Trump’s Ballroom Architect Is Skilled at Shrugging Off Outrage
The New York Times • • world
Key Points:
- Shalom Baranes, a renowned architect known for major Washington D.C. projects, has taken on the controversial $400 million White House ballroom renovation despite widespread criticism and a lawsuit against the project.
- The 90,000-square-foot addition has drawn tens of thousands of critical comments and angered preservationists and fellow architects, with 29 peers urging Baranes to decline the job to protect the White House's historic integrity.
- Baranes, 75, remains silent on project specifics due to a nondisclosure agreement but acknowledges that controversy has surrounded much of his work and expresses concern about current U.S. immigration policies.
- Colleagues and preservationists are puzzled by Baranes’s decision to engage in such a contentious project
