Appointee wants to replace White House columns with the ones Trump prefers [View all]

Last edited Sun Mar 15, 2026, 08:58 AM - Edit history (2)

Source: Washington Post

Appointee wants to replace White House columns with the ones Trump prefers

The head of a federal arts commission is proposing the more ornate Corinthian style for the nearly 200-year-old columns at the building's front entrance

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The White House on Feb. 4. (Anna Rose Layden/For The Washington Post)

By Dan Diamond and Aaron Steckelberg

For nearly two centuries, the White House's main entrance -- framed by a row of graceful Ionic columns -- has been a signature image of the seat of American power. Now the Trump-appointed head of a federal arts commission is proposing to replace them with a more ornate style favored by President Donald Trump.

Those more decorative columns, a style known as Corinthian, are considered the most luxurious in classical architecture and appear on buildings such as the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court. They have long been deployed on Trump's properties, and the president has handpicked them for his planned White House ballroom, too.

Cook's proposal to overhaul the front entrance to the White House, known as the North Portico, reflects a common dynamic in Trump's Washington, where the president's deputies and allies often anticipate and implement his desires -- and frequently upend decades of tradition and norms in the process.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/03/15/white-house-columns-ionic-corinthian/