White House East Wing: See Before Trump’s Renovations, and Plans for His Ballroom

When President Trump first announced his plans for a ballroom at the White House, he promised a light touch on the structure. Now the East Wing has been largely torn down.

June 24 aerial image from Nearmap; Oct. 23 satellite image from Planet Labs. Zach Levitt and Tim Wallace/The New York Times

Here is a look at what the White House used to look like and what Mr. Trump now envisions for it:

The top diagram of the White House is based on a 3-D scene from Google Earth. The bottom diagram show a photograph of a physical model taken by Doug Mills. The New York Times

During an Oval Office meeting on Wednesday, Mr. Trump showed off a model of the White House with the new ballroom, along with recent drawings of the ballroom itself. On the other end of the White House grounds, demolition of the East Wing continued.

Jiawei Wang/The New York Times

Mr. Trump said at the meeting that to build the ballroom properly, the existing structure had to come down, despite his previous statements. The East Wing housed the White House visitors office and offices for the first lady and her staff.

Doug Mills/The New York Times

Doug Mills/The New York Times

Doug Mills/The New York Times

Much is still unknown about the renovation process and what the final ballroom will look like, and the project has not gone through the review process that White House renovations typically do. The process of tearing down the East Wing was expected to be completed as soon as this weekend, according to administration officials.