{"id":7518,"date":"2025-11-17T00:26:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T00:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/11\/17\/preservationists-sue-over-trumps-latest-plans-to-refashion-a-federal-building-to-match-his-aesthetic-cnn\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T00:26:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T00:26:52","slug":"preservationists-sue-over-trumps-latest-plans-to-refashion-a-federal-building-to-match-his-aesthetic-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/11\/17\/preservationists-sue-over-trumps-latest-plans-to-refashion-a-federal-building-to-match-his-aesthetic-cnn\/","title":{"rendered":"Preservationists sue over Trump\u2019s latest plans to refashion a federal building to match his aesthetic – CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Historic preservationists sued President Donald Trump over his plans to paint an ornate office building housing his staff next to the White House, warning the structure could be \u201cirreversibly\u201d damaged.\u201d <\/p>\n

The suit, filed Friday by the DC Preservation League and Cultural Heritage Partners, asks the US District Court for the District of Columbia to stop Trump and federal officials from making any changes to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building unless they go through a standard review process. <\/p>\n

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment. <\/p>\n

Trump told Fox News\u2019 Laura Ingraham in an interview last week that he was putting the wheels in motion to paint the EEOB, a sprawling, Gilded Age structure next door to the White House, a bright white. <\/p>\n

\u201cGray is for funerals,\u201d he said, referring to the building\u2019s granite exterior, noting that he didn\u2019t know whether he would go through with it, but that he was getting costs and bids from painters. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see. It\u2019d be a great addition to Washington,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s plans to paint the building signaled yet another effort to stamp his aesthetic tastes on structures on federal grounds. As part of those efforts, Trump has paved over the White House Rose Garden to create a Mar-a-Lago-esque patio, demolished the East Wing to create a massive ballroom<\/a>, and ordered the golden pillars of the Kennedy Center painted white. He has also touted plans to install a triumphal arch<\/a> to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United State\u2019s founding. <\/p>\n

The suit argues the Trump administration cannot move forward with the president\u2019s plans without going through \u201cthe environmental and historic preservation review that federal law requires.\u201d <\/p>\n

Going around those reviews could result in irreversible damage, the groups argue. Painting stone \u201ccan trap moisture within the wall system\u201d and accelerate deterioration, the suit says. It adds that if the building was painted, \u201cremoving paint from the natural granite and slate would require immense expense\u201d and potentially result in the loss of the original material. <\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of who occupies the White House, our nation\u2019s historic landmarks belong to the American people,\u201d said Greg Werkheiser, founding partner of Cultural Heritage Partners. \u201cFederal law requires a careful, public, and expert review before irreversible changes are made to a National Historic Landmark.\u201d <\/p>\n

Completed in 1888, the EEOB originally housed the State, War and Navy departments, but now serves as ancillary office space for the president\u2019s staff, including the Office of the Vice President, the National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget. The building\u2019s interior includes 553 ornately gilded rooms, bronze stair balusters, hand-painted tiles, carved wooden fixtures, stained glass rotundas and intricate cast iron. <\/p>\n

But the building\u2019s unique French Second Empire style has been controversial since its inception. It took roughly 17 years to build, and by the time it was done, \u201cthe Second Empire style had fallen from favor, and (architect Alfred) Mullett\u2019s masterpiece was perceived by capricious Victorians as only an embarrassing reminder of past whims in architectural preference,\u201d according to<\/a> the Biden White House. <\/p>\n

Guides leading tourists around the White House complex are often heard quoting from the author Mark Twain, who reportedly described it as \u201cthe ugliest building in America.\u201d <\/p>\n

And President Harry Truman called it a \u201cmonstrosity.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Historic preservationists sued President Donald Trump over his plans to paint an ornate office building housing his staff next to the White House, warning the structure could be \u201cirreversibly\u201d damaged.\u201d The suit, filed Friday by the DC Preservation League and Cultural Heritage Partners, asks the US District Court for the District of Columbia to stop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}