WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project is too big and should be scaled back, an architect and National Trust for Historic Preservation board member said Wednesday. He proposed a series of changes for the project that he said could permanently alter America’s most recognizable historic building.
David Scott Parker, AIA, whose firm specializes in residential design and historic preservation, shared his views with The Associated Press as the National Capital Planning Commission, a key federal agency, prepares to meet Thursday to vote on whether to approve the 90,000-square-foot (8,361-square-meter) project. A separate federal panel, the U.S. Council of Fine Arts, approved the project at its February meeting.
“Everything here has an expansive feel,” said Parker, who has been an architect for more than 35 years. “The ultimate impact of this is to adversely affect the most important historic building in the entire United States – the most easily identifiable historic building. This is permanent and it will have an impact on the White House.”
Trump announced last summer that he would add a ballroom to the White House, citing the need for space to host important guests in addition to tents on the lawn. He demolished the east wing without warning in October, and underground work to prepare the site has been underway ever since. White House officials said above-ground construction would not begin until April at the earliest.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private nonprofit, asked a federal judge to temporarily halt construction until the White House submits construction plans to federal commissions and Congress for approval and allows public comment. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon rejected the request last week, and the trust said it planned to file an amended lawsuit.
Parker’s architectural analysis is based on renderings and other information the White House submitted to the Fine Arts Council last month.
The ballroom itself takes up about 22,000 square feet (2,043 square meters) of total space, which Parker said is far larger than what Trump said he would need to accommodate 1,000 guests. Parker said the industry standard for ballrooms is 15 square feet (1.4 square meters) per person. By that standard, Trump’s ballroom would likely be 47 percent smaller, or no more than 15,000 square feet (1,394 square meters), he said.
The proposal includes a 4,000 sq ft (372 sq m) south-facing porch and staircase. Parker said these are unnecessary because they do not allow guests direct access to the interior of the building. He said the porch was not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The White House said Wednesday that the ballroom will comply with federal law requiring accommodations for people with disabilities, but had no further comment on Parker’s criticism.
The proposed portico is much larger than those on the south side of the White House and the nearby south side of the Treasury Department building.
From the beginning, there were concerns about the scale of the project. At 55,000 square feet (5,110 square metres), the main White House building is nearly twice the size, and critics argued that the expansion would overwhelm the White House and destroy the symmetry of the complex.
Parker said his other major concern was that the addition would be prominent enough that it would obstruct views along Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and the Capitol, since it was intentionally designed hundreds of years ago by Pierre L’Enfant, who was hired by George Washington to plan the nation’s capital.
“It’s hard to fathom that … an addition could have so many negative impacts, whether symbolic, architectural or historical,” Parker said. “It really goes against the intent of the Founding Fathers.”
Parker is one of more than 100 people registered to speak at Thursday’s committee meeting, which is scheduled to be held online, according to the agency’s website. Thousands of people submitted comments in advance, many of them opposed to Trump’s project.
