Posted on 02/04/2026 6:28:07 AM PST by MtnClimber
Between the White House ballroom currently under construction, and the proposed Arc du Trump currently in the planning stage, Washington DC could look entirely different when President Trump leaves office. The classic elements are genuinely inspiring.
PRESIDENT TRUMP – “This beautiful building will be, when complete, the much-anticipated White House Ballroom — The Greatest of its kind ever built! It is a rendering from the Treasury Building, directly across the street, and replaces the very small, dilapidated, and rebuilt many times, East Wing, with a magnificent New East Wing, consisting of a glorious Ballroom that has been asked for by Presidents for over 150 years. Being an identical height and scale, it is totally in keeping with our historic White House. This is the first rendering shown to the Public. If you notice, the North Wall is a replica of the North Facade of the White House, shown at the right-hand side of the picture. This space will serve our Country well for, hopefully, Centuries into the future! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP“
Who do you think will be the first “guest of honor” at a state dinner using the completed ballroom?
One of the proposals for the Washington DC “Arch”
I saw it on FR.
Do a Google search for “Trump ballroom t shirt” and you will probably pull it up.
I am wondering what triumph we are celebrating. Shown here the proposed arch follows the style of the largest of several arches built by the Emperor Napoleon in 1806 to glorify the French Grand Army, and commemorate Revolutionary and Imperial military victories.
The problem is international relations and diplomacy have changed a lot in 220 years. We now have friendly relations with every country we have fought a war against—England, Germany, Japan, Mexico. Hopefully our elected governments will continue this pattern. Do we really want to stir up hostility in these relationships at this point of time. Now we have problems with former allies like Iran, and China with whom we have had no significant wars or triumphs. I don’t think the kind of arch planned will improve our international relations.
A separate problem is the DC height laws. I don’t know how high the DC Arch is planned to be, but the Arc de Triomphe is over 160 feet high. Here are the height rules for DC.
Key Building Height Regulations:
—Commercial Streets: Maximum 130 feet (approx. 12 stories).
—Residential Streets: Maximum 90 feet.
—Pennsylvania Avenue, NW: Maximum 160 feet.
—Calculation Method: The height is generally based on the street width plus 20 feet.
—Authority: These restrictions are mandated by Congress and implemented through the District of Columbia’s Zoning Regulations and National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC).
These regulations create a low, horizontal skyline, preventing skyscrapers and ensuring that buildings do not overpower national monuments. Building triumphal monuments is great for Emperors, but for Presidents?
An East German apartment complex has NEVER been suggested for a national building or memorial. The Arc de Triomphe and Versailles were built for the Emperors and Kings. Is this kind of glitzy display appropriate for the original seat of democracy? There is a reason so many people want to come into our country. There is also a reason so many people have left Russia. Which country do we want to be?
Actually if you have ever seen pictures of Trump’s mansion inside Trump Towers you might be more likely to guess Louis XIV, the Sun King, rather than Louse XVI who was a rather plain and simple person. His wife had all the glam.
Seeing the picture, it is better than I had expected. It is far enough to the East to not overwhelm the smaller White House, and it is in keeping with the classic style of the White House. It looks like a covered passage connects it to the White House. Also in mass it balances the very large office building on the West side of the White House.
If you think this ballroom has been catching heck from some people, you should see what AI reports on that western office building. Trump doesn’t like it either.
“Mark Twain famously described the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (formerly the Old Executive Office Building, or State, War, and Navy Building) as the “ugliest building in America”. Completed in 1888, the granite, French Second Empire-style structure was long criticized for its ornate, Victorian design and stark contrast to the nearby White House.
Key details regarding the building’s reputation:
—Architectural Criticism: Despite being a National Historic Landmark, it has historically been described as a “monstrosity”.
—Modern Context: President Trump recently referred to it as an “ugly building” in 2025, proposing to paint its gray exterior white to bring out its details.
—Design Contrast: Its ornate design was frequently disparaged in comparison to the neoclassical White House.”
If it is a granite building, wouldn’t cleaning the stone after 138 years make more sense than painting it white. It would have to be repainted every few years or would become even more ugly.
Seeing the picture, it is better than I had expected. It is far enough to the East to not overwhelm the smaller White House, and it is in keeping with the classic style of the White House. It looks like a covered passage connects it to the White House. Also in mass it balances the very large office building on the West side of the White House.
If you think this ballroom has been catching heck from some people, you should see what AI reports on that western office building. Trump doesn’t like it either.
“Mark Twain famously described the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (formerly the Old Executive Office Building, or State, War, and Navy Building) as the “ugliest building in America”. Completed in 1888, the granite, French Second Empire-style structure was long criticized for its ornate, Victorian design and stark contrast to the nearby White House.
