Andrew Kerr- Architect - Here's why the new White House ballroom project is not real.

[Ellipsis]

Take it for what it's worth. This is floating around on social media.

From the architect.

Here's why the new White House ballroom project is not real. (The demo is obviously real.) Some background - I am a licensed Architect with 20+ years of experience. I have worked on multiple Federal projects with sensitive building programs that required background checks.

1. With a projected size of 90,000sf and a newly revised budget of $300M, the cost per square foot would be $3,333. No building costs anywhere near that. $1,000/sf is astronomical.

2. Let's assume, since we are drawing in the classical, style, that the proportions of the building adhere to the Golden Ratio. A 90,000sf would be a building with a footprint roughly 380' x 235'. Longer than a football field and 1.5x as wide.

2. The building is projected to accommodate 999 people. 15sf/person is required for a banquet area; 20sf/person is pretty comfortable. What you see in the rendering below is closer to 20sf/person. That's only 20,000sf, or a space that is 200'x100'. It's supposed to be a ballroom, so let's be extraordinarily generous and provide 10,000sf for the ballroom support functions, and another 10,000sf for pre-function. Extraordinarily generous. That's STILL only 40,000sf, not even half of the supposed building.

3. There are no drawings for the building. The renderings are poorly coordinated - exterior views do not match the interior views. See below - the White House is 70 feet tall, to the roof. The interior renderings show a room that is roughly 100' x 200', with a ~20 foot ceiling. The exterior renderings show a building footprint of 4.5x that amount.
Those are renderings that could be produced by young staff in a week or two, at most. Nothing else exists.

Sorry for the Facebook link
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10239930099731751&set

[Permanut]

1. Great info, great post.

[intrepidity]

2. So what is the hypothesis?

Not going to the link.

[Raven123]

23. Maybe a new grift?

[pansypoo53219]

40. a huge grift. the oompa loompa isn't sartisfied w/ the money he's already made selling his coins + nft's.

i go thru most states on estatesales.net + i see so many of his fucking shit i bet goes for so little.

[IbogaProject]

55. 3 levels

Including a bunker or rather a sceeming room downstairs.

[sop]

3. The destruction of the East Wing is real.

Whether the proposed monstrosity depicted in the architectural renderings is real is another matter.

[Layzeebeaver]

73. This

Its real.

Definitely real.

[Klarkashton]

4. They are playing a $300.million project by ear.

This is insanity.

[Diraven]

27. Embezzlement

Last edited Fri Oct 24, 2025, 05:26 PM - Edit history (2)

I'm pretty sure this entire project is a vehicle to embezzle taxpayer money into Trump and his cronies' pockets. They demolished it quickly without the required approvals so now they can say they're forced to build something. Then conveniently Trump decides he can order the DOJ to pay himself reparations for being investigated that add up to exactly the amount he claims is needed for the ballroom project, so he can justify that by saying he's donating all of it for the project. But in reality he couldn't care less if it actually gets built, and they're already cutting corners by not even using asbestos protection during the demolition. If the project does get built, it will be for a fraction of the claimed cost, and all the rest will just end up in Trump's pocket.

[The Roux Comes First]

32. Well, Not Exactly "By Ear," More Like by the Seat of His Soiled Diaper

This pond-scum has never encountered an offensive action he can resist taking.

Make America Gag Again.

[ananda]

45. Once the east wing was destroyed...

I knew Trump's mind was completely gone.

That is all that this is about, a new demented
reality with grift and money involved.

[leftstreet]

5. "What is this, a center for ants?"

.webp

[orangecrush]

37. Great movie

Trump actually was in it, though.

[maxsolomon]

6. I would bet that there are numerous below-grade levels planned.

It's likely McCrery is still producing the documents, and they may just have foundation plans at this point. Demo is easy: "take it all down".

Will it have a "bunker" below? A Commercial kitchen?

[markodochartaigh]

7. "No

building costs anywhere near that. $1,000/sf is astronomical."

Get used to this. The old "take 33.3% off the top for administration" rule is passé. Under authoritarianism the majority of the money goes straight to the top, whether or not the work gets completed.

The other points reinforce this. The less detail in the plans, the easier it is to suck off money. Authoritarians are leeches on the body politic.

[NJCher]

8. Here we go!!!

Wait until we get to the stage where real architects break the news. Then we will see architects being slandered on Lies Social. Who knows, they may even get their own flyover.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

30. How nice of you to claim Andrew Kerr is not real.

Bray Architects
https://www.brayarch.com › news › employee-spotlight-andrew-kerr
Employee Spotlight - Andrew Kerr | Bray Architects
Andrew Kerr is a delivery team leader and architect at Bray. He is responsible for managing several projects, including work for the Kohler, New Glarus, and Columbus school districts, as well as the new McFarland Public Safety Building.

