The White House State Ballroom is part of a new East Wing under construction at the White House, the official residence of the president of the United States. The new East Wing will replace the original East Wing, which was built in 1902 and torn down in October 2025 in preparation for the new wing's construction. The site, in Washington, D.C., has been under construction since September 2025.
Announced in July 2025 and planned to open in September 2028, the stated purpose of the White House State Ballroom is to add a venue with a higher seating capacity than the East Room for formal events such as state dinners, and to add a secure event space for future presidents. The new East Wing is being built atop an under-construction six-story bunker that will replace the Presidential Emergency Operations Center that was demolished with the original East Wing.
The project has been criticized for its funding, design, permitting process and destruction of historic architectural and landscape features. The National Capital Planning Commission approved the final project design in April 2026. The project's above-ground construction has faced legal challenges. As of August 31, the Supreme Court has allowed construction to continue.
Background
Traditionally, formal events at the White House are held in the East Room of the Executive Residence, which has a seating capacity of 200 people, or in specially constructed tents on the White House grounds for state dinners. President Joe Biden held four of his six state dinners outdoors using tents. President Donald Trump described the tents used for events as "not a pretty sight". The tents, described by a former White House chef as "embarrassing" and as resulting in guests being "elbow to elbow", often cost $1 million or more for each event. During President Barack Obama's first term in office, at least as early as 2010, then-private citizen Trump spoke to senior advisor David Axelrod and expressed a desire to build a ballroom on White House grounds.
The first White House East Wing was designed by Charles Follen McKim and built in 1902 during the Theodore Roosevelt renovations as an entrance for formal and public visitors, on the site of the former East Terrace that was added during Thomas Jefferson's presidency and demolished in 1866. An expansion, including a second story, was instituted in 1942, during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, primarily to cover the construction of an underground bunker, the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC).
The White House has undergone a number of other renovations and restorations in the roughly 230 years of its existence. A major above-ground structural change was the Truman Balcony in 1948. This was followed by the White House Reconstruction from 1949 to 1952 while President Harry S. Truman was in office. To save the then 150-year-old building from collapse, the entire interior structure of the Executive Residence was numbered and dismantled. Splitting beams and burned timbers damaged by the British in the War of 1812 were removed. The foundation of the outer walls was stabilized and reinforced. A basement and sub basement were dug, and then all four floors were reconstructed on a new steel frame inside the original sandstone walls. Since then, the White House Curator has overseen much smaller projects and redecorations in the actual Executive Residence. New features like swimming pools, tennis courts and bowling alleys were added by various presidents after Truman's renovation. A nuclear-proof bunker was built under the White House during the Obama administration, designed for dozens of people to survive for several weeks.
Planning
Architect James McCrery II, founder and principal of McCrery Architects, was hired on July 13, 2025, by Trump. Plans for the ballroom, to be built alongside a "modernized" East Wing, were announced by the White House on July 31, 2025. Even though the existing building was later demolished, Trump said the ballroom being constructed "won't interfere with the current building", would not be "touching it", and would pay "total respect to the existing building, which I'm the biggest fan of".
In July 2025, Trump appointed three loyalists to the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) including his former personal lawyer Will Scharf as chair. The Washington Post reported in August that the project had not yet been submitted for review to the NCPC as required by federal law, and that such approvals often took years. The administration claimed that a 1964 executive order allowed the president to bypass the commission, but after a Post reporter pointed out the legal requirement, the White House said the commission "will be a part of that process at the appropriate time".
A consortium led by Clark Construction was awarded the US$200M contract in August 2025. In September, with plans for the ballroom still not submitted, commission chair Will Scharf clarified during a public meeting of the NCPC that the approval process is only required for construction, not demolition or site preparation work. Initially expected to seat 650, in September Trump said this had been revised upward to 900, and in October he said it would be able to hold 999 people.
In October 2025, Trump fired all six members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts which would have advised on the project, and a White House official told USA Today they would be replaced with new members "more aligned with President Trump's America First Policies". The National Park Service completed an environmental assessment in late August that found "no significant impact" but noted that it would likely create "a visual imbalance" with the rest of the White House. The document was not made available to the public until it was revealed in court documents in December. Following its reveal, health experts interviewed by E&E News reported that the plan did not make any mention of asbestos remediation work during the demolition, and former NPS director Jon Jarvis stated there should have been a more in-depth environmental impact statement that would have required a public review period under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Also in October 2025, McCrery resigned after warning that Trump's preferred design would not meet fire and safety codes. Trump had replied: "I am the code." McCrery had also reportedly clashed with Trump over the increasing size of the ballroom and had missed deadlines because his workforce was too small. The White House announced his departure in December without giving a reason for it, saying that Trump had selected Shalom Baranes to pick up the design and that McCrery would move to a consulting role.
