U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to build an extravagant White House ballroom, at a time when many Americans face rising living costs and economic uncertainty.
Trump announced Thursday that construction will begin in September on his 15-year-long dream.
Trump has undertaken several changes to the White House during his time in office, including adding large flagpoles, updating the Rose Garden, and redecorating the Oval Office.
Highlights
- President Trump plans to build a $200 million, 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom modeled after Mar-a-Lago's lavish event room.
- Trump claims he will personally fund the ballroom project with donors, despite budget cuts affecting public programs and foreign aid.
- Senate Minority Leader Schumer criticized the ballroom amid economic anxieties, highlighting rising costs faced by most Americans.
Donald Trump is building a $200 million ballroom at the White House
Image credits: The White House
Now, he is preparing for his most extensive project yet: upgrading the East Wing with a $200 million ballroom.
Renderings released Thursday illustrate that the new space will be modeled after the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate.
Funding for the $200 million budget will be undertaken by Trump and other unnamed individuals.
“I’ll do it and probably have some donors or whatever,” Trump said at a signing ceremony Thursday.
“I always said I was going to do something about the ballroom, because they should have one. It’ll be a great legacy project, and I think it’ll be special,” he added.
The East Wing of the White House, traditionally home to first ladies’ offices, will be repurposed to accommodate the 90,000‑square‑foot ballroom.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that staff based in the East Wing—which also includes the White House Military Office and the White House Visitors Office—will be “temporarily relocated” during construction.
Renderings released by McCrery Architects, the firm selected to design the ballroom, depict a vast gold-and-white hall featuring crystal chandeliers, gilded Corinthian columns, a coffered ceiling with gold inlays, checkered marble floors with gold floor lamps, and three walls of arched windows overlooking the South Lawn.
The design closely resembles the event room at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, which was inspired by Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles.
The ballroom resembles the event room at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, inspired by the Palace of Versailles
Image credits: The Mar-a-Lago Club
Image credits: The White House
The White House emphasized that the new ballroom would maintain the “theme and architectural heritage” of the historic neoclassical mansion.
“No president knew how to build a ballroom,” Trump said last weekend during a meeting at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. “I could take this one, drop it right down there, and it would be beautiful.”
The White House said the ballroom will hold up to 650 seated guests—more than triple the capacity of the East Room, currently the largest event space in the executive mansion.
The new ballroom will add 90,000 square feet to the White House complex, nearly doubling the size of the main residence, which measures 55,000 square feet.
Trump wants to expand the White House’s event capacity, noting that large gatherings are often held in temporary tents on the lawn.
“People schlopping down to the tent—it’s not a pretty sight. The women with their lovely evening gowns, and their hair all done, and they’re a mess by the time they get [there],” he said.
The announcement of the $200 million expenditure comes amid Trump’s implementation of substantial budget cuts, through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and signing a $9 billion rescission bill in July, which cuts funds for foreign aid and public broadcasting.
Image credits: Tom Williams/Getty Images
Meanwhile, his administration’s broader FY 2026 proposal calls for $163 billion in non-defense cuts.
“A $200 million ballroom! Where’d this money come from? Did Congress appropriate it? I don’t think so,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a news conference.
“He announced plans to build himself a new White House ballroom so he can eat his cheeseburgers in there in luxury,” Schumer added.
The criticism also ties into broader economic anxieties. The Budget Lab at Yale estimates that Trump’s tariffs have led to a 1.8% rise in U.S. prices so far, equivalent to an average annual income loss of $2,400 per household.
A recent Rolling Stone survey concluded that about four in five Americans worry about affording groceries, and two-thirds about affording an unexpected medical expense.
Amid the budget cuts and tariffs, four in five Americans are concerned about affording groceries
Image credits: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Meanwhile, Trump has emphasized that the renovations “pay total respect to the existing building.”
The East Wing, originally added in 1902 during President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration, has undergone multiple changes over the years, including the addition of a bunker during World War II and major renovations in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Leavitt noted that further updates are planned, describing the project as “modernization.”
When asked how much of the current structure will be removed, she said only that “the necessary construction will take place.”
“President Trump is a builder at heart and has an extraordinary eye for detail,” said White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in a statement.
“The President and the Trump White House are fully committed to working with the appropriate organizations to preserving the special history of the White House while building a beautiful ballroom that can be enjoyed by future Administrations and generations of Americans to come.”
According to Leavitt, this addition is necessary, reiterating Trump’s comments about hosting events in tents and calling them “unsightly.”
Image credits: The White House
“For 150 years, presidents, administrations and White House staff have longed for a large event space on the White House complex that can hold substantially more guests than currently allowed,” she said. “President Trump has expressed his commitment to solving this problem on behalf of future administrations and the American people.”
Trump’s long-standing desire for a ballroom dates back at least to 2010 when, by his own account, he offered then-President Barack Obama to build one, but the idea was rejected.
“It was going to cost about $100 million,” Trump said during his first term. “I offered to do it, and I never heard back.”
The project will also involve Clark Construction and AECOM for engineering services.
Jim McCrery, CEO of McCrery Architects, said in a statement: “I am honored that President Trump has entrusted me to help bring this beautiful and necessary renovation to The People’s House, while preserving the elegance of its classical design and historical importance.”
The White House said updates on the project will be posted online as construction progresses.