President Donald Trump’s Planned New Ballroom

By: Miriam Edelman

The White House is set to have a new approximately $300 million, 90,000-square foot ballroom within the next few years. Recently, the East Wing of the White House was demolished to make way for the ballroom. DCNOW’s blog post, entitled “The East Wing of the White House No Longer Exists,” discuss this major change to the White House.

Trump’s Desire for a Ballroom in the White House

Trump has wanted a ballroom in the White House for at least 15 years. He feels that the White House needs a large venue for entertaining and that the East Room, which is the largest space in the White House with a capacity of approximately 200 people, is too small. He does not like hosting large events in tents on the South Lawn. Tents frequently cost at least $1 million.

During a phone call in 2010, Trump suggested to David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s top advisor, that a ballroom be built on the White House grounds. Trump said, “You know, you have these state dinners and you have them in these little tents” and “You know, I build ballrooms. I build the greatest ballrooms and you can come down to Florida to see them.”

At a campaign event in Ohio in 2016, Trump said:

“I offered to build a ballroom.”

“They turned it down. I was going to put up $100 million to build a ballroom at the White House, because having a tent is not that good.”

At a signing event of an Executive Order on “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” on February 5, 2025, Trump said:

“And, you know, I offered to build a ballroom. I'm very good at building ballrooms. [Laughter] I build beautiful ballrooms, and I actually offered to build a ballroom for the White House. I was going to build it right there. This was going to be the reception room. And then I was going to build a beautiful, beautiful ballroom like I have at Mar-a-Lago, as beautiful as it can be. It was going to cost about $100 million. I offered to do it, and I never heard back. [Laughter] I offered this—I offered to do it to the Biden administration—very active administration—[laughter]—and they didn't—I didn't hear back. And I said again and again. Three or four times, I said to top people, and they just didn't know what to do. [Laughter] They sort of said, "This is good, but we"—they had no idea. So I'm going to try and make the offer to myself, you know? [Laughter] Because we could use a bigger room. Right, Marsha? We could use a bigger room. "President, would you like to build?" Yes, I would. We could use at the White House. It's—it would actually be a beautiful addition. It's going to cost nothing. I'll spend the whole thing myself, but we'll do a big, beautiful room. But we could use it at the White House. You know what they do when they have a big ceremony? They put up a tent. And somehow, I think we've outgrown the tent stuff, right? Don't you think?”

New Ballroom

On July 31, 2025, months into Trump’s second term, the Trump Administration announced plans to build a new ballroom on the grounds of the White House. Trump said to reporters that the ballroom “won't interfere with the current building [White House].”

On the same day, the Trump Administration issued a statement, entitled “The White House Announces White House Ballroom Construction to Begin.” The statement began:

“Washington, D.C. — 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. President Donald J. Trump has expressed his commitment to solving this problem on behalf of future Administrations and the American people.”

“The White House is one of the most beautiful and historic buildings in the world, yet the White House is currently unable to host major functions honoring world leaders and other countries without having to install a large and unsightly tent approximately 100 yards away from the main building entrance. The White House State Ballroom will be a much-needed and exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of ornately designed and carefully crafted space, with a seated capacity of 650 people — a significant increase from the 200-person seated capacity in the East Room of the White House.”

According to the statement, “President Trump, and other patriot donors, have generously committed to donating the funds necessary to build this approximately $200 million dollar structure.” The statement said about the East Wing:

“The White House Ballroom will be substantially separated from the main building of the White House, but at the same time, it’s [sic] theme and architectural heritage will be almost identical. The site of the new ballroom will be where the small, heavily changed, and reconstructed East Wing currently sits. The East Wing was constructed in 1902 and has been renovated and changed many times, with a second story added in 1942.”

According to PBS, the ballroom is “the first major change to the exterior of the White House in 83 years.” NPR reported that during recent decades, Presidents made relatively small changes to White House grounds. PBS also reported that the ballroom is supposed to be finished before Trump’s term ends.

The ballroom would completely change the White House by dwarfing the White House residence, which is 55,000 square feet. Catesby Leighy, a co-founder of the National Civic Art Society (NCAS), said, “[m]y concern is that the ballroom wing might overwhelm the historic mansion in scale.” James McCrery II, the architect of the ballroom, also founded the NCAS. Author Kate Andersen Brower remarked, “I don't think that it [an expansion of the White House’s entertaining space] has to be of this size and scope, two football fields big and larger than the White House itself." A glass bridge will connect the ballroom and the White House.

The ballroom, offices for the First Lady and her employees, “and new ‘guest suites’ for the ‘President’s White House Guests’” will replace the East Wing. It is unclear if the offices and the guest suites are part of the 90,000 square foot estimate. A neoclassical entrance will replace the east façade.

