Trump’s White House ballroom is too big, architect says, as 2nd panel prepares to vote on it
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump An architect and board member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation said Wednesday that the White House ballroom project is too large and needs to be scaled back; It’s one of a series of changes he’s proposing for a project he says could permanently alter the nation’s best-known historic home.
American Institute of Architects Fellow David Scott Parker, whose firm specializes in residential design and historic preservation, shared his views with The Associated Press, a major federal agency. National Capital Planning CommissionIt is set to meet Thursday to vote on whether to approve the 90,000-square-foot (8,361-square-meter) project. A separate federal panel US Commission on Fine Arts approved the project At the February meeting.
“Everything feels over-the-top here,” said Parker, who has been an architect for more than 35 years. “The net effect of this will be to negatively impact the most important historic – the most identifiable historic – home in the entire United States. What it will do to the White House is permanent.”
Trump announced last summer that he would add a ballroom to the White House, citing the need for space other than a tent on the lawn to entertain important guests. Demolished the East Wing With little warning in October, underground construction to prepare the site has continued since then. White House officials have said above-ground construction will not begin until April at the earliest.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private, nonprofit group asked a federal judge A temporary halt to construction until the White House submits construction plans to both federal panels and Congress for approval and allows the public to comment. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon rejected the request Last week, the Foundation said it planned to file an amended lawsuit.
Parker’s architectural analysis was based on images and other information the White House submitted to the fine arts commission last month.
The ballroom takes up about 22,000 square feet (2,043 square meters) of total space, which Parker said is much larger than needed for the 1,000 guests Trump said he would host. The industry standard for a ballroom is 15 square feet (1.4 square meters) per person, Parker said. By that measure, he said, Trump’s ballroom could be 47 percent smaller, or no larger than 15,000 square feet (1,394 square meters).
The proposal includes a 4,000-square-foot (372-square-meter), south-facing porch and staircase. Parker said they are unnecessary because they do not give guests direct access to the interior of the building. He said the patio does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The White House said Wednesday that the ballroom would comply with federal law requiring accommodations for people with disabilities but did not comment further on Parker’s criticism.
The proposed portico is significantly larger than the portico on the south side of the White House and the south side of the nearby Treasury Department building.
Concerns about the size of the project dogged it from the beginning. Almost twice the size of the main White House at 55,000 square feet (5,110 square meters), critics argued that the addition would overwhelm the mansion and disrupt the symmetry of the complex.
Parker said his other main concern was that the addition would be so protruding that it would obstruct the line of sight between the White House and the Capitol along Pennsylvania Avenue, as it was specifically designed by Pierre L’Enfant, who was commissioned by George Washington to plan the U.S. capital hundreds of years ago.
“It’s hard to understand how one addition could have so many negative impacts symbolically, architecturally and historically,” Parker said. “This literally violates the intentions of the Founding Fathers.”
Parker is among more than 100 people registered to speak at the commission meeting scheduled to be held online Thursday, according to the agency’s website. Thousands of people commented in advance, and many spoke out against Trump’s project.
