A view of the newly paved Rose Lawn is observed on the White Area in Washington, DC, on August 6, 2025. US President Donald Trump transformed the grass portion of the Rose Lawn right into a patio house, impressed by way of his Mar-a-Lago membership in Florida.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
cover caption
toggle caption
Brendan Smialowski/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Since returning to the White Area in January, President Trump has been on a project to renovate â together with an overhaul of the iconic Rose Lawn, the place paintings is just about entire.
Trump has swapped out the grass within the Rose Lawn with stone, turning what were a garden right into a patio. And it is a patio that bears a placing resemblance to a well-liked characteristic at his Mar-a-Lago hotel in Palm Seaside, Fla.
By means of Trumpâs telling, eliminating the grass was once a need, as it were given too soggy for fantastic shoes.
âYou notice the ladies?â Trump stated in a February interview with The Spectator mag. âThe grass was once rainy. Their heels are going in the course of the grass, like, 4 inches deep.â
First Woman Melania Trump wears Christian Louboutin footwear within the Rose Lawn of the White Area, Thursday, Might 7, 2020, in Washington, D.C.
Alex Brandon/AP
cover caption
toggle caption
Alex Brandon/AP
Wearers of stilettos donât need to concern about sinking anymore. The $1.9 million venture changed the garden with paving stones, laid at the diagonal. New drainage methods put in across the perimeter are lined with white grates with a Stars and Stripes motif.
âIt is a stone that is the similar colour because the White Area itself. And since it is very white it is going to replicate the warmth. It isnât going to be extremely popular, like if you happen to had a gloomy stone,â Trump defined not too long ago.
The not too long ago renovated Rose Lawn has Presidential seals on the corners, on the White Area, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Alex Brandon/AP
cover caption
toggle caption
Alex Brandon/AP
The venture is the newest amendment Trump has made to the White Area. The Oval Place of job is now completely gilded, and he has plans to construct a brand new $200 million ballroom.
The Kennedys made over the Rose Lawn
The Rose Lawn, with the huge garden within the heart, edged by way of flower beds, dates again to the Kennedy management. Ahead of that it were extra of a elementary lawn and not more of an occasions house.
âPresident Kennedy sought after an out of doors room,â stated Stewart McLaurin, president of the White Area Ancient Affiliation. âHe sought after an area the place you might want to have out of doors conferences, receptions, occasions.â
President John Kennedy speaks to educators from 62 overseas international locations assembled within the White Area rose lawn in Washington on Feb. 16, 1962. Kennedy voiced hope that The usa will expand ?a cult of excellence in the case of training and highbrow construction.? The educators are finishing a six-month keep in the USA. (AP Photograph/BHR)
BHR/AP
cover caption
toggle caption
BHR/AP
President John F. Kennedy and primary woman Jacqueline Kennedy labored with their pal and famous gardener Rachel Lambert âBunnyâ Mellon to redesign the lawn. That design incorporated massive magnolia timber and dozens of rose timber.
Over the many years, the roses had suffered from a loss of daylight and deficient drainage, consistent with the Believe for the Nationwide Mall, a philanthropy. Simplest 12 of the unique rose timber remained in 2020 when first woman Melania Trump oversaw a main recovery venture intended to go back it to the Kennedy/Mellon imaginative and prescient.
US President Donald Trump, left, and James Blair, White Area deputy leader of body of workers for legislative, political and public affairs, view renovations to the Rose Lawn of the White Area in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, July 15, 2025.
Al Drago/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
cover caption
toggle caption
Al Drago/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures
Funded by way of personal donations to the Believe, the primary woman added 200 new roses and formal boxwood parterre borders with perennial and annual plantings. Critics stated a brand new stone border across the edge was once too stark. However because the vegetation have matured, the lawn is as soon as once more colourful.
An area for press meetings and signing ceremonies
Through the years, the Rose Lawn has hosted numerous press meetings and signing ceremonies. All through Trumpâs first time period, it even served as a backdrop for a photograph op when Frank Giaccio, 11, set his points of interest on mowing the garden on the White Area, and Trump made his dream come true. The pictures went viral.
President Trump watches Frank Giaccio, 11, of Falls Church, Va., as he mows the garden within the Rose Lawn of the White Area on Sept. 15, 2017.
Mike Theiler/AFP
cover caption
toggle caption
Mike Theiler/AFP
Whilst the garden is now long gone, the flora donât seem to be going any place. Simplest the grass was once got rid of. The price of this paintings could also be being lined by way of personal donations to the Believe for the Nationwide Mall. This time, it was once Trump â now not the primary woman â who was once the motive force.
Previous this week, tune blasted from the White Area as Trump examined out a brand new speaker gadget for the patio. Trump can play DJ from his iPad, similar to he does at Mar-a-Lago. The Rose Lawn additionally options patio tables with yellow-and-white striped umbrellas, a great fit to the distance at Mar-a-Lago referred to as the Seaside Membership.
McLaurin said this transformation is also jarring. However he stated many adjustments on the White Area that have been debatable to start with later turned into seen as very important options of the Other folksâs Area, together with the West Wing, the Colonnade, the North and South Porticos.
âIt isnât frozen in time,â stated McLaurin. âIt evolves and it adjustments. And other presidents and primary women have other concepts.â
President Ronald Reagan delivers the graduation speech to the John A. Holmes Prime Faculty senior magnificence from Edenton, N.C., Might 13, 1986 in Washington, D.C. within the Rose Lawn of the White Area.
Scott Stewart/AP
cover caption
toggle caption
Scott Stewart/AP
