Trump in the gilded Oval Office. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
US President Donald Trump has focused on remaking Washington in his second term, from blades of grass on the White House lawn to new monuments around the city.
He regularly directs the presidential helicopter to fly over his projects, surveying his changes from above.
No modern president has done more to personally reshape the nation’s capital. It’s an effort that Trump’s deputies and allies credit as a major achievement.
Many others just want him to stop.
Some of Trump’s efforts have been concentrated on the White House - long known as the “People’s House” but increasingly a building and campus that reflect the president’s personal tastes.
The administration is set to spend at least $900 million on White House construction projects.
Construction at the site of the ballroom complex. (Samuel Corum/Samuel Corum/Pool/For The Washington Post)
The ballroom - In progress
Trump’s most significant and controversial White House change was his decision to tear down the East Wing to build a planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom complex. The president said the White House has long needed a permanent space to host VIPs and that his project will be paid for by private donations. As The Washington Post has reported, taxpayers could end up paying at least half of the overall $600 million project.
After the ballroom drew a legal challenge, Trump subsequently insisted the ballroom must be built for national security, revealing details about a planned military complex being built underneath it.
Architects and preservationists have warned that Trump’s ballroom is too large and will distort views of the White House and overshadow the 55,000-square-foot mansion.
Helipad - Completed
Trump oversaw the rapid construction of a helipad this summer, speeding up the project so it would be finished in time for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit last week.
The project was sparked by a technical problem: The new generation of Marine One helicopters, which transport the president, risk scorching the White House grass.
Trump instructed contractors to redo weeks of work after he was dissatisfied with the slope of the helipad. He also directed workers to regrade the White House’s South Lawn to bring its slope flush with the new helipad.
Workers also redid part of the White House driveway after Trump said past presidents had neglected the road and that its condition was embarrassing when foreign leaders arrived.
Trump makes remarks at an event in the Rose Garden in May. (Aaron Schwartz/Pool/For The Washington Post)
The Rose Garden - Completed
Trump has paved over much of the garden, which was redesigned by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. The grass was inconvenient for events, particularly when it was damp, Trump said.
Trump also has installed statues celebrating leaders and heroes from the nation’s founding, including several sculptures on loan from conservative art collector Harlan Crow.
Trump in the gilded Oval Office. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
The Oval Office - Completed
Trump made modest changes to the famed presidential office in his first term but has gone much further in his second presidency.
His signature golden flourishes are visible throughout the room: Trump affixed gilding to its walls, placed golden items on a mantelpiece and hung gold-framed portraits of past presidents.
The president has also touted the office’s power to intimidate leaders who visit him.
Workers install gold decorations over framed photos of former presidents in the West Wing walkway. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
West Wing walkway - Completed
The iconic walkway between the president’s office and his residence looks remarkably different after Trump’s changes.
Trump last year added a “Presidential Walk of Fame” - a line of presidential portraits, with captions written by Trump that praise some of his predecessors while mocking Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, among others. He has also added gold script to the walls that welcomes visitors to the West Wing and the Oval Office.
Trump this spring also overhauled the West Wing walkway itself, replacing decades-old beige Tennessee flagstone with handpicked dark granite.
West Wing 2nd story colonnade - Planned
Trump and his deputies have discussed building a second level above the West Wing’s current colonnade that would provide “symmetry” with the planned two-story East Wing colonnade that would connect to the ballroom.
The “Upper West Wing” would provide much-needed office space, they say. The administration has not released any formal architectural plans for a second-story West Wing colonnade.
Photos of president Trump in the Palm Room. (Peter W. Stevenson/The Washington Post)
Palm Room rehab - Completed
Long considered a minor stop on White House tours - and used as a staging room for larger events - the space has been turned into a showpiece intended to help welcome dignitaries and VIPs. The president replaced the tiled floor with marble, which he said he personally paid for, put in new chandeliers and restored the walls.
The room has since been decorated with pictures of Trump at the White House and around the world.
Lincoln bathroom - Completed
Trump’s changes have extended to the White House’s living quarters. The president last year renovated the famous bathroom, which is part of a guest suite in the White House, drawing on his frequently used palette of gold and marble.
“It was renovated in the 1940s in an art deco green tile style, which was totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era,” Trump wrote on social media last year. “I did it in black and white polished Statuary marble.”
Lafayette Square - In progress
Trump in January abruptly shuttered the public park across the street from the White House for renovations.
The project included fixing Lafayette Square’s fountains and improving its walkways - and Trump counting its trees, envisioning 47 trees to mark being the 47th president. The renovations were largely completed this summer, but much of the park remains closed to the public.
Secret Service officials have also proposed a plan to install permanent fences around the square. Advocacy groups say that would allow Trump to shut out peaceful protesters.
Trump has also envisioned repainting the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, the 138-year-old building next to the White House used by hundreds of administration staff. He said it is ugly and should be white. The idea has been widely opposed by architects, art critics and others who say painting the building would permanently damage its granite. Preservationists sued to stop the plan last year.
Visitor screening center - Planned
Trump has supported building a permanent screening facility for White House visitors, which many outside observers call overdue.
The Secret Service’s original proposal, unveiled in March, called for an underground screening center. The revised design includes an aboveground pavilion that resembles other buildings on the campus. The Secret Service hopes to win approval from federal review panels and complete the project by summer 2028.
Workers paint the Reflecting Pool. (Al Drago/For The Washington Post)
The Reflecting Pool - In progress
Trump in April announced a rapid project to renovate the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool, vowing to plug the pool’s leaks, resurface its basin and finish the job in time for July Fourth celebrations on the National Mall.
