Trump says he plans to add White House ballroom, pave part of the Rose Garden
President Trump in a new interview said he is planning to add a ballroom to the White House and to pave part the Rose Garden, similar to a patio at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.
Trump detailed his plans for the changes to the White House spaces during an interview with The Spectator.
“So one of the things I’m going to do is build a beautiful, magnificent ballroom at the White House. Beautiful ballroom. There’s a picture of a ballroom that I have and that you show, but. And it keeps my real-estate juices flowing,” Trump said. “But they’ve always wanted a ballroom, you know, they only have the East Room, which is really very small.”
After an aide brought Trump an image of the Mar-a-Lago ballroom, Trump told The Spectator's Ben Domenech that the White House space would be “something like that inside.” And he suggested the lawn in the Rose Garden would be replaced with a “stone surface.”
“So you’ve been here many times. You see the grass outside. So we’re going to make that into a stone surface because you can’t have it. Yesterday we had a lot of press here,” Trump said.
“They can’t stand on it. So we’re doing a beautiful, it’s going to be beautiful. It’s going to look, I think it’s actually going to look better,” he continued. “But some people would like to leave it. But the problem is you can’t. We had the press here yesterday. Do you see the women there? They’re going crazy. The grass was wet. Their heels are going right through the grass, like four inches deep.”
The New York Times first reported earlier this month that Trump had told associates he wanted to replace the grass in the Rose Garden with a hard surface as part of a series of aesthetic changes. The Times reported Trump also wanted to hang a chandelier from the Oval Office ceiling.
Presidents have over the years made various changes and updates to the White House premises. First lady Melania Trump revamped the White House Rose Garden during the first Trump administration, causing some controversy at the time.
Obama White House officials confirmed in 2016 that Trump had offered to build a $100 million ballroom in the building, but said they did not seriously consider the proposal.