Dancing the Night Away

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By Patrick F. Cannon

President Trump is building a ballroom on the old site of the East Wing of the White House, now just a pile of rubble. It will apparently have a capacity of 999 guests. A strange number. You would have thought they could squeeze in just one more to make it an even 1,000. To give you an idea of how it stacks up with a local venue, the Grand Ballroom at the Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago can host a dinner for 1,250.

            Larger than the White House itself, the new ballroom wing was designed by architect James McCrery in the Neo-Classical style favored by Trump. The entrance portico will have 6 massive columns with Corinthian capitals. The rendering doesn’t show any decoration in the pediment, so we’ll just have to wait and see. If it emulates the White House itself, the pediment will be plain, but it’s hard to imagine President Trump missing an opportunity to inserting some gold doodads to fill the space. Speaking of gold, the ballroom interior will be festooned with enough gold leaf to require sunglasses for sensitive eyes.

            The president is not a fan of modern architecture. Nor is King Charles III, although to be fair he has a taste for the Georgian, while Trump’s tends more to the Rococo. As you may know, he has festooned the Oval Office with enough gold to rival Fort Knox. Of course, it’s his office, and the next resident can feel free to hire his or her own decorator. Could it someday be filled with Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chairs?

            In fairness, it must be said that grafting a modernist wing onto the White House would have been a mistake, although something less showy would have been better. Apparently, the cost of the addition will be borne by private donations, not us beleaguered taxpayers. The president says he’s going to donate some dough too, but I don’t believe it for a minute. This is the man who has the chutzpah to seek $230 million from his own Department of Justice to reimburse him for legal fees he claims to have paid to defend himself against what he says were politically motivated indictments. Lest we forget, most or all of  these fees were paid with money donated by his supporters.  

            In an August executive order, President Trump has reinforced his love for classical architecture by mandating that it be the preferred style for new federal buildings across the United States. In D.C. it will be mandatory. This is a curious decision for the president who wants to Make America Great Again. Apparently, we do that by copying the architecture of the Greeks and Romans.

            I’m a great believer in context, and I think new government buildings in D.C. should be glad in granite or marble, regardless of style. I would suggest a purely American style like the Prairie Style of architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and those associated with him. As it happens, there is a recent revival of the style, and not only for homes. Within 20 miles from my home there’s a major hospital in Prairie-Revival style, and even a local post office I could walk to if I weren’t so lazy.

            The Prairie Style has the great advantage of simplicity and is easily adaptable to local materials. But I believe in choice, so the American versions of Art Deco and Art Moderne should be added to the mix. And there’s always Cape Cod, but it does have its limitations. Anything but that imported Greek and Roman stuff.

Copyright 2025,  Patrick F. Cannon

5 thoughts on “Dancing the Night Away”

  1. There’s been much grumbling and gnashing of teeth among easily-provoked Democrats over Trump’s rather common sense decision to build a ballroom adjacent to the White House where the moldy old East Wing once sat.

    I expect Maureen Dowd and her giddy fellow travelers of the press to all join hands in the Capitol Rotunda and sing “This Land is Your Land” in protest.

    But let’s think about this. The ballroom is practical.

    Until now, large formal White House events required erection of tents on the lawn in all kinds of weather to accommodate guests.

    Heads of state, VIPs, other dignitaries and their spouses had to be ushered into porta potties if nature called.

    Granted these conveniences can be made quite luxurious — I bet the ones from Japan are hydraulic marvels — but is this the best face the United States of America can put forward?

    The now demolished East Wing was used mainly as the First Lady’s offices (they had to put her somewhere) and the Calligraphy Office where Biden’s autopen could crank out pardons in obscurity.

    Melania for her part doesn’t use or need the space. She, like other presidents’ wives, never liked hanging around Washington (can you blame her?) and spends most of her time in New York. Now future presidents will need to accommodate their spouses elsewhere.

    The Palladian style of the ballroom, whose capacity might be restricted by code, seems well suited for the nation’s capital.

    If anything, its design reflects restraint.

    Its symmetry, proportions, elegance and sophistication fit the tone of a government center. The building’s columns, pediments and arches blend perfectly with the timeless classical architecture that has defined Washington since Jefferson.

    I highly admire Wright’s buildings and have a fondness for the Prairie style. But a Wright White House ballroom?

    Can you picture a structure like his Marin County Civic Center planted next to the White House?

    Aside from the leaky roof and frightful cost overruns, we the people would panic that an alien spaceship with little green men had landed.

    The liberal press would howl that the sacred ballroom was modeled on the design of a notorious home-wrecker and philanderer, surely not an example we want our children to follow.

    And Maureen Dowd would have something else to gripe about.

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