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com › in › drewker
Andrew Kerr - Senior Project Manager | Licensed Architect | LEED ...

??

[AllyCat]

46. I don't think NJCher is saying Mr Kerr

Isn’t real. He’s broken the dam of information here and likely more interviews with more real architects will follow.

Interesting that he’s designed several buildings I know. Thank you for sharing some new information (new to me).

[Bernardo de La Paz]

51. She says when the "REAL architects" speak up, as if Kerr is not real

until we get to the stage where real architects break the news.

"until" means she thinks it has not happened yet. If Kerr were real in her eyes, she would not have written "until".

It is kind of you to say thanks for my info. I'm always glad when people are able to have a wider deeper picture.

[FBaggins]

61. Yes and no

I'll often see an attorney's opinion cited in a debate here on some constitutional issue only to find that they specialize in family law or real estate law. Those are perfectly respectable professions, but the writer may have only taken a single semester of con law two or three decades ago. I often find that student I coach for moot court have a superior understanding of the issues involved than the person being cited as authoritative... despite lacking a law degree (or even an undergraduate degree at that point).

Kerr is the COO of an architecture firm that appears only to do home construction and home improvement projects. His graduate degrees are in business and operations management. That's entirely appropriate for his position, but the people in the firm actively doing architechture work have their advanced degrees in architecture... and even then I would take with a grain of salt their opinions on federal building cost estimates.

The more recent illustrations posted here are from McCrery Architects. McCrery is a professor of architecture at CU in DC who specializes in classic architecture and has worked on the US Capitol, the Capitol here in NC, and the Supreme Court.

Kerr is drawing conclusions on far too little data. He's already taken down the original images when he realized that they were discredited. He "stands by" his analysis... but it's demonstrably outside of his area of expertise.

As a simple example - consider his statement "the cost per square foot would be $3,333. No building costs anywhere near that. $1,000/sf is astronomical." Then consider the recent debate over renovations for the Federal Reserve HQ building that are currently underway. Trump was lambasting Powell over how wasteful the spending was and most of us here took the opposite position. Well... that's a $2.5 Billion dollar project... which renovates 402k sqft and expands an additional 440k sqft. That's $3k/sqft and half of it is renovation... not demolition and new construction.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

64. You make some good points and lay them out well. . . . . nt

[eShirl]

9. still trying to figure out how to grift most of it back into his own pocket

[popsdenver]

50. Trump hired the contractor

with a no bid contract????????????????? KICKBACK CITY..........

Trump said HE was going to finance it, along with donors...........LOL him being in charge of the corporate money donors and co-mingling it with his money??????????????

Who's fooling who???????? LARD ASS, IS THE "COMMANDER IN CHIEF" OF GRIFTING.........He has not touched a thing in his entire life that was not a con job, corrupt grift, or outright theft........

[FBaggins]

10. Seems like typical Facebook nonsense

The first photo in the post replaces the entire West Wing and abuts the WH. That really is some kid using AI to make up a photo.

Some easy responses:

1 - $1,000/sf isn't astronomical - and without knowing what they're building, nobody can say that $3,333/sf is impossible. The Bush/Obama administrations spent more than $300 mil on infrastructure and didn't build much of anything in the complex.

2 - Or it could be a two-story building half that size... or a three story building a third that size.

2(sic) - Nobody said the ballroom itself will be the entire building.

3 - Since there's no drawing... an actual architect wouldn't be in a position to comment.

[Ellipsis]

16. NYT article gifted for you

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/22/us/politics/east-wing-trump-ballroom.html?unlocked_article_code=1.v08.Qq8M.0SsQicULJVzH&smid=url-share

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. The WH has supplied a couple of renderings ("drawing" in your language). No idea what illustration FB has. . . . nt

[FBaggins]

62. "Drawings" was Kerr's label. I just adopted it in my response on that point.

The point being that architects should evaluate actual architectural illustrations... not images posted on social media.

To be fair to Kerr, however, "drawing" is not an uncommon description... particularly for those who got started in the pre-AutoCAD days (which is my last architectural experience)

[Wiz Imp]

53. You're the one spouting nonsense.

Andrew Kerr is a legitimate architect in DC and every single thing he says can be backed up by other architects. Nobody administration has You have no idea what you are talking about.

Oh, and $3,333 per square foot is indeed an astronomical cost for any building.

No, no existing building costs anything close to $3,333 per square foot; this price is astronomical even for the most expensive projects, with top-tier construction costing around $1,000 per square foot.
A cost of $3,333 per square foot is far beyond any current construction reality.
The most expensive buildings today typically cost around $1,000 per square foot, and even that is considered an extremely high price.

