What was lost in Donald Trump’s destruction of the East Wing of the White House

Outside the White House on Thursday, in the carnival atmosphere just outside the north gates, a woman carrying a sign reading “Geneva” shouted over and over: “Demolition is illegal! Demolition is a federal crime.”

Inside, at the White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Donald Trump’s demolition of the East Wing as very legal, even if it meant, as one reporter suggested, that he could “demolish anything he wants.”

The sounds and sights of heavy construction equipment destroying one of America’s most historic places, however, put the White House on the defensive. In response to concern and outrage from preservation groups and Democrats toward some Republicans, Trump’s team has been quick to highlight renovations by previous presidents and argue that what will be put in its place will be something better, what Leavitt called a “big, beautiful ballroom that can host grand parties and state visits for generations to come.”

That may ultimately be the case, but what’s striking is the absence of any public input, congressional or commission review, while groups like the National Trust for Historic Preservation sound the alarm about what’s planned for the space.

The ballroom, costing $300 million, is expected to be 90,000 square feet, dwarfing the 55,000-square-foot executive mansion and threatening to “permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, lower east and west wings,” the National Trust warns.

Additionally, Trump’s demolition goes well beyond what he said over the summer that construction of the ballroom “would not interfere” with the existing building. Instead, not only is the East Wing gone, but the corridor leading to it, known as the East Colonnade, is gone as well.

The president also indicated that part of the East Room, in the main structure of the White House, would be removed to make way for a passage connecting that space to the new ballroom.

When asked why Trump had not clarified his intention to demolish the East Wing, Leavitt told reporters that “any construction project results in change… Trust the process.”

The East Wing is much less well known than the West Wing, for obvious reasons, but it is familiar to anyone who has taken a public tour of the White House, attended a holiday reception, or, in the case of Hollywood, shown a film there.

The East Wing, first built by Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 and expanded and renovated by Franklin D. Roosevelt about 40 years later, housed the offices of the first lady, a role that has expanded in recent decades as presidential consorts have assembled staffs and pursued social and cultural initiatives. Betty Ford championed the Equal Rights Amendment, Michelle Obama led Let’s Move, and Melania Trump promoted Be Best. It was also the site of other offices, such as that of the social secretary and the White House calligrapher, while below is a bunker, known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. Visitors also frequently encountered presidential pets, such as the Obamas’ dog, Bo, and the Bidens’ cat, Willow.

What stood out about a visit was the relative calm, a calm that contrasted with the other side of the complex, where journalists hover in the briefing room and the double doors of the West Wing. The windows of the east wing overlooked the Jacqueline Kennedy garden, not to be confused with the rose garden. Trump paved over the grassy area of ​​the Rose Garden to create a patio space next to the Oval Office, but it still exists. From the photos, the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden also appears to have been swept away during the demolition of the east wing.

The now-vanished hallway connected to the East Wing, a naturally lit glass passageway that included the White House Family Theater. The 42-seat projection room, originally a dressing room, is officially part of the First Family’s private residence, but its history from Eisenhower to Reagan was recorded by its longtime projectionist, Paul Fischer. (From here we know that Jimmy Carter has the distinction of being the only known president to have watched an X-rated movie in the White House, Midnight Cowboy).

While many screenings were private, with the MPA providing the most recent releases, the First Family invited in some of the filmmakers and stars, such as Warren Beatty, who screened Reds there for the Reagans, and Nora Ephron, who was so upset by the quality of the Julie and Julia visual experience that she went to the projection room to improve the focus. Barack Obama watched Monsters vs. Aliens there, the 3D glasses sent by DreamWorks.

As the Trump White House embarks on massive ballroom construction, something else could also be lost.

What existed in the White House was a relative lack of ostentation – formal, but showing occasional signs of wear and tear, proof that this was a People’s House, not a palace. Subtlety trumped gilt, because the president’s showcase didn’t need to show off to prove American greatness.

Renderings of the new ballroom show a giant space surrounded by arched windows and with gold accents and seating some 900 people.

On Wednesday, Trump said the new structure would be “one of the greatest ballrooms in the world.”

The East Wing, Trump said, “was never considered big, it was a very small building.”

It may have been a small space, but it held great historical significance in the eyes of historians, conservationists, and many people who worked there or simply visited its rooms.

David Hume Kennerly, White House photographer for President Gerald Ford, wrote on X Thursday: “First Lady Betty Ford said, ‘If the West Wing is the spirit of the nation, the East Wing is its heart.’ Mindless West just ripped the heart out of the nation.”