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Trump's ballroom funded by private donors, including tech

companies

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Conservatives defend modernization; critics call it a

vanity

project

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Previous presidents faced opposition for White House

renovations

By Courtney Rozen and Jonathan Allen

WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - With many Washington

tourist spots closed due to the U.S. government shutdown, some

visitors instead are checking out an unexpected and divisive new

attraction in the nation's capital: President Donald Trump's

surprise demolition of the White House's East Wing.

Tours of the White House are out of the question, not least

because the visitor entrance, which happened to be in the East

Wing, is now a closed-off rubble-strewn demolition site, where

Trump's vision for a grand golden 90,000-square-foot ballroom

will soon take shape.

Groups of school students and couples on vacation still

gazed through the railings this week at the U.S. National

Historic Landmark that has served as the president's residence

since 1800. But the view of the East Wing, expanded in 1942, is

blocked by high barricades. Only the tops of two giant

extractors peek above the fencing in clouds of dust and din,

horrifying preservationists, Democratic lawmakers and at least a

few American tourists.

"This country is full of homeless people with nothing to

eat, and this moron is spending this kind of money on this?"

said Jonathan Fineberg, 79, who was visiting on Thursday from

Philadelphia.

His wife, Marianne Malone Fineberg, was not reassured by

Trump's renovation work from earlier this year, when he had the

White House's Rose Garden lawn paved over and dotted with yellow

patio umbrellas. "Now it looks like an overpriced hotel

somewhere," she said.

Some tourists lofted iPhones high above their heads, trying

fruitlessly for a clear shot of whatever had just happened to

what was the East Wing, which had traditionally housed the

offices and staff of the president's spouse. Trump, a Republican

who likes to cite his architectural acumen acquired as a former

real-estate mogul in New York City, says they aren't missing

much and no one should mourn its demise.

"It was a very small building," Trump told reporters this

week, already using the past tense after his earlier pledge that

his changes to the existing White House complex would not be so

drastic. "There was a story added on, which was not particularly

nice."

TRUMP BALLROOM COMPARED TO TRUMAN BALCONY

Some conservatives have defended Trump and his efforts to

modernize what they say is an old and perennially too-small

building. Victoria Coates, a vice president at the Heritage

Foundation think tank, wrote in a social media post that the

ballroom "will be a great addition to the White House, not some

egregious aesthetic affront."

Democratic lawmakers have said Trump's changes have not gone

through the proper channels and criticized the funding. The

price tag, now some $300 million, is being covered by private

donors, including some U.S. technology companies such as Google

and an unspecified fraction by Trump himself.

Trump's staff say the president does not need permission for

the demolition and that the construction plans would soon be

sent on to the National Capital Planning Commission, an agency

currently chaired by Trump's White House staff secretary.

The ballroom is needed, Trump says, because there is not

enough space for state visits and other grand events. For years,

presidents have put up a big temporary pavilion on a lawn, which

Trump views as downmarket.

Some of Trump's predecessors faced similar opposition at the

time to major construction projects at what is sometimes called

"The People's House": Andrew Jackson's costly addition of the

North Portico in 1830; Theodore Roosevelt's demolition of

conservatories to add the West Wing in 1902; Harry Truman adding

what would become the Truman balcony in the 1950s.

Trump believes posterity and future tourists will see his

ballroom no differently: "It goes beautifully with the White

House."

A few tourists said they had no idea that the most drastic

changes to the White House in decades were unfolding before them

until they quizzed passersby. A handful of people showed up to

protest, including one woman in a unicorn costume.

Others had strong views, most of them disapproving of the

project.

"He was dishonest about his intent in terms of we're not

going to touch anything, like it's going to be close, but not

touching," said Kevin Wade, a 52-year-old tech worker visiting

the capital from Texas. "And then now we're completely

demolishing it."

Addison Nguyen, a 32-year-old pharmaceutical company

employee, made his appraisal as he showed visiting relatives

around Washington ahead of his weekend wedding.

"It's ultimately a vanity project for Trump," he said. "It

seems like there's no really checks and balances to what sort of

decisions he can make."

"The ballroom, sad to say, it's one of the least things that

I'm worried about," he added.