Donald Trump has signed a proclamation designating the Oval Office, the adjoining Cabinet Room and the Outer Oval Office as a national monument.
The measure, signed from behind the president’s desk on Thursday, directs the National Park Service to oversee the monument and requires its historic character and architectural integrity to be considered before substantial alterations or demolition.
Trump said the designation would prevent the rooms from being dismantled or significantly reshaped in future. “We’re making it a national monument, and it will not be allowed to be touched by anybody, destroyed, ripped down by stupid people, in order to build something in a slightly different shape,” he told reporters.
He said the proclamation would turn the rooms on the first floor of the West Wing into “a landmark for the ages”.
The signing was Trump’s first official action since his party suffered sweeping losses in Tuesday’s midterm elections, after which Democrats are due to take control of Congress in January.
The proclamation orders the interior secretary to manage the site through the National Park Service. It also calls for documentation, review and consideration of alternatives before any action that would substantially alter or demolish the monument.
However, the order does not prevent a future president from redecorating the Oval Office or changing its furnishings and decor. A successor could also revise or revoke the proclamation through a further executive action.
Trump himself used that approach during his first term to reduce the size of two national monuments in Utah. He did so again during his second term after former president Joe Biden had restored them in full.
Trump’s White House renovation projects
The designation comes as Trump pursues a series of major changes to the White House and its grounds. During his second term, he has given the Oval Office a heavily gilded appearance, including 24-carat gold ceiling trim, burnished wood carvings, ornate vases and elaborate frames.
Other projects have included the paving of the Rose Garden with a stone patio, new flagpoles on the North and South Lawns and a multimillion-dollar granite helicopter pad on the South Lawn.
The East Wing is also being demolished to make way for a nearly $1 billion White House ballroom, which is planned to sit above a multi-storey underground bunker. Trump has additionally proposed a 76-metre triumphal arch on the approach to Arlington National Cemetery.
Those plans, along with a renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that cost more than $14 million, have attracted criticism from opposition lawmakers and members of the public. The administration has also faced lawsuits alleging that some of its Washington beautification projects went ahead without the necessary approval.
Trump did not specify what future threat he believed the Oval Office might face. “If anybody ever decides to come and start knocking down walls, you call me wherever I may be,” he said. “And I’ll come back here and I’ll make sure it never happens.”
