Trump wants to coat this historic D.C. landmark in white paint, alarming preservationists

President Donald Trump’s proposal to put a coat of white paint on the exterior of a 19th-century historic landmark building next to the White House is slated for a hearing Thursday by a key federal agency he expects to approve what would be a dramatic makeover.The proposed painting of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building is one piece of a broader plan the Republican president has said will make Washington more beautiful.Trump is making numerous changes inside and outside the White House and its grounds, most notably razing the East Wing to build a 1,000-person ballroom. Across the street from the mansion, Lafayette Park is closed for renovations that include getting the fountains working again.The National Capital Planning Commission is scheduled to begin considering the plan on Thursday, according to its meeting agenda. Trump calls for painting all or most of the Eisenhower building’s gray granite exterior with white paint. He last year called the gray a “really bad color.”Josh Fisher, a White House official, in April told the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts — a separate federal agency that also must approve the proposal — that the Trump administration prefers painting the entire building because the exterior is stained and in “great disrepair.”The White House also presented an alternative proposal to paint most of the building in white while leaving the granite as is on the base. Fisher said in April that experts consulted by the government could not guarantee that an exterior cleaning would improve the condition of the building.But the proposal has alarmed preservationists, architects, historians and others who argue that granite is not meant to be painted and that paint would trap moisture, deteriorate the stone and not solve problems the administration wants to fix.There’s also scant public support for the paint job.Hundreds of pages of public comment submitted to the National Capital Planning Commission and available