United States President Donald Trump is set to build a massive ballroom for hosting official receptions at the White House.
Trump himself and unspecified donors will foot the bill for the $200 million project, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a press briefing on Thursday, July 31, 2025.
“For 150 years, presidents, administrations and White House staff have longed for a large event space on the White House complex,” Leavitt said.
Trump, who is remodeling the White House to his tastes, told reporters: “There’s never been a president that was good at ballrooms.
“I’m good at building things, and we’ll get it built quickly and on time. It’ll be beautiful.”
The 79-year-old president and former real estate developer assured that the character of the original building would be preserved.
The new structure will span over 8,000 square meters (90,000 square feet) and have space to seat 650 people, according to Leavitt.
The spokeswoman said work on the ballroom – one of Trump’s long-time ambitions – will begin in September and is expected to be completed “well before” the end of his second term in January 2029.
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The hope is it will host grand state dinners, given in honor of foreign heads of state visiting Washington. Until now, these were generally done by erecting a huge tent on the White House grounds.
A model of the ballroom presented by the government shows it will be a white building with tall windows. Its columns and front look reminiscent of the main White House building, a facade is known worldwide.
The ballroom building will replace the East Wing, which usually houses the offices of the US first lady.
Trump has said for some time that he wants to build a White House ballroom inspired by his own properties.
On Thursday, he praised the newly built, lavish ballroom – named after himself – at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, one of dozens of properties owned by the Trump family.
It will also be inspired by the ballroom of the Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida, which has served as the model for Trump’s remodeling of the White House to suit himself.
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