The upgraded Lincoln Bathroom, which US President Donald Trump describes as having "highly polished, statuary marble", at the White House in Washington, DC, US,
Credit: Truth Social /@realDonaldTrump via Reuters Photo
Washington: President Donald Trump is not stopping with the East Wing.
On Friday, Trump said he had renovated the bathroom in the Lincoln Bedroom, posting two dozen photos on social media as he continues to remodel the White House in his own style.
Trump said the new design of black and white marble with gold faucets and light fixtures was “very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln.”
The White House did not say, in response to questions, who paid for the renovation, how much it cost or which contractor built it.
The bathroom is only the latest remodel that Trump has undertaken at the White House, including the demolition of the East Wing. He has wide latitude as president to make changes, although critics have raised questions about the funding and lack of transparency.
President Harry Truman redid the bathroom in 1945, and Trump has repeatedly criticized its style.
Speaking to donors this month, Trump called the bathroom’s style “not good.”
“Art deco doesn’t go with, you know, 1850 and civil wars and all of the problems,” Trump said. “But what does is statuary marble. So I ripped it apart and we built the bathroom. It’s absolutely gorgeous and totally in keeping with that time.”
Edward Lengel, who served as the chief historian of the White House Historical Association, said of the photos Trump posted: “It doesn’t look anything like 1860s interiors to me.”
Michael Bishop, the former executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, said the bathroom was a sitting room in the president’s day and was unlikely to have included marble.
“The present-day bathroom only takes up a portion of the Lincoln sitting room,” Bishop said. “They created a bathroom in the corner of this room. Trump’s change to the bathroom is not remotely a crime against historical preservation or anything like that. It was just a fairly dated-looking bathroom.”
Historian Harold Holzer, author of many books about Lincoln, said that when Lincoln moved into the White House in 1861, there were two water closets on the second floor, including one adjacent to the rooms where he lived with the family.
When Mary Todd Lincoln complained about the overall poor condition of the White House, Holzer said, he reminded her that it was better than any other house they had ever lived in.
“Lincoln had an outhouse in Springfield, and heaven knows what when he lived in log cabins with his parents, so the plain bathroom was fine with him,” Holzer said. “He thought it was a majestic step up.”
During his second term, Trump has wasted no time making changes to historical elements of the White House, arguing that parts of it are dated or too small. He tore down the entire East Wing, which had stood for more than a century, to make way for a planned 90,000-square-foot, $300 million ballroom that he said was necessary for receiving dignitaries.
His plans for the size of the ballroom continue to expand.
Trump has said that he and a group of donors — not the taxpayers — are footing the bill for the ballroom. His staff has released a list of donors, but has not said how much each one has given. The money is being deposited in the Trust for the National Mall, a nonprofit, tax-exempt entity that is not subject to transparency laws.
He also has added gold moldings and gold decorations throughout the Oval Office, and gold ornaments to the Cabinet Room. He cut down the White House’s historic magnolia tree, which President Andrew Jackson planted in 1829 in memory of his wife, Rachel.
He removed a photo of Hillary Clinton and replaced it with an image of his own face colored with the American flag. He added marble floors and a chandelier to the Palm Room.
He paved over the Rose Garden grass to add a patio. Along the West Wing colonnade, he added gold-framed photos of every American president except his predecessor, Joe Biden, whom he depicted as an autopen.
Trump and White House staff members say the president is granted wide latitude to make renovations on the property. Trump has said he is not subject to zoning regulations or permitting requirements.