Trump's Own White House Review Finds $7.5 Million Eisenhower Paint Job Would Harm Historic Site

A draft environmental assessment published October 16, 2026, found that the administration's plan to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building would diminish the historic character of the White House complex, disrupting a 125-year visual relationship with the Treasury building. Trump has pushed to paint the 19th-century building, calling its gray exterior a "really bad color," in a project estimated at $7.5 million; officials earlier moved it out of the General Services Administration to bypass preservation review.

The report found a proposed silica-based paint unlikely to trap moisture and removable later with minimal damage, though it said more testing is needed, and identified a cleaning-and-restoration alternative that would not affect the building's historic status. The document is a draft; no final decision, timeline, or comment period has been reported.