Key details regarding the building’s reputation:
—Architectural Criticism: Despite being a National Historic Landmark, it has historically been described as a “monstrosity”.
—Modern Context: President Trump recently referred to it as an “ugly building” in 2025, proposing to paint its gray exterior white to bring out its details.
—Design Contrast: Its ornate design was frequently disparaged in comparison to the neoclassical White House.”
If it is a granite building, wouldn’t cleaning the stone after 138 years make more sense than painting it white. It would have to be repainted every few years or would become even more ugly.
How about a sculpture of Washington in his boat crossing the Deleware. The painting looks great and could be copied, with some corrections.
AI listed a number of errors, but the corrections I would like to see would show Washington as his 44 age at the time not so much older, also the correct flag of that time. Other corrections like the much larger 40 to 60 foot cargo boat likely used, the middle of the night in a raging snow storm, and probably a less diverse set of participants should probably not be an improvement. What was painted is a dramatic bit of patriotic propaganda, which still told a good and basically true story. It definitely honors the difficulty and success of our independence struggle.
Yes, truly doesn't match at all.
So we piss away hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid to other countries but we can’t spend some on ourselves?
The composition is wonderful. The front paddle leads you to Washington, the top of the flag brings in the 2nd boat, the rope beneath the man at the end of Washington's boat brings you back left as he leans right and the swirling water framed by icebergs brings you back to the front man.
Excellent composition analysis! 👌
Art history major here (after 3 1/2 years of physics, sigh).
It just sort of comes natural for me: to recognize it when I see it. I fascinate my son, an RN, by pointing out lines and habits of composition in certain movies, complementing the director. (I was a TV cameraman in the early days of television; loved the freedom to move the studio camera up and down, sideways, to compose the best shot!)
Ironically, when I tried photo journalism - both still camera and 16mm movie camera - I was a bust. 🤷 sigh
>>I was a TV cameraman in the early days of television
Would love to hear your stories when and if you’re up to it ever.
I was a video producer at one time in NY’s Westchester Co., so the cameramen I hired frequently did TV work. One of the gentlemen was a basketball cameraman so I wrote the script to have the project team playing basketball with their kids while it compared that with computer teamwork. Wildest to watch these wonderful amateurs being followed with TV quality moves. It was a lot of fun.
Another time I hired a steadicam operator and learned why this famous actor in a car commercial was always panting. My beloved 20 take talent was losing her brother that day and stayed with us to take her mind off of it. What I finally did was get him to video her pacing in front of the wall of glass trying to memorize her lines, then I glued together words from a number of sentences to make it appear she was thinking of the topic of the video as she walked. Wonderful lady. She later won a Turing award.
Camera work is a true art form.
I have never seen the side with the red checkerboard. I have walked past it on a sidewalk with a road alongside the sidewalk parallel to the building. I tried to copy a picture I saw that was more like what I remember, but was unable to transfer it to this page.
Had the same experience with not being able to copy a picture.
A lot of memories but, with age, not so vibrant. I had started at an educational station doing camera and various and eventually technical director of the local news. I wound up at National Educational Television {WGBH-TV in Boston}. The artistic opportunities there were fabulous, but as a working tech the job was not very well paid. For instance, we did a special on Lotte Lenya with super studio productions - she was a excellent dancer although her Wiki biography does not even mention it.
Lotte Lenya's name appears in the song 'Mack the Knife' - Look out for Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown but most audiences will remember her as Rosa Klebb, the KGB officer in the Bond film 'From Russia with Love', 1963.
The show had an NET budget; we shot studio scenes in concentrated succession for maybe two weeks. Many NET administrative leeches took annual salaries from the budget plus some claim by a few of the WGBH staff. We, the production staff, put in many hours with little rest - but when payday came: the show was over budget and we were asked to forego our overtime as a 'generous contribution' to art.
I guess that everyone gladly or begrudgingly gave in - except me. I made up my mind to move on and went to ABC Television Network in New York City. My feet had worn out on studio television camera work and they mercifully put me in audio production. When I first went to ABC we didn't even have color cameras; our production studios and technical facilities were in an old NYC Police horse 'stables' {?smell} just off Central Park West at about 66th street, bordered on the west by Columbus Ave - just north of Lincoln Center.
NYC took its toll on my health for 15 years. I was involved in many historical events during those years, including being at the Cape in July of 1969 for the liftoff of Apollo 11, the first man landing on the Moon. {I wasn't sent to the Moon to cover the landing; whew! 😅}
Folks like you get awfully tiresome. Just can’t stand for people to be proud and happy. Gotta rain on the parade.
Begone!
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