birthday in 2026, he has promised to restore fountains, repave streets, and refurbish federal facades. “We’re going to take off the asphalt and put beautiful, well-done asphalt,” Trump said in the Oval Office, underscoring his eye for detail. He has floated rebranding East Potomac Golf Links as “Washington National Golf Course,” with a logo echoing his private clubs, and spoken of cladding the Kennedy Center in marble or stone.
The design campaign is reinforced by executive order. Under Trump’s “Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again” mandate, new federal buildings in Washington must adopt Greek or Roman forms, overturning decades of modernist preference. Architects’ groups, including the American Institute of Architects, object that such dictates curb creativity and impose Trump’s taste on civic monuments.
Liberal critics, of course, who see fascism in everything Trump does have tried to pain the renovations as “an imperial or royal setting” that emphasizes presidential power, but while some have weirdly attacked the changes as a waste of money, even though it’s privately paid for, reasonable Democrats have praised the updates.
“The plans are going to be done in a tasteful and historical kind of way,” Fetterman said. “They’re not putting in a Dave & Buster’s kind of situation here, so I think upgrading some of these facilities seems pretty normal.”
The White House defends the renovations as practical improvements, financed privately under the direction of campaign finance veteran Meredith O’Rourke. A stone-paved Rose Garden, aides note, prevents guests from sinking into mud during ceremonies, while the ballroom will spare dignitaries from tented dinners.
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