by Betsy Klein
President Donald Trump privately advocated for painting an ornate federal office building next to the White House with a “magic paint with silicate,” CNN has learned. But ahead of a key vote on exterior changes to the sprawling Gilded Age structure, a panel of experts is warning the so-called magic paint could be incompatible with the Eisenhower Executive Office Building’s granite exterior.
Trump, who has spent significant time during his second term shaping the White House and Washington to his aesthetic taste, is proposing painting the ornate office building a bright white.
The Commission of Fine Arts, which oversees changes to federal buildings and has been stacked with Trump loyalists, on Thursday will review and weigh in on the plans for the first time.
Renderings submitted to the commission show two potential options: one with the entire structure painted white and one that paints the structure white but leaves the building’s exposed basement and sub-basement in its original granite.
The existing structure “has been largely neglected since its construction in the late 1800s,” the White House said in materials sent to the commission ahead of Thursday’s meeting, pointing to staining on the granite, abrasions and cracks from “years of poor or non-existent exterior maintenance, and general disregard.”
But a pair of preservationist groups challenging the president’s changes is warning that moving forward with the painting project is illegal — and that the paint won’t actually work on the EEOB’s surface.
After Trump floated painting the building in a Fox News interview last November, the DC Preservation League and Cultural Heritage Partners filed a lawsuit asking the US District Court for the District of Columbia to stop Trump and federal officials from making any changes to the building until they go through a standard review process.
Trump has privately claimed the “magic paint” would “strengthen the stone, keep water out, prevent staining, be easy to apply, and rarely require painting,” according to a document obtained by CNN that details the results of an expert analysis conducted by the preservationist groups.
For that analysis, the groups assembled 25 unnamed experts “who have overseen major restoration projects involving mineral silicate paints on some of the United States’ most prominent stone buildings, including the White House and the U.S. Capitol,” along with some experts who have “visited overseas manufacturing facilities of mineral silicate paint producers to receive training” in how to use the paint.
The experts concluded that “mineral silicate paints are not suited for use on granite,” explaining that the stone does not chemically bond with this type of paint. Priming the granite, they added, would incur “permanent damage,” and the paint would “not strengthen granite or improve its structural durability.” It would also fail to prevent staining, which, they said, “is likely to be much more visible on paint than on the existing granite surface.”
A slide deck prepared by Cultural Heritage Partners and shared with the Trump administration offers alternative solutions to upgrade the building, including “a conservation-grade cleaning program,” refinishing ironwork, new lighting, the installation of window film to brighten the façade, and new landscaping.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment on the groups’ findings.
The preservationists’ legal challenge argues the Trump administration cannot move forward with painting without going through required the environmental and historic preservation reviews. Going around those reviews could result in irreversible damage, the groups argue.
Completed in 1888, the Eisenhower building originally housed the State, War and Navy departments, but now serves as ancillary office space for the president’s staff, including the Office of the Vice President, the National Security Council and the Office of Management and Budget. The building’s interior includes 553 ornately gilded rooms, bronze stair balusters, hand-painted tiles, carved wooden fixtures, stained glass rotundas and intricate cast iron.
But the building’s unusual French Second Empire style has been controversial since its inception. It took roughly 17 years to build, and by the time it was done, “the Second Empire style had fallen from favor, and (architect Alfred) Mullett’s masterpiece was perceived by capricious Victorians as only an embarrassing reminder of past whims in architectural preference,” according to the Biden White House.
Guides leading tourists around the White House complex are often heard quoting the author Mark Twain, who reportedly described it as “the ugliest building in America.”
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