President Donald Trump’s plans to construct a 90,000 square-foot ballroom where the White House’s East Wing once stood appear to be ever-changing and done in “a hurried process,” with one design document showing the project to have a staircase leading to nowhere, according to a report Saturday from the New York Times.
“Architects and historians say that it is not unusual for designs to change during a project like this, but that Mr. Trump has not followed the typical process for White House renovations, which normally involve reviews by organizations like the National Capital Planning Commission,” the report reads. “And the various plans Mr. Trump has shared have suggested a hurried process.”
Trump revealed more details on the plans for the proposed ballroom this week, including new design renderings of the facility’s exterior. The Times, however, noted in its report that there were “some mistakes” in at least one of the design renderings, including a staircase “leading up to no clear landing,” and “colliding windows.”
The price of the ballroom ballooned this week from $200 million to $300 million, and construction on the project – originally slated to begin last month – has been delayed to an undetermined date.
The Trump administration has also received scrutiny for destroying the East Wing to make way for the ballroom, with images and video of a bulldozer gutting the historic building shocking critics. The fallout from the East Wing’s was so severe that Secret Service agents closed access to a nearby park from which members of the media were taking photos and videos of the facility’s demolition.Trump waves around renderings of his new ballroom, which appears to be entirely gold pic.twitter.com/WKhLLCWNNs
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 22, 2025