Preservation experts say President Donald Trump's push to add a $200 million, 90,000-square-foot state ballroom to the White House by 2029 risks sacrificing history for haste. The White House will begin the East Wing addition in September, a project that would be the mansion's largest structural change since the Truman Balcony.

What Happened: White House chief of staff Susie Wiles insisted the project will honor the building's past. "The President and the Trump White House are fully committed to working with the appropriate organizations to [preserve] the special history of the White House while building a beautiful ballroom that can be enjoyed by future Administrations and generations of Americans to come," Wiles said.

Yet historians warn the administration faces few guardrails. "In most cases, you're not going to have a lot of binding obligations to historic buildings," said Michael Spencer, a preservation professor at the University of Mary Washington, told The New York Times, noting the White House is exempt from the National Historic Preservation Act.

Richard Longstreth, professor emeritus at George Washington University, called the plan's scale alarming. "It could do some harm to the property overall … There aren't any checks and balances here, unfortunately," he remarked.

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Former National Park Service director Jonathan Jarvis questioned both design and timing. "You couldn't put something on the side of the building that doesn't match it historically in terms of its architecture, colouration and style," he said, labeling the schedule "optimistic." He added, "You don't see one of those projects go that fast … It'll be a rush to get it done. It's the White House -- it has to survive a terrorist attack."

Why It Matters: The Committee for the Preservation of the White House, whose advice is nonbinding, has not publicly weighed in. Trump has yet to appoint new members after earlier terms expired, increasing concerns that oversight will be minimal.

Funding also remains opaque. The administration says Trump and "patriot donors" will pay, but has provided no list of contributors, prompting ethics advocates to demand transparency.

Construction management firm Clark and architect James McCrery promise to keep the addition "classical" and complete it "long before" January 2029. Preservationists counter that rushing a project of this magnitude courts structural, security and reputational risks that could linger far beyond Trump's term.

Photo Courtesy: Joey Sussman on Shutterstock.com

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