Ominous New Scaffolding Goes Up at Trump White House
The new construction project appears to be focused on the North Portico.
Evan Vucci/Evan Vucci/Reuters
New scaffolding was going up around the North Portico of the White House as President Donald Trump obsesses over renovations, raising questions about what exactly the latest project will entail.
The president, 80, has been ripping apart rooms and features throughout the White House and on its grounds since returning to office, including leveling the entire East Wing to build a massive ballroom.
On Tuesday, photographers captured construction workers putting up scaffolding and tents around the columns of the North Portico.
According to a White House official, the columns are undergoing standard restoration, focusing on stone repair.
Workers set up scaffolding at the North Portico of the White House in Washington, D.C. on June 30, 2026. A White House official said it was for standard restoration work on the North Portico columns.
Evan Vucci/Reuters
Earlier this month, workers could be spotted conducting maintenance on the exterior of the North Portico, but Tuesday’s scaffolding was going up on a much larger scale.
The North Portico features 200-year-old columns in the Ionic style around the main entrance to the White House.
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Last month, Trump complained that the columns at the White House were “falling down” and claimed the plaster was “falling off.” He went so far as to describe it as a “s--t house” but insisted he was making the necessary repairs.
Workers set up scaffolding at the North Portico of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 30, 2026.
Evan Vucci/Reuters
While the construction set to take place at the North Portico was described as standard restoration, the president has been vocal about his preference for more ornate Corinthian-style pillars.
The idea of changing the style was pitched by Rodney Mim Cook Jr., the Trump-appointed chair of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, in an interview with The Washington Post in March, leading to much speculation that the president would try to follow through with the redesign.
“Corinthian is the highest order [of column], and that’s what our other two branches of government have,” Cook Jr. said at the time. “Why the White House didn’t originally use them, at least on the north front, which is considered the front door, is beyond me.”
Last month, Trump was spotted running his hand over the stonework of a column and lingered for several minutes, looking up at the pillars, as he returned from Arlington National Cemetery after delivering a Memorial Day speech. The pool report said Trump spent six minutes outside the entrance before walking inside.
The president has carried out a series of renovations since returning to the White House. The largest change he made so far was bulldozing the entire East Wing of the White House in a shocking move last year to make way for a new ballroom that has since ballooned in size and cost.
The president has also packed the Oval Office with a series of gold decorations mounted across multiple surfaces that make it more closely resemble a ripoff version of the Palace of Versailles than the iconic office used by dozens of American presidents.
Trump's remodeling of the Oval Office is unprecedented in the amount of gold on display.
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
He paved over the grass in former first lady Jackie Kennedy’s famous rose garden to create what he has dubbed the “Rose Garden Club,” equipped with tables and yellow umbrellas identical to the ones at his Mar-a-Lago club.
In March, Trump replaced the pavers along the West Wing colonnade with large slabs of no-slip black granite after he added a cringeworthy “Presidential Walk of Fame” last year along the wall featuring insults for the past presidents he considers political foes and cheap looking gold signage.
Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS
In a Truth Social post on Monday evening, Trump made his tackiest White House decoration suggesting yet, but it has yet to become a reality for now. The president posted an image of a gold eagle attached to the Truman Balcony with the caption “A Golden Gift to the White House for its 250th Birthday Year!”
Donald Trump’s seemingly AI-generated Truth Social post.
Truth Social
Observers noted that the image featured eleven stars rather than thirteen, suggesting the AI-generated image touted by Trump celebrated the eleven states of the Confederacy rather than the 13 original colonies that declared independence from Great Britain to form the U.S.
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