Trump Brings on New Lead Architect to Design White House Ballroom
.webp?t=1765378565)
The Trump administration has hired a new architecture firm, the Washington, D.C.–based Shalom Baranes Associates, to oversee the $300 million White House ballroom. According to the Washington Post, which first reported the news, original project architect James McCrery and his namesake firm stepped back from the project in late October, about the time demolition of the White House’s East Wing began to make way for the ballroom. McCrery, a former member of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (2019–2024) and classical architecture devotee, will stay on as a consultant.
It is unclear if McCrery resigned as lead architect voluntarily. Sources familiar with the project—who spoke on the condition of anonymity—told the Post that while McCrery and Trump had clashed over the size of the ornate 90,000-square-foot ballroom, it was the firm’s limited staff and inability to reach deadlines that was the deciding factor. McCrery’s firm has not publicly commented on the switch-up.
Since plans for a “big, beautiful” ballroom were announced in July, the scope—and price tag—of the project has increased significantly. The ballroom’s seated capacity has jumped from 650 to 1,350, and the cost has risen from $200 million to $300 million—a bill that several private corporate donors, including Apple, Google, Meta, and Lockheed Martin, have pledged to foot.
Shalom Baranes, who founded D.C-based Shalom Baranes Associates in 1981, has designed and renovated several government buildings in and around the nation’s capital, including the Treasury Building opposite the White House, the Federal Reserve, the headquarters of the General Services Administration, and most notably, the $1 billion renovation of the Pentagon following the September 11 attacks.
In a statement released to the media, the White House said of Baranes: “Shalom is an accomplished architect whose work has shaped the architectural identity of our nation’s capital for decades and his experience will be a great asset to the completion of this project.”
In a curious twist considering the circumstances, Baranes’s firm has won several awards for its commitment to preservation. Earlier this year, Baranes was one of several architects interviewed by the Washington Business Journal about preserving brutalist-style federal buildings, following a modern architecture–lambasting push from the Trump Administration to prioritize traditional design in new federal building projects. “Advocating for the demolition of major structures on the basis of stylistic preferences strikes me as callously irresponsible,” Baranes said.
Since the Trump Administration began demolition of the East Wing—despite previous promises to keep the White House intact—there has been ample criticism from preservationists, historians, lawmakers, and architects. The administration has said it expects to submit plans for the project to the National Capital Planning Commission at some point later this month, two months after demolition work began. The ballroom is slated for completion before Trump’s term ends in January 2029.
Looking for quick answers on architecture and design topics?
Try Ask RECORD, our new smart AI search tool.
Ask RECORD →
Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!
