The front columns of President Donald Trump’s proposed ballroom in place of the White House East Wing will be made from Indiana limestone, according to the Trump administration’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after a lower court blocked above-ground construction of the complex.
In the court documents, an unnamed official is quoted as saying the ballroom’s columns are modeled after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Corinthian columns.
“These columns are made from the highest-grade Indiana limestone, which was shipped to Italy, and are being carved by some of the greatest artists anywhere in the world,” the unnamed official said, adding that the columns will be delivered and installed shortly.
The description is part of the Trump administration’s argument against a claim made by a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, who said she has standing to sue due to the aesthetic injury she would suffer walking by the proposed ballroom. The Trump administration quoted the official about the project’s architecture in an attempt to prove that distaste for the ballroom design is subjective.
It’s the latest action in an ongoing fight surrounding Trump’s $400 million ballroom and military complex project, which sparked the ire of historians as it involved demolishing the East Wing. A federal appeals court issued an injunction against the project Aug. 7, writing in its opinion that the White House lacked the authority to take such an action without congressional approval.
While sometimes mocked by Trump’s opponents as a lavish and unnecessary addition to the White House, Trump administration officials say the project is necessary to secure the president’s safety after several assassination attempts.
Beyond the ballroom, the complex would include “missile-resistant columns, roofs, and beams; drone proof ceilings and roofs; and bullet, ballistic, and blast-proof glass,” according to court documents, as well as bomb shelters, medical facilities, sniper nests and a drone port.
What else is made out of Indiana limestone?
Indiana’s geological wonder makes up some of the nation’s most memorable structures, from the Empire State Building to the Washington National Cathedral. After terrorist attacks on the Pentagon during 9/11 damaged the building, it was rebuilt with Indiana limestone.
Officially called Salem limestone, the stone was formed from shell-covered organisms brought by an inland sea that covered the Ohio valley more than 300 million years ago. The shells and skeletons of the organisms were ground up by the ocean waves into a white sand and compacted over time, forming a distinctively smooth and homogenous stone.
In the 1800s, people began extracting the limestone for commercial purposes from a 35-mile band across south-central Indiana.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana gets a mention in Trump’s White House ballroom Supreme Court appeal. What was said
Reporting by Marissa Meador, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Marissa Meador, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
