Adolph Hitler congratulates Albert Speer
Albert Speer was Hitler’s architect. His designs embodied Hitler’s racist vision of a perfect and dominant society, efficient, powerful, and white. Speer’s ghost now lurks in the corridors of Trump’s White House, itself built as a mansion for a president and never a palace like Hampton Court or Versailles.
Trump’s recent bulldozing of the famous White House Rose Garden literally paves the way for construction of a ballroom; an addition fit for a . . . well you can fill in the blank. Not much of a dancer himself, Trump is increasingly frail on his feet thus unlikely to rumba about the gold rimmed dance floor. One does wonder who will dance or gather in such a palatial playroom. That said, concept drawings are now appearing — such a great gig for any architectural firm as designs will likely change weekly if not daily. It’s great work if you can get it. $$$.
Don’t trust me on this; see the assessment below by Marianne Williamson. Possibly you have your own design suggestion. Artists, assemble and create please.
Architectural rendition
One of the things I’ve always liked most about the White House is its size. It’s grand, but not grandiose. It was built to be the president’s mansion, not a king’s palace. As an American I’ve always been proud of that. It’s a perfect reflection of an American ideal.
But for the very reasons I’ve loved the White House, the President finds it inadequate. It’s not palatial enough for his taste. The current White House, which is roughly 55,000 square feet, will now be dwarfed by a 90,000 square foot ballroom that will be added to the East Wing of the building. This will permanently change both its structure and its character.
While the President claims the ballroom is needed to host our State Dinners, I’ve never heard it said by anyone else that the tent set up for such occasions is “unsightly.” And this isn’t like a tent you’d take with you hiking in Yosemite, by the way. It’s more like the tent set up for Elizabeth Taylor’s wedding reception. Trump isn’t doing this because what’s already there is inadequate. He’s doing it as a part of a larger strategy to impose his fingerprints on everything he can get his hands on. Donald Trump wants us to forget the America that existed before he got here. This is not a president who respects our history; his wish is to rewrite it.
Earlier today I drove past the White House and saw the new flag poles the President has installed. The normal sized flag that used to stand on top of the mansion has been replaced by two gargantuan flagpoles in both front and back, each 100 feet high, with those oversized flags you often see in front of car dealerships. So much for the simple grandeur that used to say so eloquently who we are.
The President knows he can’t put a huge TRUMP sign above the front door of the White House, so he’s doing what he thinks is the next best thing. He wants to live in a place worthy of kings…or of dictators. Someone said to me, “Well, but the King of England lives in a palace!” And that’s the point. The King of England, who is only a figurehead, lives in a palace. England’s Prime Minister, who runs the government, lives at the relatively simple 10 Downing Street.
In his book Inside the Third Reich, Hitler’s architect Albert Speer reported Hitler telling him that after the war he wanted to rebuild Berlin along the lines of Paris…only much bigger. He wanted a boulevard like the Champs Elysees, at one end of which there would be a great palace like the Louvre and at the other end an Arch de Triumph…only all of them much bigger. Speer pointed out that a decline in civilization was often accompanied by oversized art and architecture….a moving away from the natural order of things. He used the example of Roman sculpture being oversized, while ancient Greek sculpture was life-sized. I read that book when I was in college and I never forgot it.
By the way, have you seen the Jacqueline Kennedy Rose Garden since it’s been paved over? Grass is just “so yesterday.”
And so will be our democracy, if we don’t raise hell. Our voices are the only power we have to stop construction on the new ballroom. But public pressure matters.
Write a letter to an editor. Make a video. Create a meme. Spread the word.
We are all so tired of this, I know. But they’re counting on our fatigue to quiet us. We must not go down this way. The White House as a building is just a symbol, of course, but it’s a symbol that matters. And unless we are willing to stand up for what matters, our very lives do longer do.
Architectural renditions
Listen to the detailed project announcement from Karoline Leavitt listing contractors and architects, also a construction schedule commencing in September 2025.
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Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 
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