President Donald Trump has officially begun to remove a historic feature from the White House grounds.
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According to PEOPLE, the world leader and his wife, Melania Trump, began their latest White House renovation on June 9. Workers are starting to pave over the iconic Rose Garden grounds. They began pulling up the limebstone border that Melania had installed during her husband’s first term in office late last week.
While speaking to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham earlier this year, President Trump revealed why he decided to design the historic White House feature. He plans to turn the area into a presidential patio.
‘You know, we use [the Rose Garden] for press conferences, and it doesn’t work because the people fall,” he explained.
The President of the United States also noted that when the Rose Garden’s terrain gets wet, the ground becomes soft.
“What was happening is, you’re supposed to have events,” Trump continued. “Every event you have, it’s soaking wet. It’s soaking wet. And people can’t – and the women with the high heels, it’s just too much.”
He did say that the roses would stay, noting it was a “rose garden.”
“All of this stays,” he then added. “Just the center section. I think it’s gonna be beautiful. I think it’s gonna be more beautiful.”
A White House Official Stated that the Removal of the Historic Is a “Restoration” Project
A White House official stated the move to remove the historic Rose Gardens was a “restoration.”
They also noted the first couple “have deep respect for the history of the White House and for the Rose Garden.”
“This restoration to the Rose Garden preserves the beauty of the space and builds on the work done in 2020,” the official said. They were referring to Melania’s previous work on the Rose Garden.
The official said the focus of the “restoration” was to enhance “practical use and guest experience” for those who are attending special White House events.
Melania previously received backlash over her initial Rose Garden renovations in 2020. NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss described the First Lady’s vision as “grim.”
“Evisceration of White House Rose Garden was completed a year ago this month, and here was the grim result—decades of American history made to disappear,” he said in 2021.
Melania’s office then fired back, stating that Beschloss showed a picture of the Rose Garden in its “infancy.”
“The Rose Garden is graced with a healthy [and] colorful blossoming of roses,” the office wrote. “His misleading information is dishonorable [and] he should never be trusted as a professional historian.”
According to the National Park Service, the Rose Garden is situated along the West Terrace and West Wing, near the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room. It, along with the West Garden area, was first created in 1903 as a “colonial-style” garden for First Lady Edith Roosevelt. The 26th First Lady then designed the garden in the East Garden, which is now known as the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden.
Three of the four original saucer magnolias planted in the Rose Garden corners also commemorate President John F. Kennedy.