Fox News host Jesse Watters said that when asked about his motivations for undertaking the project, Trump explained, "It's a monument. I'm building a monument to myself – because no one else will." Similarly, when reporter Ben Terris asked Trump if he were building a monument to himself, Trump agreed: "That's true. Nobody will do it once I'm gone." Trump also compared the project to China's Great Hall of the People, saying "When I was in China, they have a building — it’s called the Great Hall of China. It’s a serious hall. This is a very large hall, but we’re going to top it, you know?".
The Presidential Emergency Operations Center located beneath the former East Wing was dismantled as part of site preparation. The administration is building a new military complex; the cost to taxpayers has not been disclosed. While this part of the project is top secret according to White House director of management and administration Joshua Fisher, Trump confirmed in October 2025 that "The military is very much involved in this." Several months later, Trump told reporters that "the military is building a massive complex under the ballroom, and that's under construction" and that "the ballroom essentially becomes a shed for what's being built under." In May 2026, Trump revealed that the new bunker will contain six stories, a military hospital, research facilities, and meeting rooms.
The National Capital Planning Commission voted and approved the project on April 2, 2026.
Funding The government plans to spend at least $927 million on the ballroom and related White House construction projects, to "be covered primarily by taxpayers", as reported on August 12, 2026 by the Washington Post. The New York Intelligencer described the ballroom and bunker on September 4 as an $800 million project. An earlier internal cost estimate of $600 million had been provided on March 5 by the contractor, Clark Construction and included the projection that more than half of that amount would be taxpayer-funded; the estimate became public knowledge when the Washington Post reported it three months later.
Private funding At the outset, Trump said that private donors and large corporations would pay for the ballroom. Initially announced at a cost of $200 million, the cost estimate increased to $300 million in October 2025. By the end of October, $350 million had been raised. The White House released most donor names but withheld several, including Jeff Yass. The cost estimate increased to $400 million in December 2025.
The government agreed to "[p]reserve the anonymity and privacy of any donor who wishes to remain anonymous, to the maximum extent practicable consistent with law," as stated in a 14-page "Philanthropic Support Agreement" in early October 2025. The Trump administration did not release this document when the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen filed a Freedom of Information Act request for it, but it was released in April 2026 following a lawsuit.
Corporate donors According to Public Citizen, the White House disclosed 21 corporate donors. Those 21 disclosures are identified below by a "WH" next to their names.
Journalists identified several more donors, like ArcelorMittal, BlackRock, Parsons Corporation, Roblox, Nvidia, Susquehanna International Group, ExtremityCare, and Vantive.
Altria Group, Inc. (WH) Amazon.com, Inc. (WH) Apple Inc. (WH) ArcelorMittal BlackRock Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. (WH) Caterpillar Inc. (WH) Coinbase, Inc. (WH) Comcast Corporation (WH) ExtremityCare Google LLC (WH) Hard Rock International (USA), Inc. (WH) HP Inc. (WH) Lockheed Martin Corporation (WH) Meta Platforms, Inc. (WH) Micron Technology, Inc. (WH) Microsoft Corporation (WH) NextEra Energy, Inc. (WH) Nvidia Palantir Technologies Inc. (WH) Parsons Corporation Reynolds American Inc. (WH) Ripple Labs Inc. (WH) Roblox Susquehanna International Group T-Mobile US, Inc. (WH) Tether Operations Limited (WH) Union Pacific Railroad Company (WH) Vantive
After reviewing 27 of these corporate donors, Public Citizen found that half received new or expanded government contracts within six months of donating and some were relieved of federal enforcement actions they had faced.
As one example, in October 2025, Trump announced that the ballroom project would be built with a large donation of steel valued at $37 million. Two days later, the White House issued a proclamation which would cut in half the tariffs on automotive steel from a Canadian plant. In May 2026, a senior executive at ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg-based steel company that uses the Canadian plant to make steel for the US market, confirmed the company had delivered 600 tons of steel, stating they were "pleased to add the White House to the list of iconic American buildings where [their] steel will stand strong for years to come". The previous month, the New York Times had identified ArcelorMittal as the donor.
Individual and family foundation donors Adelson Family Foundation Stefan E. Brodie, biotech entrepreneur convicted of violating American sanctions on Cuba in 2002 Charles and Marissa Cascarilla J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul Edward and Shari Glazer, son and daughter-in-law of Malcolm Glazer