ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION – NO HARD COPY TO FOLLOW
February 18, 2026
U.S. Commission of Fine Arts
Subject: White House Modernization Project(s)
The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks (Coalition) represents nearly 5,000 members with more than 45,000 years of national park management experience. The Coalition studies, educates, speaks, and acts for the preservation of America’s National Park System. Among our members are former National Park Service (NPS) directors, regional directors, superintendents, resource specialists, park rangers, maintenance and administrative staff, and a full array of other former employees, volunteers, and supporters.
The National Park Service has the distinct honor and responsibility to conserve and maintain our country’s most important historic properties for the long-term education and benefit of the American people and other citizens of the world. For decades, this work has been informed and guided by professional historians, architects, archivists, curators, and other cultural resources specialists, some of whom work for the federal government. Other expertise has come from collaboration with other agency and private experts in state and local historic preservation offices and professional societies such as the Organization of American Historians, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Society of Architectural Historians, and the American Council of Learned Societies, itself an umbrella group that includes such members as the American Anthropological Association, the American Historical Association, and the National Council on Public History.
The White House is a National Historic Landmark, a structure of the highest historic significance to the nation. We recognize that this or other historic structures are not immune to alteration or addition, and that the White House has been altered multiple times before in its 225-year history. However, we were dismayed that the razing of the East Wing of the White House was done without prior consultation or public input sufficient to ensure appreciation of the history that had occurred within. In November 2025, we echoed the October 21, 2025, request by the National Trust for Historic Preservation that plans for construction of a new 90,000-square-foot ballroom invite public comment and undergo consultation by the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fire Arts. We value that opportunity now before us.
The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, particularly the sub-standards for Rehabilitation, are, according to the National Park Service and as codified in 36 CFR 67, intended as general guidance for work on all historic properties. There may well be legitimate need for a larger meeting space or ballroom on the White House grounds, but new additions should respect the White House National Historic Landmark and should not be incompatible with regarding to existing massing, size, scale, and architectural features. It is disappointing that there has been little information and time provided the public to review architectural designs for the proposed new structure. However, the apparent scale of this latest alteration—involving an addition that is much larger than the White House itself—is troubling. The size, if not also the design, of a proposed addition, must respect the size and look of the White House, the West Wing, and even nearby structures such as the Treasury Building, not overpower them.
The coming 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding reminds us of our rich history, the myriad stories and physical manifestations of that history that are preserved on the landscape in hundreds of National Park Service and other historic sites. Americans and visitors from around the world look with awe and reverence to these places. We urge you to respect and help preserve the White House property by ensuring that architectural designs for any addition respect the scale and features of the existing structures, and that those involved in planning, design, and construction have expertise and experience in applying the Secretary’s Standards to working with historic properties in the nation’s capital.
Thank you for considering our input on this important issue.
Sincerely,
Cheryl A. Schreier
Chair of the Executive Council
Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks