President Donald Trump held numerous meetings at the White House this summer: a compelling trade deal for foreign delegations, cabinet members orchestrated government overhauls and industry executives seeking tariffs.
However, among various audiences, he also has time to discuss different purposes.
In recent weeks, Trump has gathered officials of various responsibilities on White House campuses, including from the National Park Service, the White House Military Office and the Secret Service, to talk about his idea of turning buildings and their reasons into his preferences.
His specifications have been strict, including very similar finishes to his gold finish private club, or shipped directly from Mar-A-Lago in some cases.
His ambitions go far beyond temporary cosmetic make-ups.
“It's going to be a great legacy project,” he said in his plan Thursday. “And I think it's going to be special.”
Recently, no president has branded his body to the execution mansion or its land parcel, as Trump has done this year. His desire for the White House has changed dramatically just six months after re-entering the office and is now on a high-end stage.
Now two large flagpoles towering on the north and south lawns, their huge stars and straps can even be seen at Ronald Reagan’s Washington National Airport five miles away. Trump personally decided on the Poles' galvanized steel, conical design and internal ropes, and oversaw the installation in June.
The rose garden was stripped of grass and paved with stones, trying to copy the terrace in Mar-a-Lago, where Trump dined for Al Fresco on a weekend away from Washington. The president often checked this summer, with workers in orange shirts tearing off the grass and strengthening the ground below, once invited them into the Oval Office for photos. The presidential seal has been embedded in the stone, and the drainage stove is in the style of the American flag.
The Oval Office itself is decorated with golden embellished eyelashes, and Trump ordered work on his Palm Beach estate from a Florida artisan, people familiar with the matter said. The tiny golden angel looking down from above the door comes directly from Mar-a-lago.
Soon, the new banquet hall will begin construction, and its footprint will become the first major extension of the White House in decades. Trump said he will pay the $200 million bill along with other private donors. (He also said he paid for the flagpole and funded the rose garden renovation through a private donation without revealing any price tags.)
“President Trump is an inner builder with a very particular focus on details,” White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said in a statement this week. “The president and the Trump White House are completely committed to working with the appropriate organizations to protect the special history of the White House.”
The renderings provided by the White House depict a spacious space with gold and crystal chandeliers, gilded Corinthian cylinders, a ceiling with gold inlays, gold floor lamps and checkered marble floor. Three walls of arched windows overlook the south of the White House.
The golden and white styles closely mimic the main event room in Mar-a-Lago's Louis XIV style. Trump has not shy away from comparing with his club.
“No president knows how to build a banquet hall,” Trump said last weekend, meeting with the President of the European Commission at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. “I can take this and put it there and it will be beautiful.”
He and his aides said Trump's impulses were motivated by multiple factors.
One is the instinct of a builder, who has been farming in real estate for decades and has never been extinguished when he entered politics a decade ago.
“I love architecture,” Trump told reporters while watching the new flagpole in June. “I know better than anyone else.”
Another is Trump’s true belief that even if he expresses his respect for the building itself, all aspects of the White House can be improved.
“This won't interfere with the current building,” he said of the new ballroom this week, which will triple the amount of space in the indoor ballroom and eliminate the need for temporary tents to host state dinners. “It will get close to it, but don't touch it and totally respect my biggest fans. This is my favorite place.”
The alternative, he said, was an unpleasant solution, and he said it was inconsistent with the dignity of state affairs.
“It's a disaster when it rains,” he said. “People tend to tents – it's not a beautiful sight, those women in lovely evening gowns, all their hair is done, and when they get there, they're a mess.”
Trump said last week that a new banquet hall has long been the wish of his predecessors. But previous government officials said the concept never appeared.
“We never had the desire, nor had we ever heard or participated in the conversation about building a banquet hall on the White House lawn. We focused on issues that actually impact people and communities,” said Deesha Dyer. He served as social secretary to President Barack Obama’s administration, organizing major events such as state dinners.
The vision of a new White House ballroom has been in Trump's mind, dating back at least to 2010, when he called Obama's White House to propose building one. Officials at the time were not sure about the offer.
“I'm not sure if there's a shiny gold medal sign anywhere in the White House,” then secretary Josh Earnest said in 2015.
However, Trump is serious about this and seems to be rejected.
“It will cost about $100 million,” Trump said in his first semester. “I'm willing to do that, but I never heard it again.”
By his first term, Trump said he was shocked by his perceived enemy defense and was unable to complete the task.
“I have to focus,” he said earlier this year. “I'm a hunter. Now I'm a hunter. There's a big difference.”
Now, Trump said in his second term that he is not bound by opponents’ questioning his design ambitions. Moreover, he reshaped the executive mansion the most extensively in decades, mainly determined by his own taste.
Although his appearance changes to the Oval Office may be with him when he set out in 2029, the other changes he made may be more durable. Removing the flagpole may have the risk of unpatriotic. Demolition of rose garden pavers will be expensive. Once a nearly $25 billion 650-person banquet hall is built, it is unlikely to be demolished.
“People taste differently. I would say this about the change in the president: Some people hold on to durability and embrace. Some people disappear.”
He cites Theodore Roosevelt's addition of moose and elk heads to the state restaurant as details of unbearable time.
“President Trump's work in the Trump banquet hall may not survive the Trump presidency,” Naftali said. “As long as the structure is well-structured, future presidents can redesign the space as they see fit.”
In Trump’s own speech, these additions will help his legacy—similar to Truman Balcony, the 33rd president added to the second floor of the building, or the Lincoln bedroom, with the 16th president used as an office.
Almost every president left his mark on the building through personal fantasy or practical necessity and continued to restore its construction in 1792.
“The vision and priorities of White House residents are from Jefferson's colonists to Truman,” wrote in a recent post. “Every change, whether it's Jackson's North Porch, Arthur's rich reinstallation, or Clinton's security measures, sparked debate, reflecting the tension between preservation and modernization, aesthetics and functionality, and openness and security.”
McLaurin often said in a timely manner that the changes have been accepted by the public.
“Criticism in the media and Congress is often focused on cost, historical integrity and timing, but many of these changes have become an integral part of White House identity, and it’s hard for us to imagine today the White House without these evolutions and additions today,” he wrote.
For Trump, making the White House status an integral part of the plan. Even on the surface for other purposes, he raised questions about renovations.
“Who will gold be?” He asked cabinet members in early July, heading to the west wing's ceiling decoration. “Can you raise your hand?”
A member of his cabinet, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, provided several minutes during the start of this week's speech to commend the president's latest news.
“I've been in this building for 65 years and I have to say it never looks better,” said Kennedy, the nephew of President John Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline.
Like Trump, Jackie Kennedy is interested in improving the White House. She has extensive renovated the national floors, including purchasing antiques and paintings from wealthy philanthropists to improve the grandeur of the building. Many of her designs still exist today.
She also oversees the redesign of the Rose Garden with the help of heiress and famous gardener Rachel “The Rabbit” Mellon, transforming from a nearby Oval Office to a breath of grass and flowers.
Now, most of the grass has disappeared. Trump expressed concern about women's high heels sinking into the soil during the incident, opting for light square pavers to replace the lawn.
“It's always a different approach to entering that sacred space, but I have to say that the picture looks a bit monotonous,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “It looks the opposite of monotonous today.”