President Donald Trump’s plans to transform Washington, D.C., certainly aren’t stopping at the White House and the Kennedy Center.
The president has submitted plans to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, trading in its slate gray exterior for solid white, according to the proposal.
The building is located across the street from the White House’s West Wing and typically serves as an office space for the president’s staff.
The crux of the argument laid out in the proposal focuses on the building’s style — French Second Empire — clashing with the “neoclassical federal architecture” around it, specifically the White House.
“The color, design, and massing of the existing structure does not align visually with the surrounding architecture and lacks any symbolic cohesion with the White House,” the proposal says.
Under Trump’s plan, the exterior stone walls — which are reportedly suffering from cracks and neglect — would be painted white to align them with other stark white federal buildings.
“The inability to bring the stone facade back to a baseline color has plagued the maintenance of the [Executive Office Building] in the past, and and will continue to plague it if not addressed,” the proposal says.
The plans to paint the EEOB have been submitted to the Commission of Fine Arts, which is a panel of Trump appointees tasked with advising on public buildings in Washington, D.C.
Trump leaving his literal, physical mark on the nation’s capital has emerged as a priority for him during his second term.
He has demolished the White House’s East Wing to make room for his massive $400 million ballroom and announced the Kennedy Center — which he renamed the Trump Kennedy Center — will close this summer for a two-year renovation.
In March, Trump arranged for a statue of Christopher Columbus to be placed on the White House grounds near the EEOB in an effort to force recognition of the holiday. The statue is a replica of another that was thrown into Baltimore’s harbor in 2020 in Trump’s first term during that year’s spate of protests against racism.
On Friday, Trump revealed new rendering plans to build a 250-foot “triumphal arch” on Memorial Circle, a roundabout near Arlington National Cemetery.
That plan has also been submitted to the CFA for consideration. Both it and the EEOB proposal will be considered during an April 16 meeting.
On February 2, Trump shared a photo of New Delhi’s India Gate on Truth Social.
“India’s beautiful Triumphal Arch. Ours will be the greatest of them all,” Trump said at the time.