And the $300 million in spending from Bush & Obama was long ago debunked as well.
https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/10/23/obama-white-house-renovation/

Unraveling claims about $376M White House renovation under Obama
While a large White House renovation project took place during Obama's presidency, some posts omitted key context or shared misleading claims.

Trying to equate what happened under Obama with what Trump is doing is as dishonest as anything Trump himself has ever done.

These are pictures posted on the White House site which come from the actual architect of the project.
?resize=600,338
?resize=1536,864
?resize=600,338

[yaesu]

11. Its been brought up elsewhere that tRumps ballroom exactlly mirrors putins ballroom in russia though its 5% bigger so

tRump can brag to putin that "mine is bigger that yours"

[FBaggins]

21. Yeah... that was mostly nonsense

The photo provided as that ballroom was actually the throne room at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. The ballroom is entirely different part of the building... and neither is associated with Putin.

But it matches the ballroom Trump built for Mar-A-Lago decades ago.

[WarGamer]

39. Don't bring facts and truth into a good meme lol...

You're right of course... but does being right matter any more?

[Gaugamela]

12. The reason the price keeps going up daily

by 50 million -- $200, $250, $300, $350 -- is it's just another pay to play scheme. Contribute and you get special dispensation. I'm sure a lot of that money will find its way into Trump's bank account.

His handlers in the White House probably had the rendering drawn up just to humor his senile incontinent ego, not anticipating he would order the demolition. But nobody there cares. Gods have their whims after all.

[Ocelot II]

19. It will be built as cheaply as possible. Trump will pocket the extra money from the oligarchs' donations (bribes)

when all the plywood and particle board and styrofoam and gold spray paint and Hobby Lobby decorations are paid for, and the contractors are stiffed.

[Gaugamela]

20. Exactly.

[FakeNoose]

24. Yes the billionaires are standing in line waiting to throw money at it

Chump knows exactly how to play these guys. Grifters "R" Us, Incorporated.

[dsc]

13. I had wondered about that cost per square foot

My house cost a bit over 130 per square foot and it was a new build. $3333 seemed insanely high but I have no experience with luxury builds so thought maybe that was standard somehow.

[Silent Type]

14. Chirst, now trump even has architects questioning whether building was destroyed and is being rebuilt to trump's specs.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

25. Very good chance the open wound will fester for months or years.

Perhaps the best we can hope for is that construction doesn't begin before Nov 2028 (meaning never), though that might be wishful thinking. If tRump doesn't complete it, then any partial building can be properly bulldozed and a more consistent East Wing rebuilt.

[EX500rider]

15. Most likely redoing the bunker under it to be more up to date nt

[Diraven]

29. Good idea

They're probably updating the doomsday bunker so when Trump starts World War 3 they'll have somewhere to hide.

[thought crime]

38. That's what I think; they're going deep.

Big doners get tickets.

[EX500rider]

44. Even a bunker won't survive a Ground Zero strike from a Russian nuclear ground burst

[obamanut2012]

59. And there is also a water table issue to an extent

They will go down to Nelson County in VA or another bunker if something happens.

[Diraven]

69. That's true

The White House is only 16 feet above sea level.

[vapor2]

60. So said Thom Hartmann

[Ocelot II]

17. So it's a concept of a plan?

[Ellipsis]

18. Just like health care.

[BaronChocula]

22. So "sick f*ck" is now a legitimate measurement?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Scalded Nun]

26. At a minimum, 50-60% of the cost is going into Trump's pocket.

[cstanleytech]

31. Building a throne room then?

[allegorical oracle]

33. Historian Doug Brinkley this a.m. on Morning Joe, got heated up about this

topic. He pointed out how he's spent his life prizing history and working to protect historical sites. Got a chuckle when he pointed out the absurdity of drumpf's building a ballroom: "You can't turn a corner in Washington without passing a ballroom." Of course, he meant expansive spaces readily available to rent at DC hotels and arenas.

[NCDem47]

34. Bottom line:

There’s ZERO transparency on every aspect of this abomination.

No one ever will get the details, facts or figures.

Just awful. Such a victimizer.

[WarGamer]

35. He left out a critical part...

Did anyone see the demolition?

I saw what looked like 3' thick walls stuffed with rebar coming down...

The White House is built like a bunker, thus the dude is simply wrong.

[obamanut2012]

52. Wrong about what exactly?

[WarGamer]

65. about cost estimates...

[FakeNoose]

66. All Chump wants to do is look at the carpet samples

He'll let somebody else worry about how this thing is going to be built.

