Melania Trump presses importance of White House stewardship as her husband upends the historic grounds

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As her husband was out of town Wednesday night, first lady Melania Trump addressed a group of historians and preservation-minded VIPs in President Donald Trump’s newly renovated White House Rose Garden , where she spoke about being a good steward of the people’s house.

“The White House stands as an architectural autobiography of America,” the first lady told the attendees of the White House Historical Association’s annual presidential sites summit, according to a copy of her prepared remarks shared by her office.

The guests, sipping white wine to the smooth jazz of a military band, stood atop white stone pavers that have replaced a once grassy patch — a Mar-a-Lago-inspired change from the president that upended the first lady’s own meticulous renovations from the first Trump term.

To the guests’ right, the West Colonnade had been reimagined as a “Presidential Walk of Fame” with Trumpian flourish, including digs at the president’s perceived political enemies. And to their left was a massive presidential seal erected in granite marking the new helipad landing zone . Behind them, cranes towered over the construction site of the quickly rising and sprawling ballroom.

“As stewards of the places shaped by those before us, we are tasked with making decisions that honor future generations. It is our duty to ensure that the choices we make today are worthy of the legacy we pass forward,” Trump said, with her husband’s renovations — many of which are publicly unpopular — in the background.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

The first lady has not weighed in publicly on the updates her husband, who is in Dallas for his party’s midterm convention , has made to the White House, and she did not explicitly do so on Wednesday night.

But the dramatically altered backdrop for this event underscored the sweeping changes Donald Trump has made — often at expense to historic spaces — and the relative silence with which it’s been met by both his wife and the organization tasked with preserving its history.

In her husband’s first term, Trump was an active steward of White House preservation.

She helped oversee the restoration of the Bellangé suite of furniture in the Blue Room. She replaced the rug in the Diplomatic Reception Room. She was involved in a 2020 redesign of the White House Rose Garden — an effort to improve drainage and audio-visual equipment that drew criticism at the time. And shortly after the 2020 election, she unveiled a new White House tennis pavilion, which subsequently won multiple architectural awards.

Yet the first lady has declined to comment on her husband’s many construction projects, including the Rose Garden renovation and the ballroom, though Donald Trump has repeatedly indicated she’s annoyed with the constant grind of construction.

“It makes me happy when I hear those pile drivers. My wife doesn’t love it, but I love the sound,” the president told reporters in March.

Melania Trump on Wednesday described her effort to restore historic wallpaper from the French artist Jean-Julien Deltil as “a commitment to preserving a vital piece of our American narrative” that was “not merely an act of restoration; it was an investment in the future of our nation’s story.”

She touted her efforts to work alongside key federal agencies and commissions — the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission — when she oversaw the White House tennis pavilion in 2018. That’s a contrast with how the second Trump administration has blown past regulatory processes, with the ballroom construction especially.

“Every detail was thoughtfully considered to ensure the new structure harmonized with the historic neoclassical character of the White House Grounds,” she said of the tennis pavilion.

Her husband, however, oversaw the demolition of the East Wing, which housed first ladies and their staff for decades, last October. With it went the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, a space honoring the former first lady’s stewardship of the White House. Trump sidestepped approval from Congress and stacked the NCPC and CFA with loyalists.

Jacquelyn Martin/AP/File

The 90,000-square-foot ballroom project was challenged in court by a key preservationist group. The Supreme Court weighed in last week, allowing the construction to continue, even as Chief Justice John Roberts suggested the project was “likely unlawful.”

Privately, some members of the nonprofit and nonpartisan White House Historical Association are displeased with the ballroom project, according to one source familiar with the dynamic. But the organization has declined to wade into the legal or public relations battle, despite its stated mission to “(preserve) and (share) the history of the White House.”

The WHHA did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Its president, Stewart McLaurin, has broadly cast Trump’s construction projects as part of a natural evolution of the home.

“Each change [to the White House], whether Jackson’s North Portico, Arthur’s opulent redecoration, or Clinton’s security measures—has sparked debate, reflecting tensions between preservation and modernization, aesthetics and functionality, and openness and security,” McLaurin wrote in a June 2025 essay.

He continued: “Media and Congressional criticisms have often focused on costs, historical integrity, and timing, yet many of these alterations have become integral to the identity of the White House.”

Wednesday’s Rose Garden event was part of a two-day conference — attended by representatives from some of the nation’s presidential libraries and historic sites — that was not expected to touch on the Trump administration, but instead focus on the country’s 250th anniversary and sharing ideas for partnerships, philanthropy and incorporating technology into teaching history.

