AP Photo/Alex Brandon
President Donald Trump is reportedly not seeing eye to eye with the architect he tasked with building the new White House ballroom.
Trump demolished the entire East Wing of the White House in October to make room for the new 90,000-square-foot structure, telling Fox News this month that he could have built the ballroom without destroying the East Wing, but that “it looked like hell.”
According to The Washington Post, the architect, James McCrery II, has warned the president that such a massive building would dwarf the White House, which is 55,000 square feet. On Wednesday, the Post reported:
Trump’s desire to go big with the project has put him at odds with architect James McCrery II, the people said, who has counseled restraint over concerns the planned 90,000-square-foot addition could dwarf the 55,000-square-foot mansion in violation of a general architectural rule: don’t build an addition that overshadows the main building.
A White House official acknowledged the two have disagreed but would not say why or elaborate on the tensions, characterizing Trump and McCrery’s conversations about the ballroom as “constructive dialogue.”
McCrery declined an interview request with the Post.
The paper noted that administration officials have said that the president’s dedication to the ballroom project “has at times veered into micromanagement.”
Trump has said construction will cost about $300 million and that it is being financed by private donors. This month, a consumer watchdog group reported that a majority of the donors have recently faced federal enforcement actions.
“These giant corporations aren’t funding the Trump ballroom debacle out of a sense of civic pride,” said Public Citizen Co-President Robert Weissman, who co-authored the report. “They have massive interests before the federal government and they undoubtedly hope to curry favor with, and receive favorable treatment from, the Trump administration. Millions to fund Trump’s architectural whims are nothing compared to the billions at stake in procurement, regulatory and enforcement decisions.”
