AIA’s White House East Wing advocacy efforts

The demolition of the White House East Wing represents a significant moment for our profession and American history. While the demolition of the East Wing was unexpected and in absolute opposition to AIA’s advocacy efforts, AIA continues to work on behalf of our members to ensure that architects’ interests are represented as this project moves forward—and to strengthen the processes that govern changes to our nation’s most important historic buildings.  

To-the-date timeline  

July 31, 2025: The White House announced plans for a $200 million, 90,000 square-foot East Ballroom addition, stating it would be “near it, but not touching it” and would “pay total respect to the existing building.” The central White House building is an estimated 55,000 square feet.

August 5, 2025: AIA issued a formal letter to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House with five key recommendations: qualifications-based selection of architects, adherence to historic preservation standards, full transparency in funding and design, proportionality to the existing White House complex, and meaningful collaboration with preservation and design experts. AIA’s statement was cited in over 1,000 media stories.

September 2025: Site preparation work began without plans having been submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission.

October 20, 2025: The East Portico is demolished, raising concerns, but leaving the East Wing proper intact.

October 21–24, 2025: The East Wing is progressively reduced to rubble, without notice to the National Capital Planning Commission, Congress, or the public.

October 24, 2025: AIA issues a statement expressing deep concern about the lack of public engagement and transparency, calling for a halt to further irreversible alterations, publication of full project documentation, and reopening of meaningful engagement with the professional community and the public. Architects send over 6,000 letters to their members of Congress asking them to investigate the destruction of the East Wing.

October 29, 2025: The President terminates all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts, before they were scheduled to review plans for the ballroom project. Those seats are currently vacant and are to be appointed by the President.

November and December 2025: AIA meets with legislators, urging them to introduce legislation to protect historic buildings in the future and ensure a robust process for the remainder of the ballroom project. AIA also works with coalition partners to organize broader responses from the preservation ecosystem, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued an array of people and government entities over various aspects of the project on December 12, 2025.  

December 22, 2025: The White House formally submits construction plans to the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, months after demolition on the site was complete.

January 7, 2026: The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization sues the administration “to compel officials to disclose whether their rapid demolition of the White House’s East Wing annex exposed workers or the public to hazardous building materials.”

January 8, 2026: The National Capital Planning Commission holds its first public informational presentation on the ballroom project. It's obvious that the commission is largely in favor of the ballroom project.

Where we are now: Two paths forward

The East Wing cannot be restored, and we recognize that tragic reality. What AIA can continue to do is work to ensure that the remainder of this project respects the People’s House, and that future changes to historic federal buildings follow a robust, formalized process etched in the law.

Engaging with the National Capital Planning Commission

Yesterday, January 8, the National Capital Planning Commission held its first public informational presentation on the East Ballroom project.

This was the explanation Josh Fisher, White House Office of Administration Director, gave for the demolition of the East Wing:

“After careful study and consultation with engineers, architects, historians, and other experts, we determined that modifying and or renovating the colonnade in the existing East wing was not feasible for many reasons.... The colonnade was structurally unstable, the roof systems had exceeded their service life, and the underpinnings were not sufficient to support the necessary upgrades. In the East Wing, there was chronic water intrusion which accelerated deterioration and mold contamination. The electrical infrastructure was obsolete, deemed undersized, and noncompliant with current code. Facilities were non-compliant with both ADA and Secret Service Requirements.... Because of this and other factors, the cost analysis proved that demolition and reconstruction provided the lowest total cost, ownership, and most effective long-term strategy.”

You can read more about the meeting here.

Additional details include:

• Architect Shalom Baranes, FAIA, presented plans for an approximately 89,000-square-foot structure featuring a 22,000-square-foot ballroom that can accommodate 1,000 seated guests, along with a grand staircase, new First Lady's office suite, movie theater, and utility spaces including a commercial kitchen.
• DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, an ex-officio NCPC member, called renderings of the structure "disturbing" and said it appears to be "overwhelming the existing building," suggesting it may need to be reduced in size and scale.
• Baranes also revealed plans for a second-story addition to the West Wing Colonnade to create symmetry with the new East Wing connection, which President Trump later characterized as an "Upper West Wing."
• NCPC Chairman Will Scharf, a Trump appointee, requested more detailed street-view renderings, describing current elevations as "very stark," though he said he was "quite impressed" with the plans overall.
• Above-ground construction is expected to begin around April, with the next NCPC meeting scheduled for February 5.

AIA is closely monitoring the NCPC review process and will participate fully in any public comment period. This is where members of the architecture and preservation communities will have an opportunity to weigh in on critical aspects of the project—particularly the scale of the 90,000-square-foot addition and its design relationship to the existing White House complex. According to the administration’s announced timeline, final NCPC approval is expected in early March, and a federal court has allowed the project to proceed. However, it’s possible that ongoing legal proceedings in lower courts may delay that timeline.  

While the NCPC review cannot undo what has already occurred, it does provide a venue for professional input on what comes next.  

Supporting legislative reform with Representative Raskin

AIA is supporting legislation proposed by Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-08), which would establish more rigorous requirements for modifications to federally owned historic buildings. The goal of this legislation is straightforward: to ensure that major alterations to buildings of national significance involve appropriate review, expert consultation, and public input before irreversible changes are made.  

While legal efforts are underway, the White House argues that current law does not prevent, limit, or prohibit the demolition of the East Wing in any way, which allowed the demolition to proceed without the kind of oversight that the average American would likely expect of such a historic structure and evocative symbol of American democracy. This legislation would provide clearer standards and processes for the future.

Managing expectations  

We must be candid with our members: neither of these efforts will reverse the demolition of the East Wing. The NCPC process addresses the ballroom project as it moves forward, not as it began. Legislative reform, if successful, will shape how similar decisions are made in the future on the demolition or construction of historic federal structures—but it cannot reach backwards into time.  

These are tools available to us in a situation where no advance notice was provided, and no meaningful opportunity for professional input was sought or welcomed before demolition began, originally portrayed as only the destruction of the portico. We are pursuing both avenues because our members care deeply about this issue, because the White House belongs to all Americans, and because we have a responsibility to advocate for the principles of transparency, preservation, and design excellence that we have been advocating for on this issue since August.  

AIA will continue to work constructively with federal partners on the many issues where collaboration is both possible and productive, while maintaining our advocacy on behalf of architects and civic architecture. We will keep you informed as both the NCPC process and the legislative discussions develop.  

For questions about AIA’s advocacy work on this issue, please contact govaff@aia.org.