President Donald Trump is pushing for congressional funding that would allow the General Services Administration (GSA) to undertake a long-delayed renovation and modernization plan for the White House West Wing.
Included in a recent legislative framework floated by Republican senators aimed at addressing the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 crisis is a request from the presidential administration for $377 million in funding for the project, AP News reports. The renovation, according to the report, has been in the works since at least the Obama administration and would represent the first modernization effort for the executive wing of the White House since 1933.
The West Wing administrative suite was built as an extension to the existing White House complex in 1904 by Charles McKim of McKim, Mead & White during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt. Over the years, major additions and renovations have taken place throughout the complex, with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt adding a subterranean swimming pool below a terrace situated between the White House and the West Wing that was subsequently converted into the Press Briefing Room by President Richard Nixon. A bowling alley was added under the North Portico by President Harry Truman in 1947 while President John F. Kennedy added the high-security Situation Room in 1961, among other changes that have taken place over the years.
Among the changes planned for the latest renovation are technological and security upgrades for the Oval Office that will relieve the office of temporary fixes that were put in place years ago in anticipation of a renovation that has yet to arrive, AP News reports.
Minor changes have been made to the Oval Office over the years, including a well-known "redecoration" of the space undertaken by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and French designer Stéphane Boudin in the early 1960s that reintroduced antique, period-specific furnishings and other elements to the Oval Office and other areas in the West Wing. Additionally, First Lady Nancy Reagan had the Oval Office's existing parquet floors replaced with quarter sawn oak and walnut planks.
Every president is allowed to select furnishings, artworks, and wall and window treatments for the Oval Office and other spaces throughout the White House.
GSA press secretary Pamela Pennington tells AP News that over the years, “the building’s infrastructure has continued to deteriorate and the need for updating has only increased. Further, this project is even more necessary given the current challenges as a result of COVID-19 and the need for modern HVAC systems to ensure proper circulation within the workspace.”
If funding is allocated for the project, the renovations will enter the design phase and eventually, into construction. A project timeline has yet to be published and it is unknown whether construction would begin before the November 2020 election. The renovation follows on a recently announced plan to upgrade the White House Rose Garden and add a new Tennis Pavilion to the White House Grounds by First Lady Melania Trump.
8 Comments
i bet this is just making sure there's funding to do a demolition in december before he goes...
in it for the long haul...
I will applaud the President who does the Glass House addition - complete transparency!
then they'd need to stop throwing stones!
ok, maybe plexi glass will be more appropriate
Let's not and say we did
Put a mansard on it.
actual photo of Trump and Kanye in the oval after YEEZY Home gets its first client/renovation project
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