Trump’s design appointee wants to change the White House columns to be more ornate

The North and South Porticoes of the White House are lined by Ionic columns, a style recognized by its elegant scroll-shaped capitals, or ornaments, at the top. That could change if Rodney Mims Cook Jr., chair of the Commission of Fine Arts, gets his way. Cook recently suggested the columns should be changed to the ornate Corinthian style seen on the U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court buildings (not to mention on some Trump properties and in the latest plans for the president’s proposed White House ballroom). Cook explained his recommendation as a matter of matching and taste. “Corinthian is the highest order [of column], and that’s what our other two branches of government have,” Cook told The Washington Post, which first reported the proposal. “Why the White House didn’t originally use them, at least on the north front, which is considered the front door, is beyond me.” [Illustration: Wikimedia Commons] For now, the White House doesn’t seem poised to redesig