Trump Signs Proclamation Making the Oval Office and Cabinet Room National Landmarks, With Major Changes to Require Congress

Washington — President Donald Trump signed a proclamation in the Oval Office on November 5 designating the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room as national landmarks. He told reporters gathered in the room that the document would be sent to Congress for ratification and that any major modification would thereafter require congressional approval.

"It concerns the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room, very important spaces," Trump said before signing. "And I'm going to be signing a document which will make them into a landmark for the ages. It won't be able to be taken down, destroyed, touched, or anything else." He added: "There's no major modification without the approval of Congress. So if they want to say let's not have the Oval anymore, let's make it square, what happens is they have to go back to Congress."

Trump said he "just thought it was very important that nobody be allowed to come in and take it down and try and do something with it." At the signing, he described the designation as a national monument that would become legally binding once the documentation is fully completed.

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has extensively redecorated the Oval Office, adding gold vermeil figurines and medallions on the fireplace, gold eagles on the side tables, gilded Rococo mirrors on the doors, and small gold cherubs shipped in from Mar-a-Lago in the pediments above the doorways. The proclamation would freeze in place the room as he has redesigned it.

The signing was Trump's third event this week devoted to his Washington renovation projects: on Monday he spoke about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation, and on Wednesday he toured the construction site of the new White House ballroom as crews hoisted what he said was its final steel beam. It came two days after the November 3 midterm elections, in which Democrats regained control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The White House already holds National Historic Landmark status, and the White House has not yet published the full text of the proclamation. A future president would, by convention, still be able to redecorate the rooms, including removing the gold trim; structural changes would, under Trump's description, first have to go through Congress.

Source: The White House

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：白宫椭圆形办公室（2025年8月白宫官方照片），壁炉与墙面上的金色装饰为特朗普再度入主白宫后添置的陈设。白宫官方照片，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Oval Office in an official White House photo from August 2025, showing the gold-accented fireplace decor added during President Trump's second term. Official White House photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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