In 2025, the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House underwent a significant renovation, with President Donald Trump revealing a complete overhaul featuring polished marble walls and floors. This renovation marked one of the most striking changes to the historic Lincoln suite since previous redesigns, notably the 1940s Art Deco update by Harry Truman.
The Lincoln Bedroom: Historical background
The Lincoln Bedroom, located in the southeast corner of the White House’s second floor, holds significant symbolic importance as a guest suite named in honor of President Abraham Lincoln. Despite popular belief, Abraham Lincoln never actually slept in this room; rather, the space originally served as his executive office and Cabinet Room during his presidency.
It was in this suite that Lincoln shaped some of the country’s most defining moments, including drafting the Emancipation Proclamation and navigating the challenging years of the Civil War. The desk associated with these historic events once stood in that very room, cementing its role as a place where crucial decisions and presidential deliberations took place.
The room’s association with Lincoln led President Harry Truman to officially name it the “Lincoln Bedroom” in 1945. During Truman’s extensive White House renovation between 1949 and 1952, efforts were made to assemble Lincoln-era furnishings in this space to evoke the historical significance tied to Lincoln’s presidency. However, the room’s aesthetic diverged notably from Lincoln’s mid-19th-century era.
For example, the 1940s renovation, primarily led by First Lady Bess Truman, introduced Art Deco green tiles and design elements that, though significant in their own right, are somewhat incongruous with the Victorian period of Lincoln’s time. This juxtaposition reflects evolving tastes and preservation philosophies over the decades.
Scope and features of the marble renovation
President Trump disclosed the renovation primarily focused on the Lincoln Bathroom adjoining the bedroom, transforming it from its Art Deco roots into an elegant black and white polished Statuary marble space. The redesign replaces the green tilework with floor-to-ceiling marble, featuring gold fixtures on faucets and showers, a silver chandelier, and luxury touches such as a presidential seal-embossed white robe hung on a golden hook. Trump emphasized that the marble choice was
“very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln”
and speculated that it might be the marble originally used in past iterations of the room.
Funding and broader White House renovations
Unlike government-funded projects, this renovation was privately financed as part of a larger effort that includes the construction of a new $300 million ballroom and improvements to the White House’s Palm Room. Despite the lack of taxpayer funding, the renovation attracted public attention due to its scale and cost, with independent estimates placing the marble bathroom renovation’s price in the low-to-mid six-figure range.
These changes form part of President Trump’s broader effort to reimagine White House interiors, replacing tiles and fixtures in several spaces to reflect his stylistic preferences.
Public and historical reactions
In 2025, President Donald Trump’s extensive renovation of the White House, including the construction of a grand new ballroom, ignited widespread public and historical debate. The $250-$300 million project represents the largest structural alteration to the Executive Mansion since President Truman’s post-World War II renovations. However, it also sparked significant controversy involving architectural historians, preservationists, political observers, and ordinary Americans.
A central point of contention was Trump’s decision to demolish a portion of the East Wing to accommodate the expansive 90,000 square-foot ballroom, slated to host up to 999 guests. This move surprised many, as it contradicted earlier assurances that the East Wing would remain untouched throughout construction. Striking images of the demolition, including heavy machinery tearing down the historic façade, shocked preservationists who argued that the East Wing is an integral part of the White House’s architectural and historical identity.
Architectural historians expressed concern that removing mid-century design elements, some nearly 80 years old, erases layers of American history and disrupts the continuity of the Executive Mansion’s evolving design. The preservation community debated the definition of historical authenticity, contrasting Trump’s preference for expansive, modern classical styles with the restrained elegance of earlier renovations by Truman and his successors.
Preservation and legacy implications
The recent renovation of the Lincoln Bedroom and its adjoining bathroom in the White House has reignited broader discussions about the challenges inherent in balancing historic preservation with modernization and personalization of iconic public heritage sites. The Lincoln Bedroom, known for its rich historical associations with President Abraham Lincoln, has long been a focus of renovation projects aimed at honoring its original era while adapting the space to contemporary use and aesthetic preferences of sitting presidents.
The Lincoln Bedroom gained its current designation in 1945 when President Harry S. Truman relocated Lincoln-era furnishings to a guest suite on the second floor, intentionally evoking the mid-19th century period. During the Truman administration, the room was refurbished with a mix of period-appropriate elements and mid-20th-century design influences, including an Art Deco style in the bathroom area that reflected prevailing tastes of the 1940s rather than Lincoln’s time.
Over subsequent decades, the room experienced further updates, including a major refurbishment in the early 2000s funded by the White House Historical Association to better replicate aspects of Lincoln’s original office and home environment.In 2025, under President Donald Trump’s administration, the Lincoln Bedroom bathroom underwent a substantial renovation that replaced the notable Art Deco green tiles with polished white and black Statuary marble accented by gold fixtures.
President Trump publicly commented on the renovation, emphasizing that the previous décor was “totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era” and suggesting that the new marble design was historically more authentic, or possibly the original material. This aesthetic shift underscores the tension between historic preservation, maintaining the tangible heritage of a landmark and the evolving desires of sitting presidents to leave a personal imprint reflecting contemporary tastes or values.
A significant moment
The White House Lincoln Bedroom’s recent transformation, particularly the renovation of the adjoining bathroom with extensive marble work, represents a significant moment in the architectural and symbolic history of one of the nation’s most important residences. President Donald Trump publicly unveiled this renovation in late 2025, highlighting the replacement of mid-20th-century Art Deco green tiles, installed during President Harry Truman’s redesign in 1945,
with floor-to-ceiling polished black and white Statuary marble. This shift to a design that Trump contends is more appropriate for the era of Abraham Lincoln marks an attempt to blend modern luxury with historical symbolism, reaffirming the bedroom’s special place in American presidential history.Trump characterized the previous design as
“totally inappropriate for the Lincoln Era,”
expressing strong criticism of the Truman-era Art Deco style. The new bathroom now features marble floors and walls, gold-colored plumbing fixtures, and a silver chandelier, creating a luxurious ambience starkly contrasting the more modest and stylistically distinct previous design. These aesthetic choices align with Trump’s broader renovation efforts in the White House, including controversial demolitions and new constructions like the planned $300 million ballroom. The bathroom makeover is therefore part of a larger campaign to reshape the White House interior to reflect what Trump describes as greater historical fidelity and grandeur.