Trump’s changes lasted a few days. The basin’s coating began to visibly peel, with chunks of Trump’s new pool liner, tinted “American Flag Blue,” littering the surface and algae blooms clouding the water.
Trump initially accused vandals of deliberately damaging his project. Officials arrested several people and pressed charges, then dropped them after finding evidence that “botched work” by contractors was to blame.
The pool was drained again July 10 and is still undergoing repairs.
Displays at the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Museum. (Tyler M. Andrews/The Washington Post)
Lincoln Memorial additions - In progress
The Trump administration in June touted the opening of a new visitors center and museum underneath the Lincoln Memorial. While some administration officials have tied it to Trump’s leadership, the new Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Museum predates him. The project was launched a decade ago and pursued across several administrations.
Trump in June also announced plans to build a pedestrian bridge that he said would allow visitors to the Lincoln Memorial to easily walk to the Potomac River. The administration has yet to formally propose a plan to do so.
Displays at the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Museum. (Tyler M. Andrews/The Washington Post)
‘Arts of War’ and ‘Arts of Peace’ sculptures - Completed
Trump this year moved to regild four bronze-and-granite statues near the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Memorial Bridge, calling them drab.
The “Arts of War” and “Arts of Peace” statues were dedicated in 1951 as a gift from Italy, crediting the United States’ role in helping rebuild Europe following World War II. The Trump administration applied 23.75 karat gold leaf to the statues, creating a starkly different visual for pedestrians and drivers long used to the statues’ more muted colors.
The location for the proposed arch. (Al Drago/For The Washington Post)
Triumphal arch - Planned
Trump wants to build a 250-foot-tall arch at Memorial Circle, a traffic roundabout tucked inside Washington’s boundaries, to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Trump recently announced that the planned tourist attraction would also be a “military complex,” featuring drones and snipers, raising safety and logistical questions.
The planned arch represents Trump’s most audacious effort to reshape Washington’s skyline, and it faces a legal challenge. Administration officials have acknowledged that the towering structure would harm the experience of visiting nearby historic sites, including Arlington National Cemetery. They have justified the arch by pointing to a century-old plan, authorized by Congress, to build a pair of columns near the site.
HUD headquarters - In progress
Trump has signaled plans to close or sell federal office buildings downtown, including the headquarters of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as the president tries to shrink the size of the federal workforce and remake the government’s Washington footprint.
HUD has emerged as a prime example of Trump’s strategy. Its longtime home, the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, is designed in a brutalist style and has been lampooned as one of Washington’s biggest eyesores. Employees have said the building is outdated and in need of renovations.
HUD officials last year said they would move their headquarters to Alexandria, Virginia, drawing complaints and legal action. The Weaver building has yet to sell.
U.S. Institute of Peace - Completed
Trump and his deputies have sought to put his name on government programs and currency - and buildings, like the headquarters of this nonprofit group created by Congress.
Trump moved quickly in early 2025 to dismantle the peace institute, with his deputies soon firing nearly all of the organization’s Washington-based staff. The headquarters sat largely empty and unused until December, when workers affixed the president’s name to signs outside. One day later, the newly rebranded “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace” hosted its first event.
The peace institute’s lawyers and Democratic lawmakers have said the name change was illegal.
Scaffolding and tarp cover the building name. (Al Drago/For The Washington Post)
The Kennedy Center - In progress
Trump’s efforts to put his name on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts have been less successful.
After taking office in 2025, Trump fired holdovers on the board of Washington’s flagship arts facility, helped secure new money for its operations and hosted the center’s annual awards show.
Trump also made little secret of his desire to have the building named after him, and his new allies on the board obliged in a December 2025 vote. The move shocked lawmakers and arts advocates, who said it was an affront to the memory of the slain president. A federal judge ruled the move illegal and ordered Trump’s name to be removed.
That helped provoke a standoff where Trump and his allies claimed that if the president’s name was not on the building, it would need to be closed.
With no resolution in sight, the center’s Trump-led board on Sept. 15 moved to shutter the arts center for about two years, saying urgent repairs were necessary to protect public safety.
A jogger pauses at the Tidal Basin near West Potomac Park. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)
West Potomac Park ‘National Garden of American Heroes’ - Planned
Trump has wanted to build a national sculpture garden since his first term, and in early 2025 said it would feature 250 “American heroes,” including presidents, civil rights leaders, scientists, athletes and entertainers.
In May 2026, he announced that West Potomac Park would be the site of the project.
Some Washington residents have said they are worried about losing access to fields used by local sports leagues and for informal recreation. Local groups have sued Trump to block construction.
East Potomac golf course - In progress
Trump wants to convert East Potomac Golf Links, a public course long used by local golfers, into a “championship-level” course that would host major tournaments.
The administration has released designs for the makeover and begun fundraising for the project.
Trump announced in June that work on the course would begin Sept. 1, but that date passed with the course still open and no visible signs of construction, although multiple trees have been removed. Democrats say that records show the administration is wrongly pushing forward on the project.
Officials at Meridian Hill Park in July. (Craig Hudson/For The Washington Post)
D.C. parks - In progress
Trump has overseen renovations to dozens of Washington parks, like Logan Circle and Meridian Hill Park, restoring fountains, replanting grass and making other changes.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and other local leaders have long said the federal government had neglected the parks, which are federal land. The president diverted funding from other parks around the nation to address the Washington-area parks as part of his local beautification campaign.
Unlike some of the president’s other priorities, these projects have been largely hailed by Washington residents.
