Melania Trump Pauses White House Tours for 90K-Sq-Ft Ballroom Build

In what the East Wing is calling a "proactive pause", new public tours of the White House have been temporarily frozen while the historic mansion preps for its biggest expansion in over a century—a brand-new 90,000-square-foot State Ballroom.

No existing reservations have been cancelled, assures Nicholas Clemens, communications director for First Lady Melania Trump. Instead, a coalition of Secret Service, Park Service, and Executive Residence staff are racing to redesign the tourist route around what will soon become a construction zone beginning this September.

The grand ballroom—classical in design, capable of seating 650 VIP guests—aims to give future administrations a dedicated venue for glittering state dinners and towering ceremonial moments. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt promises the project (think cranes next to the Rose Garden) will wrap “long before the end of President Trump’s term.”

Temper your outrage: presidential tinkering with America’s most famous address is practically a constitutional pastime. TR gave us the West Wing in 1902, LBJ planted gardens, Ford carved out a swimming pool, and Obama seeded a vegetable patch that still flaunts heirloom tomatoes. Every commander-in-chief wants to leave fingerprints—even if it means the classic East Wing stroll through the Vermeil Room, Library, and China Room might detour past hard hats and sawdust.

For now, Mrs. Trump vows to "continue the tradition of public access", ensuring this four-year pause becomes just another footnote in the 230-year renovation saga known as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.