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Posted on 12/04/2025 7:44:24 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Donald Trump has replaced the chief architect in charge of designing his grandiose $300 million White House ballroom.
The president replaced James McCrery II and his architecture firm back in late October, according to the Washington Post.
Behind the scenes, Trump and McCrery battled over the commander-in-chief’s desire to keep increasing the size of the new building.
One source said Trump decided to replace the esteemed designer after McCrery’s firm repeatedly missed deadlines and its small workforce made progress difficult.
Trump's ballroom, paid for by big tech donors including Amazon and Google, is described as 90,000 square feet in official announcements - significantly larger than the 55,000 square feet mansion residence section of the White House complex.
It is unclear if McCrery stepped back voluntarily, but the president and him remain on good terms, a source told the outlet.
Trump's ballroom project is now being led by architect Shalom Baranes, a veteran designer for government buildings in Washington for decades.
Baranes's firm has been involved in redesigning the main Treasury building and the headquarters of the General Services Administration.
The White House says McCrery still remains involved in the project on a 'consulting' basis.
'McCrery still remains as a valuable consultant on the ballroom project,' A White House official told the Daily Mail.
'This is not a replacement but rather a passing of the baton as the project develops into new phases.'
McCrery's firm has been involved in notable projects focusing on large-scale cathedrals across the country.
In 2018, his firm finished construction on the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The worshipping center's size is over 28,000 square feet with a dome that rises 14 stories above the ground.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
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“McCrery’s firm repeatedly missed deadlines and its small workforce made progress difficult.”
This will be left out of every breathless story from the DNC media whores.
Good. We don’t need missed deadlines and acting like a prima donna. Get the job done.
“It is unclear if McCrery stepped back voluntarily, but the president and him remain on good terms, a source told the outlet.”
Trump lives large.
Canada, Greenland, Western Hemisphere, I’m talkin to you!
Trump was a businessman, and was largely a successful one in the most cutthroat real estate environment in the nation.
When Trump took over the Central Park Skating Rink renovation, it got done on time and under budget because he held people accountable and they knew it.
So they delivered when they worked under his direction. This is likely a similar situation, although it is so unheard of in the world of government that it seems novel and foreign.
The customer is always right….
LOL!
Hahahahaha...there always seems to be suitable Seinfeld references when Trump is the topic!
Well, Trump sure isn’t an architect, but he IS the boss.
Heh, the look on his face...:)
Pres Trump knows exactly what he wants and how he wants it. If you can’t deliver, well, bye-bye.
The Houdini of Politics
Ha! I always liked that one.
Notice, he’s limiting himself to a unit count
of only One Each. Sensible shopping. There may be a “3 for the Price of 1”
sale going on!
The more you spend, the more you save!
He who pays the piper calls the tune.
The project falling behind schedule would been characterized by the media as a failure of Trump’s. The architect should have known this going in, and that missing deadlines was not an option. Sounds like he bit off more than he could chew.
.
Excellent graphic!
Jim McCreary isn’t a prima donna. He’s very, very Catholic, very, very conservative, and specializes in church and cathedral restorations with a strong commitment to restoring the classical esthetic. He is also meticulous and has a reputation for the highest standard of quality the client’s budget can support.
Deadlines slipping? I dunno; maybe so. But I would suspect that a big part of that problem is likely constant design changes as Trump keeps scaling up his vanity project.
I was surprised McCreary would take on the White House ballroom project in the first place because it is so out of scale to the rest of the White House complex. Trump is building a gold plated party room that will dwarf the White House itself. It will be used about six times a year, if it’s subdivided into office space to house another 3,000 White House political appointees in the next democrat administration. If Trump really has to have the biggest party room in ten zip codes, at least put the @*#& thing underground.
I don’t care if they put up a tent for big dinners at the White House. As far as I’m concerned, dinners that large are grotesque to begin with. The White House’s state rooms have traditionally been scaled and decorated to reflect the sturdy republican virtues of the early federal period. It’s not supposed to be a palace.
Of course, I’m just an old grump. I think the Supreme Court went off the rails when they took it out of the Capitol Building and built a Greek temple for the court across the street. The Justices used to meet under a good republican dome and mingle constantly with ordinary plebeians like senators, representatives and ordinary citizens who used to roam freely before the Capitol became a fortified place. The Justices don’t need a private dining room any more than Trump needs a big playroom. Let them eat bean soup in the cafeteria like everyone else, or bring a bag lunch.
The main point of the Supreme Court building, apart from fueling the Justices’ egos, was to house a rapidly ballooning staff. That was a mistake too; reduce the staff to two or three clerks per justice, make the Supremes write their own opinions, and a lot of the judicial overreach would come to an end. So would the ability of hopelessly senile Justices to hang on while the staff director calls the shots and a team covers for the drooling idiot who has mummified in place. That’s just me ... but it was a mistake to give free reign to delusions of grandeur on the bench. Just as it’s a mistake to try to turn the White House into Versailles.
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