The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts approved President Donald Trump’s proposal for a new White House ballroom on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. The commission, made up of Trump appointees, voted to advance the project after an initial design discussion and a later decision that members said was tied to the ballroom’s revised plans.
The commission’s approval came as the project faces additional scrutiny from another federal body: the National Capital Planning Commission, which has jurisdiction over construction and major renovations to government buildings in the region. The fine arts commission is one of two federal agencies that must approve Trump’s ballroom plan, with the National Capital Planning Commission also reviewing the proposal.
The ballroom would be built on the site of the former East Wing, which Trump demolished in October, drawing criticism from some lawmakers, historians and preservationists who said the demolition should not have happened before the federal agencies and Congress had completed their reviews and the public had a chance to comment. The plan also includes criticism from groups that have questioned how the project’s funding would work and whether the design process provided enough transparency.
Under the proposal presented to the commission, the ballroom would be 90,000 square feet and would be nearly twice the size of the White House’s 55,000-square-foot footprint, the Associated Press report said. Trump has also said the ballroom would accommodate about 1,000 people, and the report noted that the White House’s East Room can fit just over 200 people at most.
The Associated Press report said the commission met over Zoom and heard from architect Shalom Baranes and landscape architect Rick Parisi, who described images and sketches showing what the ballroom and surrounding grounds would look like after completion. It also described how commission chair Rodney Mims Cook Jr. made an unexpected motion during the meeting to vote on final approval, after members had been scheduled to discuss the design concept first and vote later.
According to the report, five of the seven commissioners—each appointed by Trump in January—voted once more in favor of the project after Cook’s motion. The commission’s secretary said Commissioner James McCrery did not participate in the discussion or votes because he was the initial architect on the project before Trump replaced him, while Commissioner Roger Kimball left the meeting early because of another commitment.
Commissioners offered mostly favorable remarks before and around the votes. Cook, in particular, echoed Trump’s argument for adding a larger entertaining space at the White House, saying it would end the long-standing practice of erecting temporary structures on the South Lawn for visiting dignitaries that Trump describes as tents for state dinners and other functions. “Our sitting president has actually designed a very beautiful structure and, as was said, in the comments earlier, the United States just should not be entertaining the world in tents,” Cook said, according to the report.
The commission received mainly negative public input, the Associated Press report said. The commission asked the public to submit written comments by a Wednesday afternoon deadline, and the commission’s secretary, Thomas Luebke, said “over 99%” of the more than 2,000 messages it received in the previous week were in opposition to the project. Luebke said some comments raised concerns about Trump’s decision to tear down the East Wing unilaterally, as well as a lack of transparency about who would pay for the ballroom and how contracts were awarded.
The Associated Press report also said Trump has defended the ballroom in social media posts that included drawings of the building, including a January post in which he said most of the needed material had been ordered and that “there is no practical or reasonable way to go back” because “IT IS TOO LATE!” The report added that Trump has said the ballroom would cost about $400 million and be paid for with private donations, while the White House had only released an incomplete list of donors as of the reporting.
Beyond the administrative review, litigation remains ongoing. The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued in federal court to halt construction, and the Associated Press report said a ruling in the case is pending. Carol Quillen, president and CEO of the privately funded nonprofit organization, said her group was “puzzled” by both votes because final plans had not been presented or reviewed, and she said the commission had “bypassed its obligation to provide serious design review and consider the views of the American people,” including negative public comments.
The report said Quillen acknowledged that a larger meeting space at the White House could be useful, but she expressed concern that the size, location and massing of the proposal would overwhelm the White House’s classical design. She said her organization remained “deeply concerned” that the proposal would disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House, which she described as a symbol of the democratic republic.
The Associated Press report said some commission members previously questioned Baranes about the “immense” design and scale even as they broadly endorsed Trump’s vision. On Thursday, the report said Cook and other commissioners complimented Baranes for updating the design to remove a large pediment—a triangular structure above the south portico—that they had objected to earlier because of its size. Mary Anne Carter, who also leads the National Endowment for the Arts, said, “I think taking the pediment off the south side was a really good move,” adding that it “really helps to restore some balance and make it look, just more aligned,” according to the report. Baranes said it was the biggest design change and that Trump had “agreed to do that,” the report said.
The ballroom project is expected to return for additional review at a March 5 meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission, which the Associated Press report said is led by a top White House aide. At an earlier National Capital Planning Commission meeting in January, the White House defended tearing down the East Wing, citing structural issues, past decay and other concerns, with Josh Fisher, director of the White House Office of Administration, saying preservation was not an option due to issues including an unstable colonnade, water leakage and mold contamination, according to the report.