Trump claims to support classical architecture. In 2020, Trump signed an Executive Order on “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture.” While campaigning in 2023, Trump promised to “get rid of ugly buildings … and return to the magnificent classical style of Western civilization.” On August 28, 2025, Trump “signed an Executive Order,” about “MAKING FEDERAL ARCHITECTURE BEAUTIFUL AGAIN.” The Order mandated “that Federal public buildings, such as courthouses and government office buildings, embrace classical architecture to honor tradition, foster civic pride, and inspire the citizenry.” The Order defined “Classical architecture” as:

“the architectural tradition derived from the forms, principles, and vocabulary of the architecture of Greek and Roman antiquity, and as later developed and expanded upon by such Renaissance architects as Alberti, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, and Palladio; such Enlightenment masters as Robert Adam, John Soane, and Christopher Wren; such 19th-century architects as Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Robert Mills, and Thomas U. Walter; and such 20th-century practitioners as Julian Abele, Daniel Burnham, Rafael Carmoega, Charles F. McKim, John Russell Pope, Julia Morgan, and the firm of Delano and Aldrich.  Classical architecture encompasses such styles as Neoclassical, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Beaux-Arts, and Art Deco.”

It is unclear what the name of the ballroom will be. ABC News reported that senior Trump Administration employees said that some Trump Administration staffers already referred to the ballroom as “The President Donald J. Trump Ballroom” and that that name will remain. In addition, the ballroom is referenced with that name on a list of donors that the White House gave to ABC. Trump denied the name, saying:

“I don't have any plan to call it after myself.”

“That was fake news. Probably going to call it the presidential ballroom or something like that. We haven't really thought about a name yet.”

When asked if he has a name, he replied, “I won't get into that now.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the President will announce the name.

The possibility that the ballroom could be named after Trump is not far-fetched. As ABC News reported, Trump “is known for branding his construction projects after himself.” Just think of Trump Tower, Trump’s famed Trump Tower residence in New York City.

The ballroom has gotten more expensive and has a larger capacity than originally described. Its price increased from $200 million to $300 million. In addition, the ballroom’s capacity grew from 650 individuals to 999 people.

When the Trump Administration laid out plans for the ballroom in July 2025, it said that taxpayer money would not fund the ballroom. Trump said that he will pay for major parts of the construction of the ballroom. On October 20^th, Trump wrote on Truth Social:

“I am pleased to announce that ground has been broken on the White House grounds to build the new, big, beautiful White House Ballroom. Completely separate from the White House itself, the East Wing is being fully modernized as part of this process, and will be more beautiful than ever when it is complete! For more than 150 years, every President has dreamt about having a Ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, State Visits, etc. I am honored to be the first President to finally get this much-needed project underway — with zero cost to the American Taxpayer! The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly. This Ballroom will be happily used for Generations to come! President DJT”

ABC News asked how much money Trump intends to donate to the ballroom Trump said:

“Oh, millions of dollars. Yeah. Well, I also give, you know, I give a lot of money to the White House. The White House is, as you know, I give my salary, and I usually like to steer it to the White House because this house was a little bit abandoned.”

A White House employee said that $350 million has been raised for the ballroom. Yet, the ballroom is set to cost $300 million. Trump said that the extra $50 million might help finance the arch that Trump wants to build near the nation’s capital. The arch, which is coined “Arc de Trump,” is similar to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. Trump wants to build the D.C.-area arch to commemorate the upcoming 250^th birthday of the U.S. The arch may cost $100 million.

In October 2025, the White House released a list of donors of the ballroom. Apple, Google, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and other major U.S. companies are among the donors. It is unclear how much donors gave or will give to the ballroom. Pledge forms suggested that donors could be recognized for their contributions. BBC speculated that “recognition could potentially take the form of names etched into the structure.”

The Trust for the National Mall will handle the donations. The organization collaborates with the National Park Service and raises money for projects on the Mall and at the White House.

Although the Trump Administration said it would be transparent about financing the ballroom, it had not disclosed every donor. According to The New York Times, donors were allowed to remain anonymous. It said that it found some donors who were not on the White House list of donors. As it reported:

“Among them were the health care companies Vantive and Extremity Care, which are seeking to shape Medicare reimbursement rates for their products, and the Wall Street powerhouse BlackRock, whose bid to acquire a stake in Panama Canal ports has been supported by Mr. Trump amid opposition from China. An individual donor who was not disclosed by the White House is Jeff Yass, a major investor in TikTok’s parent company who could benefit from a Trump-backed deal to keep the social media app running in the United States.”

In addition, according to court documents, YouTube will pay $22 million dollars to the ballroom. This money is part of a settlement of a lawsuit about YouTube’s suspension of Trump’s account after January 6, 2021, riots. YouTube is far from the only platform that “banned or restricted” Trump in 2021. Some of the other ballroom donors had also done so.

Final Thoughts

The ballroom is the latest change in the long history of the White House. Will plans for the ballroom continue to change? If so, how?