March 15, 2026, 10:46 amMarch 15, 2026, 10:46 am
In addition to a pompous ballroom, US President Donald Trump also wants to have an underground visitor center built at the White House in Washington. In the future, tourists, tour groups and visitors to major events will have to go through the mandatory security checks before they are allowed to enter the government headquarters in the US capital. Plans for the construction project, which is scheduled to begin in August and last two years, were submitted to the responsible planning commission on Friday and published on the Internet.
The facility, which is more than 3,000 square meters in size, is intended to end a permanent temporary arrangement that seems to fit neither the requirements of today nor the taste of the president, who prefers a more opulent look. Currently, visitors have to pass through container-like guard posts and tents for security checks to get onto the grounds of the government headquarters. There can be long queues, especially at large events – and the makeshift check stations don’t look particularly fancy either.
This is what the entrance looks like today.Image: National Capital Planning Commission
Completion planned for summer 2028 – costs unclear
Now the entire procedure is to be moved largely underground, or more precisely: under Sherman Park with the monument to the US Civil War general of the same name on the southeast corner of the government grounds. After the security check, visitors would be led back to the daylight via escalators – and would come out practically right next to the new ballroom, which Trump wants to have built for hundreds of millions of dollars despite massive protests. Scheduled completion of the visitor center: July 2028, six months before the end of the Republican’s second term.
A visualization of the new entrance that leads underground.Image: National Capital Planning Commission
The planning commission, led by the president’s advocates, wants to deal with the project on April 2nd. The future of the ballroom will also be decided at the same meeting after tens of thousands of – mostly critical – responses were received to the public announcement of the project. The government now estimates the costs at around 400 million US dollars (350 million euros) – twice as much as originally estimated. It is not known how expensive the new visitor center will be. US media tried in vain to get a statement from the White House. (sda/dpa)