East Wing

East Wing
The East Wing of the White House in 1992
General information
StatusDemolished
Coordinates38°53′51.2″N 77°2′8.4″W / 38.897556°N 77.035667°W / 38.897556; -77.035667
Completed1902
1942
DemolishedOctober 2025

The East Wing was a part of the White House complex in Washington, D.C. that was built in 1902, expanded in 1942, and demolished in 2025.

Situated on the east side of the original main building of the White House, the building served as office for the first lady and her staff, including the White House social secretary, correspondence staff, and the White House Graphics and Calligraphy Office, all of which have been moved until the new East Wing is build.[1][2][3]

The East Wing was connected to the White House through the East Colonnade, a corridor with windows facing the South Lawn that housed the White House Family Theater, which was a cinema, and connected to the ground floor of the main building of the White House.

The first small East Wing (and the West Wing, which houses the Oval Office) was designed by Charles Follen McKim and built in 1902 during the Theodore Roosevelt renovations, as an entrance for formal and public visitors. This served mainly as an entrance for guests during large social gatherings, when it was necessary to accommodate many cars and horse carriages.[4]

In 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt oversaw an expansion and remodel of the East Wing. This included the construction of the Presidential Emergency Operations Center beneath the building, which serves as a bunker during emergencies.[5]

First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in 1977, was the first to keep her own office in the East Wing.[6][7] The social office prepares all of the invitations and written correspondence for every event held at the White House.[8]

In the month before its demolition, preparation began for the much larger proposed White House State Ballroom. The entire East Wing was demolished in late October, which was widely criticized by opposition politicans and preservationists, for not respecting preservation laws, for not respecting U.S. laws by not seeking the approval of U.S. Congress, as well as for the secrecy surrounding the demolition and the new building project.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Debusmann, Bernd Jr. (August 1, 2025). "White House announces new $200m ballroom - a longtime Trump wish". BBC News. Retrieved October 22, 2025.
  2. ↑ Liptak, Kevin; Holmes, Kristen; Collins, Kaitlan (October 22, 2025). "Trump plows past concerns over East Wing demolition — and envisions an even bigger ballroom than initially planned". CNN. Retrieved October 23, 2025.
  3. ↑ Ahn, Ashley (October 22, 2025). "From the Roosevelts to the Kennedys: A Look Back at the White House East Wing. The East Wing had been a base for the first lady, an entryway for social functions and an emergency bunker". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2025.
  4. ↑ Presidential Designs - Re-created at the Smithsonian, the White House’s Cross Hall tells a tale of changing styles
  5. ↑ "East Wing". White House Museum. Retrieved October 23, 2025.
  6. ↑ Klein, Betsy (October 23, 2025). "Melania Trump has been silent on demolition of the East Wing, home to first ladies for decades". CNN. Retrieved October 23, 2025.
  7. ↑ "Little-known facts about our First Ladies". Firstladies.org. Archived from the original on July 14, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  8. ↑ Bumiller, Elisabeth (October 23, 2025). "Trump's Ballroom Project Claims 123-Year-Old East Wing". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2025.
  9. ↑ "Who is paying for Donald Trump's new White House ballroom?". BBC. 2025-10-23. Retrieved 2026-01-06.

Other websites

Media related to East Wing at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.