With the White House Rose Garden grass ripped out and replaced with a brand new stone patio, the Mar-a-Lago-ification of the White House has reached a new phase.
After returning to office for a second term, President Donald Trump quickly took to updating White House interiors to better match his maximalist, rococo aesthetic with elements like gold embellishment in the Oval Office and more pictures of himself lining the hallways.
Now, the new Rose Garden patio and other recent and planned outdoor updates represent more permanent updates to the most historically significant home in the United States. Trump isn’t just redecorating—he’s working to leave his physical mark on the property, and the Rose Garden is just the beginning.
Designed during John F. Kennedy’s administration by gardener Rachel Mellon, the Rose Garden has hosted presidential press conferences and the 1971 wedding of Richard Nixon’s daughter Tricia.
According to Trump, though, the space was unusable after it rained.
“We had to do it,” Trump told reporters Sunday. “When we had a press conference, you’d sink into the mud.”
The new patio just so happens to resemble the patio at Mar-a-Lago where he holds court. The National Park Service oversaw the Rose Garden’s redesign, and it was paid for by the Trust for the National Mall, a nonpartisan nonprofit.
Work began on the patio on June 11, and one week later, Trump had two jumbo, car dealership-sized flag poles installed on the White House’s North and South lawns. Now that the patio’s done, Trump is turning his attention to his next project: a planned $200 million ballroom inside of the White House. The White House said construction begins next month on the 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which resembles Mar-a-Lago in renderings. Preservationists are worried.
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order promoting traditional, classic federal civic architecture, but at home, he’s following his own rules. This isn’t a revival of classical architecture as much as it is an attempt to bring the style of South Florida to D.C. Redesigning the landscape was just the first step. No matter how far Trump’s White House renovations end up going, one thing’s for certain: the office won’t look the same after he’s done with it.