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周三晚上，由于丈夫不在城里，第一夫人梅拉尼娅·特朗普在唐纳德·特朗普总统新近翻修的白宫玫瑰园向一群历史学家和有文物保护意识的贵宾发表了讲话，谈到了如何成为人民之家的优秀管理者。

据第一夫人办公室分享的她事先准备好的讲话稿显示，第一夫人在白宫历史协会年度总统遗址峰会上对与会者说：“白宫是美国的建筑自传。”

客人们一边啜饮着白葡萄酒，一边聆听着军乐队演奏的舒缓爵士乐，他们站在铺着白色石板的地面上，这片地面曾经是一片草地——这是总统效仿马阿拉歌庄园所做的改变，推翻了第一夫人从特朗普第一个任期开始精心进行的翻修工程。

在宾客们的右侧，西侧柱廊被重新设计成一条“总统星光大道”，处处体现着特朗普式的风格，甚至不乏对总统政治对手的讽刺挖苦。在他们左侧，一枚巨大的花岗岩总统徽章矗立在新建的直升机停机坪上。在他们身后，高耸的起重机俯瞰着正在迅速拔地而起、规模庞大的宴会厅的施工现场。

“作为前人塑造之地的守护者，我们有责任做出对子孙后代有益的决定。我们有责任确保我们今天做出的选择配得上我们留给后代的遗产，”特朗普说道，背景是她丈夫正在进行的翻修工程——其中许多工程在公众中并不受欢迎。

朱莉娅·德马雷·尼金森/美联社

第一夫人尚未就其丈夫（目前在达拉斯参加其所在政党的中期选举大会）向白宫所做的更新发表公开评论，周三晚上她也没有明确表态。

但此次活动的背景发生了巨大变化，凸显了唐纳德·特朗普所做的彻底改变——这些改变往往是以牺牲历史场所为代价的——以及他的妻子和负责保护其历史的组织对此相对沉默的态度。

在她丈夫的第一任期内，特朗普积极参与了白宫的维护工作。

她协助监督了蓝厅贝朗热系列家具的修复工作。她更换了外交接待室的地毯。她参与了2020年白宫玫瑰园的重新设计——这项旨在改善排水系统和视听设备的改造工程当时曾引发争议。2020年大选后不久，她揭幕了新的白宫网球馆，该网球馆随后荣获多项建筑奖项。

然而，尽管唐纳德·特朗普一再表示第一夫人对持续不断的施工感到厌烦，但她一直拒绝就丈夫的众多建设项目发表评论，包括玫瑰园的翻新和宴会厅的建设。

“听到打桩机的声音我就很高兴。我妻子不喜欢，但我喜欢这种声音，”总统在三月份告诉记者。

梅拉尼娅·特朗普周三表示，她修复法国艺术家让-朱利安·德尔蒂尔创作的历史壁纸的努力是“致力于保护我们美国历史的重要组成部分”，这“不仅仅是一项修复行为；更是对我们国家未来历史的投资”。

2018 年，她在负责白宫网球馆建设时，曾大力宣传自己与重要的联邦机构和委员会——白宫保护委员会、美术委员会和国家首都规划委员会——的合作。这与特朗普第二届政府绕过监管程序的做法形成了鲜明对比，尤其是在宴会厅建设方面。

“每一个细节都经过深思熟虑，以确保新建筑与白宫庭院的历史新古典主义风格相协调，”她在谈到网球馆时说道。

然而，她的丈夫却在去年十月下令拆除了东翼，那里几十年来一直是第一夫人及其工作人员的住所。随之消失的还有杰奎琳·肯尼迪花园，这个花园是为了纪念这位前第一夫人对白宫的卓越贡献而建。特朗普绕过国会批准，并在国家规划委员会（NCPC）和白宫事务委员会（CFA）中安插了许多忠实拥护者。

杰奎琳·马丁/美联社/档案照片

这座占地9万平方英尺的宴会厅项目遭到一家重要的文物保护组织的诉讼。最高法院上周介入此案，允许工程继续进行，尽管首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨暗示该项目“很可能违法”。

据一位知情人士透露，私下里，一些非营利性、无党派的白宫历史协会成员对宴会厅项目感到不满。但尽管该协会的宗旨是“（保存）和（分享）白宫历史”，它却拒绝卷入这场法律或公关纠纷。

白宫健康协会没有回应 CNN 的置评请求。

该机构主席斯图尔特·麦克劳林 (Stewart McLaurin) 将特朗普的建筑项目普遍视为住宅自然演变的一部分。

麦克劳林在 2025 年 6 月的一篇文章中写道：“白宫的每一次改变，无论是杰克逊的北门廊、亚瑟的奢华重新装修，还是克林顿的安全措施，都引发了辩论，反映了保护与现代化、美学与功能性以及开放与安全之间的紧张关系。”

他继续说道：“媒体和国会的批评往往集中在成本、历史完整性和时机上，然而，这些改变中的许多已经成为白宫身份不可或缺的一部分。”

周三在玫瑰园举行的活动是为期两天的会议的一部分，出席会议的有来自美国一些总统图书馆和历史遗址的代表。会议预计不会涉及特朗普政府，而是侧重于庆祝美国建国250周年，并分享有关合作、慈善事业以及将技术融入历史教学的想法。