Factbox-Trump undertakes sweeping makeover of the White House and Washington

By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is pursuing ‌an ambitious remaking of Washington, with plans ​for projects ranging from a ​new White House ballroom, which he calls a national security priority, to a 250-foot (76 m) arch and a recast Kennedy Center.

Like Theodore Roosevelt's overhaul of the National Mall in the early 1900s and Harry Truman's reconstruction of the White House in the early 1950s, Trump's building projects represent a major presidential imprint on Washington. Unlike those efforts, however, Trump's plans have sparked criticism from Americans concerned about the preservation of historic landmarks.

Here are ‌some of Trump's projects.

REFLECTING POOL

Trump announced in April that he was remodeling Washington's historic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, near the site where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 1963 "I Have a Dream" ⁠speech.

A more-than-$16 million renovation project followed on the 2,000-foot pool, carried out by contractors who were not selected through a competitive bidding process.

Trump declared the renovation project complete on June 6, but the pool was soon found to have peeling paint and algae growth that turned its crystal-blue waters green.

Trump and other administration officials ‌blamed the damage on vandals, without citing evidence, and authorities arrested ‌a former U.S. Olympic canoeist whom they charged with vandalizing the pool. The former Olympian denied the charges, and the Department of Justice drew criticism from Trump when it dropped the charges.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Spence, in a court filing, blamed "a rushed and flawed installation process."

WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM

Trump says the planned 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-metre) ballroom will be "the greatest of its kind ever built." He initially said he and wealthy donors would pay for the estimated $400 million project, but he later ​unsuccessfully sought $1 billion from Congress for an underground bunker and security features to harden the ballroom.

An appeals court ruled on August 7 that the construction had to stop because Trump had launched the project without congressional approval. Trump has since appealed that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Trump says the new structure will include bomb shelters, medical facilities, defenses against drones and missiles and other security features.

The ballroom, which Trump has said will seat 1,000 guests, has faced public backlash. Preservationists and opponents say ⁠Trump exceeded his authority when he demolished the historic East Wing, which housed the first lady's offices and the White House movie theater, to make room for the structure.

KENNEDY CENTER

Congress created the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to honor the Democratic president who was assassinated in 1963.

Since taking office in 2025, Trump has ​purged the center's leadership, changed its programming and appointed a board that added his name to the edifice. A U.S. district court judge ordered in May, however, that his name be removed.

The Kennedy Center board, controlled by Trump appointees, subsequently voted on August 13 to put Trump's name back on the building, calling it "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored ​and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump." This has set up a potential clash with the judge.

THE OVAL OFFICE

Trump has transformed the historic room ‌with gold accents and statuettes, portraits of famous Americans pulled from storage, including some who are not easily identifiable, and a copy of the Declaration of Independence that hangs on the wall.

Busts of Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin are now situated on tables near his desk.

THE ROSE GARDEN AND WHITE HOUSE GROUNDS

Outside the Oval Office, Trump replaced the Rose Garden's grass lawn with a white stone patio ⁠and umbrella-covered tables, giving it a patio style similar to Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump also added statues of U.S. independence heroes Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin in the Rose Garden, along with a sculpture called "Freedom’s Charge" that depicts two Revolutionary War soldiers.

Trump ripped out the flagstone walkway that had lined the West Wing colonnade adjacent to the Rose Garden for 60 years and replaced it with a black granite surface.

Along the colonnade wall, he placed portraits of America's past presidents, with a plaque beneath each inscribed with Trump's view of that person. Trump did not include ⁠a portrait of Joe Biden, who defeated him in the 2020 election.

TRIUMPHAL ARCH

Across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial lies a highway roundabout near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery where Trump wants to build a "triumphal arch."

The arch would be reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris ​but much bigger.

The height of the arch, with eagle statues and a Lady Liberty-type figure on top, would be around 250 feet (76 meters). That is taller than the Lincoln Memorial and close to the height of the U.S. Capitol, which at 288 feet can be seen across much of Washington.

Whether the arch may ultimately be built at that height remains unclear, as it is close to the flight path of southbound planes on the final approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a few miles away.

GARDEN OF AMERICAN HEROES

Trump has talked about establishing a National Garden ‌of American Heroes since his first term in office in 2017-2021. Congress in 2025 provided $40 million for the project, which Trump plans to develop at West Potomac Park along the Potomac River to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.

Trump said the park will include statues of the country's founding fathers, members of the military, religious leaders, civil rights champions, athletes, artists and entertainers.

The project's opening has been delayed ‌from the initial target date of July 4. Preservation groups have sued to have the project halted on legal grounds.

EAST POTOMAC GOLF LINKS

The president has said he wants to begin work on September 1 to overhaul Washington's East Potomac Golf Links, a century-old public golf course. Trump, a frequent golfer who ⁠owns several courses, has said he hopes the renovation will allow the course to host major ‌tournaments.

That project is also tied up in legal challenges by groups that say ​it violates the law.

MARINE ONE HELIPAD

Trump has ordered that a helipad be built on the White House South Lawn to protect the grass from the scorching exhaust of his latest Marine One helicopter.

He ordered contractors back to the drawing board after weeks of work on the project because of a slope in the South Lawn under the helipad, the Washington Post reported.

(Reporting By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by ‌Ross Colvin and Edmund Klamann)

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