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President Donald Trump has aggressively moved to leave his imprint on the nation’s capital in the year and a half since he returned to office.
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The famed Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has been drained, painted blue and filled again. But the algae has returned and Trump has said that material peeling off the bottom will require the pool to be drained again. An entire wing of the White House is gone, demolished to a pile of rubble, while construction on a much larger 90,000-square foot replacement is underway.
Sites around town are being scoped out for new, splashy monuments. The president’s name has been added to several buildings in the nation’s capital, including the US Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Center, although it’s since been removed from the latter to comply with a court order. And Trump has touted the repair of Columbus Fountain, in front of Union Station, as “the most magnificent possibly of all,” among a number of fountains repaired around the city.
CNN is tracking the projects and plans reshaping DC so far this term.
The president — reverting to his roots as a builder and developer — has blown through regulatory hurdles, sparking legal challenges to several of his projects. And while he’s secured millions in private donations, some efforts are also racking up millions at the taxpayers’ expense.
Public opinion is largely not on Trump’s side. Americans, for example, overwhelmingly oppose his ballroom project and his proposed triumphal arch. In Trump’s view, though, construction is the foundation of his legacy, according to sources familiar with his thinking.
“I’m a really good builder. The thing I do best in life is build,” the president told reporters in May over the sound of ballroom construction.
White House ballroom construction
Trump’s plans for a new White House ballroom began in 2010, with an offer to the Obama administration to build one that wouldreplace the tents used for large state dinners. After ruminating on the idea for 15 years, Trump moved quickly upon entering office for a second time to make it a reality. After he hired an architect and drew up plans, the excavators began tearing into the East Wing in October to make way.
Trump has said his planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom would cost $400 million, which would be privately funded. But the contractor estimated a $600 million price tag, half of which would be publicly paid for, according to a copy of the estimate obtained by The Washington Post.
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The president has argued the ballroom is a security imperative, especially after the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. But a request for Congress to appropriate security funding led to tension even with Senate Republicans, some of whom feared the optics of paying for such a project while Americans are struggling to make ends meet — and removed it from a key immigration package.
The new entertainment space, which will sit atop a rebuilt bunker, will feature Corinthian columns and crystal chandeliers, closely resembling the ballroom at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s Florida resort’s aesthetics have also seemed to influence the gold trimmings adorning the Oval Office and the Roosevelt Room, as well as the marble used in the remodeled Lincoln Bedroom bathroom and redone Palm Room flooring.
Elsewhere on the White House campus, Trump has sought to repaint the hulking grey Eisenhower Executive Office Building with a white “magic paint,” although he’s agreed to freeze his plans for now after preservationists sued.
—CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Renée Rigdon and Thomas Bordeaux contributed to this report.
This story has been updated with additional information.
Methodology | CNN has been tracking President Donald Trump’s changes across DC — since his inauguration in 2025 — through statements, social media, court filings, reporting across the city, hearings and other media reports. The June 26, 2026, update of this story focuses on his changes within the District itself (not in Maryland or Virginia) and those projects that he has personally mentioned online or in person. Therefore, this list is not exhaustive.
Photo Credits: National Park Service, Kevin Carter/Getty Images, REUTERS/Kylie Cooper, Drew Angerer/Getty Images, REUTERS/Brian Snyder, Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress. Renderings: National Park Service, National Capital Planning Commission.
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