After an announcement last Thursday that US president Donald Trump will build a 650-person banquet hall on the east side of the White House complex, we take a closer look at James McCrery, the architect behind the design.
McCrery’s eponymous studio, McCrery Architects, has been selected to design the 90,000-square-foot ballroom addition, which will replace the White House’s East Wing and expand the building’s hosting capabilities.
The architect was seen surveying the roof of the White House with Trump on Tuesday morning ahead of the renovation of the early 19th-century neoclassical structure, set to be the most intensive since the 1950s.
Well-known practitioner of classical architecture
McCrery has been an outspoken proponent of classical architecture and was appointed by Trump during his first term to serve on the US Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency that provides design consultation for the capital.
In choosing McCrery Architects for the banquet hall project, the White House referenced the studio’s localness and the fact that it is well known for its “classical architectural design”.
“I am honored that President Trump has entrusted me to help bring this beautiful and necessary renovation to The People’s House, while preserving the elegance of its classical design and historical importance,” said McCrery during the announcement.
Renderings of his design for the White House show an exterior that mostly adheres to its original style and an interior that reflects Trump’s ornate interior preferences, with gilded Beaux Arts columns and a detailed chamfered ceiling.
A founding member of the non-profit National Civic Art Society, which promotes neoclassical architecture in DC, McCrery is an associate professor at Catholic University of America’s (CUA) department of architecture.
Converted post-modernist
McCrery founded his firm, McCrery Architects, in Washington, DC, in the early 2000s after a stint at the office of classicist architect Allan Greenberg.
Prior to that, McCrery received his bachelor and master degrees in architecture from the Ohio State University.
The architect began his career in the offices of postmodern architect Peter Eisenman, but, according to his profile at CUA, “rethought his modernist education” and began to practice a classical approach.
“Americans love classical architecture”
McCrery outlined his current perspective on architecture in a talk hosted by Hillsdale College at the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation in 2024, distinguishing the American classical tradition from others in Europe and from whole-cloth adaptations of foreign traditions.
“The very best American architecture is classical architecture once made American,” he said, pointing to the inclusion of carpentry in American classical architecture as a distinct aspect of the form’s adaptation to local culture.
McCrery lamented the politicisation of the debate around classical architecture for public buildings due to its association with Trump, reiterating a claim among proponents of classical architecture that the public prefers it.
“It’s a known fact that America loves this stuff and prefers it and wants more of it,” he said.
“These are truths. And because they’re truths, they’re reliable, and that’s what I rely upon, and that’s wherein my hope lies.”
