The East Wing of the White House has now been demolished as construction crews turn their attention to debris removal, a White House official said.
Almost all of the East Terrace, the colonnade that connected the White House main building to the outer East Wing structure, has also been torn down.
The East Terrace contained the White House movie theater, which will be rebuilt eventually, the official said.
Administration officials had said Wednesday that the demolition work to pave the way for President Donald Trump's planned ballroom would be completed "within days."
Trump had said in July that the ballroom “won’t interfere with the current building,” but he said Wednesday that it was determined "after really a tremendous amount of study with some of the best architects in the world" that it would be better to start over.
"In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure," he said.
Trump also said Wednesday that the project would cost about $300 million, up from his original estimate of $200 million. The entire tab is being paid by donors, including him, he said.
It's "going to be probably the finest ballroom ever built, and we’re doing it to no cost to the country," Trump said.
Asked about the escalating price tag Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “With any construction project, there are changes over time as you assess what the project is going to look like, and we’ll continue to keep you apprised of all of those changes.”
She also said the demolition was in line with legal guidance to the White House, which says it needs approval only for new construction, not demolition.
As for who is paying for the new project, Leavitt said, "We have released the full list of donors thus far."
Comcast Corp., the parent company of NBCUniversal, was included in a list of top donors. It is unclear how much Comcast and other donors have contributed.
Leavitt said the amount Trump has contributed will be made public at some point.
The East Wing, which has typically been used by the first lady and her staff, was built during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency in 1942 and is part of the broader White House complex.
Leavitt noted that there have been major renovations and additions to the White House over the years, which is also reflected in a section about the history of the property on the White House's website.
The site has recently been updated, with a new section that includes a “major events timeline” that trolls the last three Democratic presidents while recounting various renovation projects. The events listed include what the site calls the “Bill Clinton Scandal” and another dubbed “Cocaine discovered,” featuring an image of Hunter Biden.
A White House official told NBC News on Wednesday that “all the historical components of the East Wing, such as elements from [Rosalynn] Carter’s original Office of the First Lady, have been preserved and stored under the supervision of the White House Executive Residence and the National Park Service with support from the White House Historical Association. Plans are in place for future use.”
