The original Trump ballroom design was good. The expansion? Too much.

Catesby Leigh writes about public art and architecture and lives in Washington.

Between 1890 and 1900, major White House additions were envisioned that were directly attached to James Hoban’s Palladian mansion, instead of being set apart from it. President Benjamin Harrison proposed large pavilions and domes on either side of the original mansion, while the William McKinley administration offered a less imposing but hardly modest variation on the same theme. During Grover Cleveland’s second term in office, Harper’s Weekly published the design of something like a White House in triplicate, with additions on each side equipped with their own monumental porticos. Nothing came of these plans.