[viva la]

36. Very interesting....

I'm still stopped by the idea that demolition of an entire wing could happen without permits, without engineering analysis, without permission!
I had an attic room finished a few years ago, and the city engineer office had to come out and evaluate everything and order that a beam had to be put in to support the additional weight. And this was a 20X15 room over a garage!

What kind of structural effect would demolishing the side of a 200-year-old building have?
Who signed off on this?

And about the cost of the ballroom.... well, obviously Trump expects his 50% commission, right?

[ShazzieB]

41. I clicked on the FB link and got a page that said, "Sorry, this content isn't available right now."

Has it been taken down? And if so, is there another source?

I am sick about this whole thing. Has there been a peep out of anyone in Congress, have any senators or reps says anything? I'm avoiding most "corporate" news sources right now, so I honestly don't know.

EDITED TO ADD: Okay, I found a source that includes reactions from a few politicians, including Jamie Raskin and Gavin Newsom: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/22/politicians-react-white-house-demolition/86834575007/

Imo, there should be a HUGE outcry about this, at least from Democratic Senators and Reps. Not expecting that from the GOP; we know the majority of them are useless sellouts, but come on, WHERE IS THE OUTCRY?

[Ellipsis]

42. He might have changed privileges

The post has been shared 20K times. I'm sure you could find it.

[ShazzieB]

67. That's okay.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I think I'll let this one go. No biggie.

[evolves]

43. Posted to another DU thread earlier today:

OF COURSE it's a money-laundering operation.

For all we know, they took all of the priceless national heirlooms out and sold them on the black market-- historical fixtures, portraits, service pieces like the china chosen by First Ladies of the past.

Shades of "The Rape of Europa:" the documentary detailing the Nazi theft of the artistic treasures of Europe, many of which have never been found.

That is OUR House, NOT his.

Who will put a stop to it all is the question....

[blue_jay]

47. Also gives whomever wants to target WH a great view of the rebuild...

And who are the ass hats in the bulldozers willing to demolish it?

[dlk]

48. Fake ballroom...

This was a rage-fueled assault on the People’s House and is a visual of what is being done to our democracy.

[misanthrope]

49. Because it is a scam

A half-century of evidence shows us what Trump's standard behavior is and his tendencies.

Will he build something, a "ballroom" perhaps? Oh, it is likely. But using the aforementioned evidence, it will be something constructed on the cheap, with as many corners cut as possible and he will keep the remaining funds for himself.

And the size, the 90,000 square feet figure? It came straight from Trump's imagination. He made it up in the moment as he has been shown to do endlessly throughout his life. The man issues falsehoods like others do carbon dioxide.

Trump isn't complex and there's no need of Turing-level analysis to decode what is really going on. I also proffer that he demolished the connecting structure between the central WH and the East Wing solely due to his hatred of the Obamas and the now-iconic photo of President Obama playing with the family dog in the East Colonnade hallway. That photo encapsulates a joy and and wholesome appreciation for life that Trump resents because he is incapable of it.

[Emile]

54. The Epstein Ball Room

[Bluestocking]

56. Add it to the list of impeachable offenses

[Ford_Prefect]

58. The Epstein Ballroom and Casino will never be completed. I doubt if the construction phase will actually begin.

Aside from the obvious impossibility of a 90,000 sq/ft white elephant rising on the site, the legal challenges to building it by erasing the East Wing without a single permit, or plan filed, or environmental remediation due to asbestos in the original site, seem to doom it from the start.

IMO it is yet one more grifting boondoggle to line up donors to put money in Trump's pocket on the basis of promised future access to El bufón naranja. All you need to do is read the list of donors.

Altria Group Inc.
Amazon
Apple
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
Caterpillar Inc.
Coinbase
Comcast Corporation
J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
Hard Rock International
Google
HP Inc.
Lockheed Martin
Meta Platforms
Micron Technology
Microsoft
NextEra Energy Inc.
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Ripple
Reynolds American
T-Mobile
Tether America
Union Pacific Railroad
Adelson Family Foundation
Stefan E. Brodie
Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
Edward and Shari Glazer
Harold Hamm
Benjamin Leon Jr.
The Lutnick Family
The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
Stephen A. Schwarzmann
Konstantin Sokolov
Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
Paolo Tiramani
Cameron Winklevoss
Tyler Winklevoss

[Dixiegrrrl]

63. Facebook link sez "content not available"..... n/t

[scipan]

68. Don't forget the bunker.

No renderings, it would be legitimately classified.

[flashman13]

70. By the numbers - 90,000 sq. ft. is 2.07 acres.

[FBaggins]

72. For a single-story building

Which this does not appear to be

[SARose]

71. The Epstein Ballroom only exists in Trump's mind

Bet you a donut the White House looks exactly like this in November 2026.

My mantra “if his lips are moving - he’s lying.”