Inside the Plan to Demolish and Rebuild a Swath of Trump’s Washington
January 28, 2026
An ambitious plan to knock down a desolate enclave of neglected federal office buildings and replace them with a grand neoclassical vision is being advanced by a group of architects associated with Catholic University, including designers who work for former White House ballroom architect James McCrery. The new ballroom architect, Shalom Baranes, isn’t involved with this master plan, but he has his own ideas for reshaping Washington — down to how to finance the conversion of federal office blocks into apartment buildings.
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