US Commission Of Fine Arts Greenlights Trump White House Additions Despite Critics ‘Overwhelmingly In Opposition’

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts voted Thursday to approve final designs for the White House East Wing modernization project, as the Trump administration aims to begin above-ground construction in April.

A final vote was not expected until the next Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) meeting in March, but Trump-appointed CFA Chairman Rodney Mims Cook Jr. introduced a motion to expedite the federal design review committee’s approval process.

“Our sitting president has actually designed a very beautiful structure,” Cook commented before calling for a vote. “The United States simply shouldn’t be entertaining the world in tents. It’s truly outrageous that we’re doing this, and no president has really spoken up to demand that this be corrected, until President Trump.”

The unanimous vote passed despite more than 2,000 public comments from all demographics, “mostly in opposition.”

“In two decades of working here, I have never seen so much public engagement on this topic. We have literally received, over the last week, over 2,000 diverse messages,” said CFA Secretary Thomas Luebke. “The vast, vast majority are negative, in general. »

“Some comments indicated that they were concerned about ‘illegal’ demolition without permits or oversight, inappropriate scale that would overshadow the White House, violation of historic preservation principles, lack of transparency in funding and contracts, and fundamental error of democratic principles,” he summarized before reading a selection of messages “bracketing” the range of input formally received by the CFA before the meeting.

“The ballroom seems to scream power,” noted one public comment.

However, since the project was presented to them, the Trump-appointed CFA commissioners have never expressed opposition to the president’s vision, but have suggested some design improvements to help maintain the overall architectural character of the White House campus.

“It’s sort of the greatest country in the world, the biggest house in the world and we want it to be sort of the biggest ballroom in the world,” said Commissioner Chamberlain Harris, 26, Trump’s deputy director of Oval Office operations.

Project architect Shalom Baranes, whose portfolio of work includes the post-9/11 Pentagon renovation, led the online presentation at CFA detailing the latest revisions to the State Ballroom and associated landscaping plans. The updated designs sought to address the Commission’s previous comments “that any addition to the [White House] The complex must be beautiful” and support “a stylistic treatment of the addition to be consistent with the Federal-era Neoclassical style of the residence.”

Rendering by Shalom Baranes Associates, looking northeast from the White House Ballroom [Screenshot/Public/CFA.gov]

“We usually try to streamline things and make them simpler in terms of reading and I think we achieved that here,” Baranes said during his presentation.

Shalom Baranes Associates rendering, White House East Wing Modernization Floor Plans: Levels 1 and 2 [Screenshot/Public/CFA.gov]

The submitted design reflected many changes from the initial concepts in January while maintaining a similar two-story footprint of approximately 89,000 square feet, including the 22,000-square-foot ballroom that rises 40 feet high. While the east and south porticos were each to be crowned with a triangular pediment, only the east one remains, projecting four feet above the roof of the White House.

Shalom Baranes Associates renderings, south elevations of the White House Ballroom (top: January 2026 submission; bottom: February 2026 submission) [Screenshots/Public/CFA.gov]

Plans show nine arched windows along the west level of the ballroom, up from eight. A redesign of the first floor windows features doors leading to a larger east wing garden that replaces the demolished Jacqueline Kennedy Garden. The new design adopts and relocates the Mount Vernon trees and paving stones from the old garden, as well as its fountain.

The new East Colonnade opens onto the garden via a large staircase. Paved paths, adjacent to a circular brick section, connect the garden to the first floor of the new east wing.

The main circular pathway of the South Lawn will lose its symmetry to accommodate the size of the new east wing.

Rendering of Shalom Baranes Associates, White House Ballroom expanded to east and west elevations [Screenshot/Public/CFA.gov]

Rendering by Shalom Baranes Associates, illustrative site plan of the White House [Screenshot/Public/CFA.gov]

Shalom Baranes Associates renderings, aerial photo of the White House site (left: January 2026 submission; right: February 2026 submission) [Screenshots/Public/CFA.gov]

Established in 1910, the CFA is an independent federal agency charged with “providing expert advice to the President, Congress, and the federal and District of Columbia governments on matters of design and aesthetics as they affect the federal interest and preserve the dignity of the nation’s capital.” Its seven members – supported by 12 professionals – are traditionally selected in part on the basis of their expertise in the field of the arts for a four-year term without remuneration. In June 2019, the CFA completed a review of a new White House tennis pavilion project spearheaded by first lady Melania Trump.

In 1947, the CFA notably took a stand against the now-iconic second-floor balcony proposed for the south side of the White House by then-President Harry Truman, citing concerns that the balcony would conflict with the classical Greek character of the executive residence. The CFA simply advised the president to “abandon the project”. In June 1950, Truman replaced four commissioners who remained on the post after their first terms after reports emerged of opposition from members once the plan moved forward, which the president considered a “covert attack,” the New York Times reported.

Former President Joe Biden’s administration removed four of Trump’s appointees, citing the expectation of “diversity of backgrounds and experiences.”

Trump, in turn, fired the six CFA commissioners appointed by Biden in October 2025, the Washington Post reported.

“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as a member of the Commission of Fine Arts is ending, effective immediately,” a letter sent to the commissioners at the time reportedly read.

Trump left the body empty until Judge Richard Leon, appointed by George W. Bush, on December 17 ordered the White House to begin “consultation processes” by the end of December. The order followed a Dec. 12 lawsuit at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, alleging that the Trump administration circumvented federal preservation law and excluded necessary scrutiny by those agencies. Trump then began naming appointees to the agency for his second term in January 2026.

Notably, Trump’s appointees include two architects who each completed a term at the CFA after being selected in November 2019: the original designer of the White House ballroom, James McCreary II, and Cook, president and founder of the National Monuments Foundation. (RELATED: ‘History Will Be Made’: Trump Unveiled Ballroom Plans Reveal Bigger, Grander Addition to White House)

Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren also penned a letter to the National Park Service on Wednesday to investigate “corruption” issues related to how the agency handled donations for the $400 million privately funded project.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation (@SavingPlaces) is run by a group of loser Democrats and liberal donors who play political games. https://t.co/IoX0wupbnb pic.twitter.com/VfZG0nSFfd

– Steven Cheung (@StevenCheung47) October 22, 2025

Attorney General Pam Bondi previously pledged to continue defending the project against “countless bad faith legal attacks from the left.”

Today @TheJusticeDept Lawyers have foiled an attempt to stop President Trump’s completely legal East Wing and State Ballroom modernization project.

President Trump faced countless bad faith legal attacks from the left – this was no different.

We will continue to defend the…

– Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) December 16, 2025

The East Wing Modernization Project design will be subject to a separate final vote by the National Capital Planning Commission on March 5, after initially being presented for review on January 8.

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