Satellite photos show White House East Wing demolished to make way for Trump ballroom

A satellite image captures the demolition of the historic East Wing of the White House in order to make room for a planned new ballroom.

The image was taken by Planet’s SkySat satellite constellation on Oct. 23, 2025 from high above the White House in Washington, D.C. It shows the East Wing of the White House reduced to a pile of rubble as construction continues on the new Trump ballroom, a planned 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-meter) event space that will have room for over 900 guests.

When complete, the ballroom will be nearly twice the size of the White House itself. The addition will cost $300 million, according to the Associated Press.

President Trump issued a statement via social media that says the ballroom is “being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies,” as well as by the President himself.

According to a list provided by the White House, donors include a number of individual donors as well as corporations such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Lockheed Martin, who manufacture the Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis program.

The construction has faced criticism from groups such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded nonprofit organization devoted to preserving historic buildings and locations within the United States. In a letter published Oct. 22, Carol Quillen, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Trust, urged the Trump Administration and the U.S. National Park Service to stop the demolition until the administration’s plans could go through the “legally required public review processes.”

Quillen also wrote that the National Trust is “deeply concerned that the massing and height of the proposed new construction will overwhelm the White House itself” and “may also permanently disrupt the carefully balanced classical design of the White House with its two smaller, and lower, East and West Wings.”

The East Wing of the White House was built in 1902 by President Theodore Roosevelt as a formal entrance for guests and visitors. It was later expanded in 1942 under the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration in order to conceal the construction of an emergency bunker. A small movie theater was added that same year.

In the 1930s, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt began using the East Wing to host guests, according to the New York Times, beginning a long tradition of the first ladies using the wing for official functions and their own offices.

First Lady Melania Trump has yet to issue a statement on the East Wing’s demolition, and has declined requests for comment from media outlets.