Where the storied East Wing of the White House once stood, there is now a gaping void.
Just months after US President Donald Trump promised his planned ballroom would not interfere with the "people's house", an entire annex has been removed.
Demolition crews started tearing down the section on Monday, local time, with Mr Trump confirming ground had been broken after pictures began swirling on news sites.
By midday on Thursday, the Washington Post reported workers had completely dismantled the decades-old wing, which held offices of the first lady and staff.
"In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure," Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
The demolition has sparked angry backlash from Democrats and raised questions about whether the Trump administration followed proper protocols.
The White House has dismissed the criticism as "manufactured outrage".
Republicans have compared the project to past White House renovations, from Franklin D Roosevelt's swimming pool to Barack Obama's basketball court.
"The ballroom is going to be glorious," speaker Mike Johnson said.
But Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal dismissed this comparison.
"They filled in the pool. They may have taken out a bowling alley. They haven't destroyed an entire wing of the White House in a way that is irreversible," he said.
White House releases full list of ballroom donors
The East Wing was built in 1902 and was majorly expanded 40 years later.
But it can struggle to host large gatherings, with several White House state dinners instead held in tents on the South Lawn.
The now-demolished wing will make way for a 90,000-square-foot (8,300-square-metre) ballroom, which the White House said would be finished well before Mr Trump's term ends in 2029.
The president said on Wednesday the project would cost $US300 million ($460 million), an increase on the initial $US200 million price tag.
He said he and "some friends of mine" will pay for the ballroom, at no cost to taxpayers.
The White House released a full list of donors this week, which included tech giants such as Amazon, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and Meta.
Trump rejects claims he has not been transparent
The president has rejected claims that his administration had not been transparent about the project.
"These pictures have been in newspapers," he said, referencing photos in the Oval Office of how the ballroom will look when finished.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also dismissed these claims on Thursday, saying the president had been "incredibly transparent".
Pressed on why Mr Trump had not clarified that the East Wing would be demolished, she said the plans changed after he spoke to architects and construction companies.
"[They] said that in order for this East Wing to be modern and beautiful for many, many years to come, for it to be a truly strong and stable structure, this phase one that we're now in was necessary," she said.
Trump's White House changes the most significant in decades
The White House has experienced many changes throughout its more than 200-year history, with a string of US presidents renovating and adding to the landmark.
However, Mr Trump's changes are the most significant in decades.
Despite demolition already beginning, the White House said on Tuesday that it would submit ballroom plans for review by the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), which oversees federal construction in Washington and neighbouring states.
That same day, the National Trust for Historic Preservation urged the Trump administration to pause demolition until the planning commission review was completed.
In a letter, the trust cited concerns that the vast ballroom would "overwhelm the White House itself", as it would be almost twice its 55,000-square-foot size.
Mr Trump's White House staff secretary, Will Scharf, chairs the NCPC but told Reuters on Wednesday he would be able to scrutinise the plans objectively.
"If I don't like a project, I'll vote against it. If I do like a project, I'll vote for it," he said.
The White House has not been able to say what entity, if any, had or should have had oversight of the East Wing's demolition.
Mr Scharf said the NCPC had responsibility for construction but not demolition.
Bryan Green, who served as an NCPC commissioner under Democratic President Joe Biden, told Reuters the demolition and construction should have been linked as part of a building project review.
Mr Scharf said the review process would potentially include three open meetings with an opportunity for public comment, and would likely take about three months.
ABC/Wires
