The renderings are complete, the architects and contractors have been hired. After at least 15 years of talking about it, President Trump is building a ballroom at the White House. According to the White House, the work will begin this September, with a price tag of $200 million.
“President Trump is a builder at heart and has an extraordinary eye for detail,” said White House chief of staff Susie Wiles in a statement on Thursday. “The President and the Trump White House are fully committed to working with the appropriate organizations to preserving the special history of the White House while building a beautiful ballroom that can be enjoyed by future Administrations and generations of Americans to come.”
Canada was still part of the British empire at the time, but looking at Wikipedia the British regiments were all actually raised and based in the British isles, so I’m not sure where the idea that they were Canadians came from. I’ve heard several times that the troops that burned Washington were of Canadian origin, usually proudly related by Canadians, and just assumed that was correct since my history classes usually didn’t spend much time on that war. It does look like at least some of the attack was in retaliation for American burnings and lootings of York and Port Dover in what was then Upper Canada, so maybe that’s where the idea comes from.