Donald Trump’s $400 million ballroom addition will be as tall as the original White House, the architect leading the project revealed Thursday while presenting plans to the National Capital Planning Commission.
“The heights will match exactly,” architect Shalom Baranes said of the 1,000-person ballroom, which will feature ceilings about 40 feet high.
Renovations to the White House have typically been shorter than the central main building, and commission member and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson asked Baranes if the height could be lowered, saying he was “concerned” the addition would overwhelm the historic building.
Baranes said such a change was “possible.”
Thursday’s meeting was the first time the public got an in-depth look at the president’s plans for the privately funded ballroom.
The proposed ballroom would be roughly 22,000 square feet, part of a larger East Wing complex featuring offices for the First Lady, a reconstructed White House movie theater, a commercial kitchen, streamlined entrances, and a two-story colonnade leading back to the White House.
The design would help relieve “ongoing operational stress” on the White House grounds, Baranes said.
There are also talks to, at some point, add “a modest, one-story addition to the West Wing colonnade, which would serve to restore a sense of symmetry” to the overall White House design, the architect said.
The commission will vote on the project on March 5
The president’s ballroom project has been marked with controversy and shifting facts.
In addition to a now $400 million estimated price tag that doubled earlier projections, the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued late last year, alleging the Trump administration broke ground on the project before submitting plans to the planning commission or Congress, which it argues needs to sign off on construction on federal park land in the capital.
The trust has accused the administration of having “broken the rules first and asked for permission later.”
In December, a judge declined to immediately pause construction on the project.
The Trump administration has begun meeting with staff from the planning commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, outreach it says satisfies planning requirements.
The fine arts body will meet on January 15, ahead of a February 19 vote on the ballroom project.
Democrats have accused the ballroom project of facilitating possible influence-peddling in the administration.
Large corporations with government contracts or business concerns before the federal government are among its major donors, including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
The Trump administration has also failed to disclose information on whether it removed or released the carcinogenic compound asbestos during its sudden demolition of the East Wing in October to make way for the ballroom complex.
Administration officials are gunning for a fast-track approval of the project so they can begin construction in April.
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