White House addition growing, but still not as big as other official residences
President Donald Trump’s additions to the White House are changing again, as he is planning to build his ballroom addition as tall as the White House itself. The addition would go against long-standing architectural norms suggesting additions to be shorter than the main building.
According to The Washington Post, architect Shalom Baranes told the National Capital Planning Commission this week that the president’s new plans call for the building to be about 60 feet tall on its northern side and 70 feet on its south side.
This plan differs from previous representations made in August, when the National Park Service said the building would be 55 feet tall.
What are the new ballroom plans?
Baranes said the project would be about 45,000 square feet, which is half the size the Trump administration said in July. He said the 90,000-square-foot figure previously cited by administration officials would include a second story.
The ballroom itself would be about 22,000 square feet and could accommodate 1,000 guests.
The administration said it plans to complete the review process in just over two months — considerably faster than previous projects, according to The Post.
Baranes said the White House abandoned its plans for a larger ballroom. However, he said officials are now considering a one-story addition to the West Wing’s colonnade to make the two buildings symmetrical.
While the administration is still in the planning and approval process of the project, above-ground construction is scheduled to begin as soon as April.
The projected cost for the project has continually ballooned. In August, Trump said the project would cost about $200 million. He also said that the project would be near the East Wing but not touching it.
By October, the administration said the cost had increased to $300 million. At this point, construction crews had already demolished the entire East Wing, contradicting Trump’s earlier statement.
Now, the White House says the project will cost $400 million, twice the initial estimate. However, the president said private investors, including Trump himself, are footing the bill, not taxpayers. The administration released a list of groups they say donated to the building. The list, however, does not include how much each donor gave or how much Trump has spent.
How does the White House compare to other presidential homes?
While the White House is a large building, it’s dwarfed by most other world leaders’ residences.
The White House is about 55,000 square feet, excluding the East and West wings. Before the East Wing’s demolition, the total footprint reached about 90,000 square feet.
In the U.K., 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s residence, is considerably smaller than the White House; it’s not even a house, but a townhome. However, it is still large, with about 100 rooms. The exact floor plan is not publicly available, but rough estimates put the dimensions at about 6,000 square feet.
The French presidential palace, the Élysée Palace, stands at about 120,000 square feet and boasts more than 360 rooms.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence, the Grand Kremlin Palace, is about 269,000 square feet, with a golden dome that rises about 120 feet. The massive building holds nearly 700 rooms.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Presidential Complex, nicknamed the Ak Saray or White Palace, totals about 3.2 million square feet, with 1,100 rooms and a price tag of $615 million. However, critics of the Turkish president say those numbers are much higher.
The Turkish building is one of the newest presidential residences in the world. Erdoğan began planning the building in 2011, construction started in 2012 and the government opened the building in 2014.
However, none of these compares to the massive Al Yamamah Palace in Saudi Arabia, which spans a titanic 4 million square feet. Many details of the palace remain a secret, but some reports state it has more than 1,000 rooms, multiple swimming pools and a cinema. King Fahd constructed the building in 1984.
The post White House addition growing, but still not as big as other official residences appeared first on Straight Arrow News.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
