Ballroom blitz: Trump demolishes White House’s East Wing

The optics are not great. US President Donald Trump tears down the White House’s East Wing, home to the first lady’s office, to build a grand ballroom while a government shutdown prevents public servants from being paid. So, is the ballroom a much-needed addition, or is Trump defacing a historical building?

The project at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the most famous address in the United States, bothers some Americans because Trump promised he would preserve the East Wing. As it turns out, that’s not how it went.

But first, it is not like the White House has never been renovated. Built between 1792 and 1800, it was burned down by the British in 1814. Its restoration was completed in 1817. In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt added the West Wing and the East Terrace, precursor to the East Wing, which was built under Franklin D Roosevelt in 1942.

The White House itself was a structural disaster, in danger of actual collapse, so President Harry S Truman had the entire interior gutted and rebuilt between 1948 and 1952.

Over the years, the East Wing has served many roles, but it came into existence to cover the president’s underground bunker, used by Vice President Dick Cheney during the September 11 attacks of 2001.

Since the 1970s, the East Wing has hosted the office of the first lady, among them Betty Ford, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden.

If you are not a Trump fan, you might see his decision to demolish the East Wing as brash, since he acted without approval from the National Capital Planning Commission. If you are a fan, you might say hosting large events under a tent, as has been done, is not worthy of a great nation.

Regardless, at almost twice the size of the White House, the $300m ballroom is expected to dwarf the president’s residence, much like "an aircraft carrier beside a yacht", as one critic put it. Completion is slated for 2029, before Trump leaves office.

This project was always going to be political fodder for the Democrats, who said Trump's focus was on his ballroom rather than the ongoing government shutdown. The East Wing is now gone, the ballroom is going up, but judging by some negative opinion polls, some Americans are in no mood to party.