The White House Completely Demolished The East Wing For Trump's Gilded Ballroom
- 24.10.2025, 13:05
Photo report.
New photos released on October 23 in the United States showed the Donald Trump administration completely demolishing the east wing of the White House building to build a new ballroom as envisioned by the US president that will cost $300 million.
This was reported by ABC News, citing satellite images and other photographic evidence of construction and renovation work that continues at the White House.
The publication published Planet Labs footage from September 26, 2025 and October 23, 2025 that shows the extent of the destruction. These photos show that the east wing of the building "has been reduced to rubble."
The White House is a historic building and the residence of U.S. presidents in Washington, D.C. since the early 19th century. Construction of this neoclassical style mansion began in 1792 and was completed in November 1800. Then its first owner was the second president of the United States John Adams. The first use of the term White House dates back to 1811. The name did not become official until 1901 by order of Theodore Roosevelt.
Since 1909, the president's workplace has been in the Oval Office in the left wing of the White House building. The now-demolished east wing traditionally housed the office of the First Lady and her staff, including the White House social secretary, correspondence staff, etc.
Now, according to ABC News, "shocking" footage showing the almost completely demolished East Wing of the White House has provoked "a wave of negative reaction and questions in the U.S. - particularly about whether the demolition could have been stopped and who is funding the project."
In July 2025, Trump previously said that the design for his planned new White House ballroom would not disrupt the building's historic structure. However, when construction crews began demolition work this week, the US presidential administration said "the entire east wing will be modernized" for the sake of building a huge 8,360-square-meter ballroom that will seat about 650 people.
Mary Bruce, ABC News' White House correspondent, asked its speaker Caroline Leavitt why the public was not informed in advance of such drastic changes and the decision to demolish the east wing.
"With any construction project, there are changes. And we've been communicating [them] to all of you, we've been keeping you informed about this project. We've been showing you visualizations," Leavitt stated. She said the White House renovation plans "changed when the president listened to the advice of architects and construction companies who said that in order for this East Wing to be modern and beautiful for many years to come, in order for it to be a really strong and stable structure, this first phase that we're in now [demolition of the East Wing of the building] was necessary," the White House speaker added.
According to ABC News sources familiar with the project, the White House is requiring that at least some of the construction workers involved in the At the same time, an unnamed White House official told ABC News that such a requirement is "standard" practice for work in the building, given the operational security needs of the White House.
With regard to the cost of the new ballroom project and the extensive construction work at the White House, Levitt said, "all of this will be privately funded and paid for by the president himself and many generous patriots."
Donald Trump himself said on Oct. 23 that $350 million has been raised to build his coveted ballroom, while the estimate is about $300 million. Trump has repeatedly said that "it will be the most beautiful ballroom in the world."
As CNN writes, renderings released by the White House show that the pompous ballroom, to be built in a renovated East Loop, "will resemble the gilded rooms of his private clubs." There, "a vast space with gold and crystal chandeliers, gilded Corinthian columns, a coffered ceiling with gold inlays, gold floor lamps and a checkerboard marble floor" is planned. Three walls with arched windows will face the south side of the White House grounds. The room's planned capacity of 650 people is more than three times the capacity of the East Room, the largest event space in the White House, CNN recalls. "This project is in keeping with the president's 15-year ambition to build an event space on the White House grounds that will expand the building's entertainment capabilities," the network adds.
At a recent dinner with wealthy donors to the project, Trump promised that the new space would "match" the neoclassical architecture of the White House, and that the new portion would match the old "in color and shape of windows."
"Something new is building a super-modern building next to an old one. And I think that's a good thing, but I don't have the courage to do that with the White House," Trump said.
CNN reminds us that the new ballroom is just part of Trump's effort to remodel the White House buildings and grounds to his liking. He previously decorated the Oval Office in gold and installed huge flagpoles near the building.