Parts of the White House torn down as work on Trump's ‘big, beautiful’ $250-million ballroom gets underway—watch video

As US President Donald Trump on Monday confirmed that his plan to construct a new White House ballroom worth $250 million had entered the next phase, construction workers swung into action, ripping off the face of the East Wing.

"I am pleased to announce that ground has been broken on the White House grounds to build the new, big, beautiful White House Ballroom," Donald Trump posted on Truth Social.

"Completely separate from the White House itself, the East Wing is being fully modernized as part of this process, and will be more beautiful than ever when it is complete!," the US President added.

Videos taken on Monday afternoon showed the renovation work in full swing, with Trump taking to social media to assure people that the ballroom was being bankrolled by rich benefactors, not taxpayers.

Watch video

“For more than 150 years, every President has dreamt about having a Ballroom at the White House to accommodate people for grand parties, State Visits, etc. I am honored to be the first President to finally get this much-needed project underway—with zero cost to the American Taxpayer!,” wrote the Republican President.

“The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly. This Ballroom will be happily used for Generations to come!,” he added. Most of donors, so far, have remained anonymous.

Trump's long-standing dream

Announced in July this year, Trump's White House ballroom is expected to cost around $250 million and will considerably expand the building's capacity to host people for formal events.

At present, formal events at the White House are hosted in the East Room, which has a modest seating capacity of 200 people, or in specially-constructed tents on the White House grounds which Trump has previously described as “not a pretty sight”.

Trump's aspiration to create a large, dedicated event space on the White House grounds goes back decades—during Barack Obama's first term as President, Trump, as a private citizen, had expressed his desire to see a White House ballroom constructed.

Years later, during Obama's second term in 2016, then-Presidential candidate Trump had also offered to pay $100 million to get the project going, but saw his bid rejected.

The ongoing work to construct Trump's 90,000-square-foot ballroom constitute one of the largest renovations to the White House in decades.

Not since President Harry Truman built out what became the West Wing has a construction project so big been undertaken on the White House grounds, The New York Times reported.