Memo says White House was ‘excellently preserved’ during East Wing demolition for Trump’s ballroom

By JONATHAN J. COOPER

The White House mansion’s eastern facade appears to have been “excellently preserved” when demolition crews tore down the East Wing to make way for President Donald Trump’s planned ballroom, an administration official said in a memo made public Friday.

Contractors took pains to protect the White House residence during demolition, keeping heavy equipment at a safe distance and removing some pieces by hand, Joshua Fisher, director of the White House Office of Administration, wrote to the commission charged with approving plans for Trump’s ballroom. Some sections of the building were stabilized ahead of time, and vibration and crack movement were monitored, he wrote.

The National Capital Planning Commission, which is led by a top Trump aide, had requested more details about the demolition that began with little advance notice last fall. The agency has jurisdiction over construction and major renovations to government buildings in the region.

The East Wing demolition prompted a public outcry when it began without the independent reviews, congressional approval and public comment that are typical for even relatively minor modifications to historic buildings in Washington. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has sued to halt construction of the ballroom.

The memo documents the history of the East Wing dating back to Thomas Jefferson’s presidency and lays out the White House’s justification for tearing it down, saying it was not feasible to preserve it while meeting Trump’s goals for the project. The completed ballroom will include an improved visitors center for security screening and will lessen the need for road closures during major events, Fisher wrote.

Curators documented and preserved artwork, furniture and other items of historical significance, including “the East Wing cornerstone and plaque, movie theater furniture, the East Colonnade columns, the Porte-cochere columns, interior wood paneling, chandeliers, historic windows and doors, and other hardware and fixtures,” he wrote.

“Our goal is to ensure that some of these items will be integrated into the new structure,” Fisher added.

Engineers are studying whether the West Colonnade, which connects the White House residence to the West Wing offices, can support a second story that would make it more visually symmetrical with plans for a larger East Colonnade connecting to the ballroom, the memo said. No decisions have been made.

The White House also submitted the most detailed renderings of the ballroom published to date. It shows a massive new building that dwarfs the size of the demolished East Wing and matches the height of the historic White House mansion.

The project is scheduled for discussion during a March 5 meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission.