Donald Trump has proposed to paint an historic White House office building with “magic paint” in a new renovation plan. The move has drawn criticism from preservation experts who have filed a lawsuit to stop the project.
Donald Trump reportedly wants to use ‘magic paint’ for office building
According to a recent report by CNN, Donald Trump has proposed painting the exterior of the White House’s Eisenhower Executive Office Building with a “magic paint with silicate,” sparking concerns among experts. The President, who has previously pushed multiple renovation plans for the federal structures to match his personal preference, is now considering coating the 19th-century office building in a shade of bright white.
The proposal team has sent renderings of the revamping plan to the Commission of Fine Arts. It outlines two options for the renovation, with one that paints the entire outside of EEOB white and another that covers most of the building with white but leaves the original granite appearance of the exposed basement and sub-basement.
In documents submitted to the commission, the White House argued that the historic building “has been largely neglected since its construction in the late 1800s.” They further noted that the building has “years of poor or non-existent exterior maintenance, and general disregard.”
As per a document obtained by CNN, Trump has reportedly claimed that the “magic paint” would “strengthen the stone, keep water out, prevent staining, be easy to apply, and rarely require painting.”
The Commission of Fine Arts will review the proposal on Thursday, April 16. Meanwhile, the DC Preservation League and Cultural Heritage Partners have filed a lawsuit, strongly opposing the renovation.
The lawsuit asks the US District Court for the District of Columbia to stop Trump from going forward with the project without undergoing a standard review process. The groups have assembled 25 experts who have previously overseen similar projects to share their analysis.
The experts have reportedly concluded that “mineral silicate paints are not suited for use on granite.” They said that priming the original granite exterior of the building would cause “permanent damage,” adding that the paint would “not strengthen granite or improve its structural durability.”
Originally reported by Namrata Ghosh on Mandatory.
