The entire East Wing of the White House will be demolished within days

The entire East Wing of the White House will be demolished within days, two Trump administration officials said.

Construction crews began demolishing parts of the structure on Monday and the structure will be completely demolished by the weekend, officials told the BBC’s US news partner CBS.

It marks a major expansion of a construction project announced by President Donald Trump over the summer. He previously said his $250m (£186m) addition to the White House Ballroom would not “disrupt the current building”.

The White House has served as the historic home of the President of the United States for two centuries. The east wing was built in 1902 and last modified in 1942.

Trump announced that construction had begun in a social media post on Monday, saying “ground breaking” has been done on the “much needed” space for the ballroom.

“For more than 150 years, every president has dreamed of having a ballroom in the White House to host people for big parties, state visits, etc.,” he wrote.

He said the East Wing is “completely separate” from the White House, even though it is attached to the main structure.

Trump administration officials told CBS that it had always been the case that the East Wing would need to be upgraded to improve security and technology, but that it became apparent during the planning process that the best option would be to demolish the entire East Wing.

Trump called the construction “music to my ears.”

“You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction in the back… When I hear that sound, it reminds me of money,” he told senators from his Republican Party at the White House on Tuesday.

His comments came after the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a nonprofit organization in Washington that protects historic sites across the U.S., wrote a letter to White House officials saying it was “deeply concerned” about the project.

The trust asked Trump to stop the demolition work, arguing that the White House is a national historic landmark and that officials should conduct a public review process of the ballroom plan.