Web2 social media has been in an uproar over the demolition of the east wing of the White House. Public sentiment seems to view this as a tragedy on the level of the Notre Dame cathedral fire, but I don't get it.

Public Domain

The aerial shot above looks southward at the north façade. The prior east wing is on the left side. This latest project is far from the only time the White House has seen this kind of change, however.

A History of Hubris

First briefly occupied by the John Adams administration in 1800 before Jefferson assumed the office in 1801, it was just the core neoclassical rectangular structure. Jefferson reportedly described it as "big enough for two emperors, one pope, and the grand lama in the bargain" according to the Wikipedia article. Nonetheless, he added colonnades to the east and west. After his administration, it was occupied by James Madison next.

Then the British and Canadians burned it down in 1814.

Reconstruction was completed in 1817, and it would remain largely unchanged until 1881 when Chester A. Arthur began major renovations. He also apparently auctioned off most of the furniture, decor, and household items.

In the early 1900s, the Theodore Roosevelt remodeled again. Roosevelt's East Wing was essentially a foyer with a cloak room to accommodate guests. The Roosevelt and subsequent Taft administrations also built and expanded the West Wing addition as well, and Taft relocated the presidential working space to a new oval office there. You may have heard of it. During World War II, Franklin Delano Roosevelt added to the East Wing as a cover for a new secret Presidential Bunker.

Under the Truman administration, the core mansion underwent a complete reconstruction from 1949 to 1952. Not only was it an aging wood structure inside the stone and brick shell, but some of the timbers had been salvaged from the fire back in 1814. Floors had started to literally collapse. Everything was gutted and rebuilt.

Public domain

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy oversaw a major redecoration of the White House with an eye for history instead of yet another round of modernization in the 1960s, setting the stage for the current sense of the White House as a historical edifice. I'm no enthusiast for the government, whether under her husband or anyone else, but I do respect her historical sensibilities in this project.

Under the Obama administration, another round of renovations occurred. There have been some dubious claims about it, but it is impossible to deny the atrocity of the era's widespread beige aesthetic. This was roughly when I was working as a draftsman, and it was inescapable throughout the architectural industry.

Public domain

Brouhahah and Bullshit

This essentially brings us to today as the FDR-era East Wing with its obsolete bunker is being rebuilt as a ballroom with an intent not far removed from that of TR's original expansion for entertaining guests.

Much of the outrage is focused on the alleged sanctity of national symbols, but some also relates to what I see as a misunderstanding about the reality of construction. It's messy. Staging areas and storage don't look pretty. This aesthetic shock seems to affect people with little experience in construction the most.

Trump has done stupid and evil things worthy of criticism and condemnation, but Trump Derangement Syndrome is also a very real phenomenon. Is this project yet another physical manifestation of the man's ego? Certainly. Is it an unprecedented affront to the dignity and heritage of this historic structure, though? Not really. Demolitions, additions, and renovations are par for the course, not an exceptional change.

I have seen outrage over "historic trees" being taken down and the demolition of a garden, echoing the complaints from earlier this year when another magnolia was removed due to its deteriorating health and he turned the rose garden into a patio. These reactions seem to be rooted in a bizarre fetish for the complex as some kind of sacred place, though, and not a principled opposition to waste. This isn't the Elgin Marbles or the Benin Bronzes stolen from another culture.

Trump is also a real estate mogul, so I am not at all surprised he wants to transform everything he touches into his vision of "better" whether anyone else agrees or not. Has he ever shown any appreciation for history, aside from celebrating McKinley's tariff policies? I doubt it. He is not exactly scholarly or sentimental in his perspectives.

In short, this is much more hype than substance.

My Opinion

Demolishing the East Wing is a good start, but why did they stop there? Oh, and we shouldn't call it the Epstein Ballroom, either. There are no Epstein files. Epstein totally killed himself just before he would have been acquitted on all charges due to a lack of evidence. So don't mention Epstein or ask why the government is apparently "shut down" in the face of legislation to release unredacted versions of those nonexistent files, and especially don't realize how little we need the federal government to function as a society.

Seriously, though, Mordor on the Potomac is not within my sphere of control. I am philosophically opposed to the people there, the officies they occupy, and the actions they take, as it is all usurpation. I think this fuss over an addition is a distraction from the real crimes committed at home and abroad by this administration, and the people angriest at Trump were often apologists for the crimes of Obama and Biden. The partisan bickering is a distraction.