They have long been deployed on Trump’s properties, and the president has handpicked them for his planned White House ballroom, too. “Why the White House didn’t originally use them, at least on the north front, which is considered the front door, is beyond me.”A White House spokesperson told The Washington Post that while Trump prefers Corinthian columns in new construction, there are no plans to change the existing Ionic columns outside the White House. Asked whether he had spoken with Trump about using Corinthian columns on other White House projects, Baranes declined to comment. Cook, who publicly proposed changing the White House columns in a meeting last month as he voted to approve Trump’s ballroom, said he was conscious of the discrepancy between the ballroom’s planned Corinthian columns and the White House mansion’s Ionic columns. “It’s not fundamentally making a big change,” such as proposing a postmodern style addition to the White House, Onyango said.

Source: Washington Post March 15, 2026 10:31 UTC