U.S. President Donald Trump is presiding over one of the most dramatic transformations of Washington, D.C., in a generation, as he makes monumental changes to the historic White House complex, federalizes local police as part of a "beautification" campaign, takes over the district's performing arts centre and dictates what should be on display in the national museums.

Trump is taking a more hands-on approach to district issues than any of his recent predecessors as he tries to remake the capital in his image, all while rooting out what he calls "wokesters," homeless people, hardened criminals, illegal migrants and others.

In Trump's D.C., there will be no more "savagery, filth and scum," he said.

As he tightens his grip on the federal district he says has been badly managed for decades, Trump has flatly ruled out granting D.C. statehood. It's something residents have long demanded, and it would stymie his efforts to exert more control over what happens in this city of 700,000 people.

"What we want to do is make Washington, D.C., the greatest, most beautiful, safest capital anywhere in the world, and that's going to happen," Trump told reporters at an event on Wednesday.

"Already they're saying, 'He's a dictator,'" he said of his Democrat critics. But Trump insisted D.C. "is going to hell. We've got to stop it."

This week, federal agents have been out on patrol in parts of the district, arresting dozens of suspected criminals in the first few days of the Trump operation.

The city's Democratic mayor, Muriel Bowser, initially called the deployment "unsettling." But she has been largely deferential to Trump, saying she's powerless to stop his efforts and that more officers on the streets "may be a positive."

Barbara Perry, co-chair of the presidential oral history program at the University of Virginia and a board member of the White House Historical Association, told CBC News that Trump's D.C. intervention is truly unprecedented.

"No other president has taken such an interest in all the different facets of Washington, D.C.," Perry said.

"Most presidents usually have a lot more on their plate than worrying about redesigning the White House. And crime and law enforcement — those have long been thought of as local issues," she said, especially after the district was given home rule in the 1970s.

New ballroom

At the centre of Trump's ambitious plan to spruce up the capital is a massive new ballroom on the White House grounds.

While there are strict guidelines for what can be built on that revered site on Pennsylvania Avenue — smaller changes in the past have taken months or even years to study and approve — Trump officials have already said construction on the hulking space will get underway in September.

Trump is pitching a $200-million US, 90,000-square-foot structure expected to subsume the existing East Wing and some of the property's green space — a legacy piece for the former real estate mogul. The proposed building is nearly double the size of the existing structure.

"Part of his real estate developer persona is plastering the name of Trump over anything that he ever owned or wanted to own," Perry said. "He sees himself as a businessman and a developer and the desire to build something like this giant ballroom — it's right in his strike zone."

The plan has drawn fierce criticism from architectural purists but praise from others who say the current building is too small for large state functions. His defenders say Trump is right that unsightly tents have to be rolled out onto the lawn when more than 250 people are invited to a formal event.

Stephen Ayers, the interim CEO of the American Institute for Architects, which was entrusted by president Theodore Roosevelt more than a century ago to be the "perpetual guardian" of the White House's architectural integrity, urges caution.

"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the people's house, a national treasure and an enduring symbol of our democracy. Any modifications to it — especially modifications of this magnitude — should reflect the importance, scale and symbolic weight of the White House itself," Ayers said.

Trump's proposed structure "raises concerns regarding scale and balance," he said, and any additions should be adjusted so that they align with "the White House's historic character."

Others have been more blunt, calling the planned addition "hideous," "ugly," "dumb" and gaudy given the liberal use of gold.

"I can see where this ballroom would be helpful and needed. We struggled with guests lists when I was there," said Anita McBride, the former chief of staff to ex-first lady Laura Bush, who helped plan social events. "With tented events, you really can't say you're having dinner at the White House, because you're not. You're on the lawn. It's not as attractive, in my mind."

There hasn't been much structural change to the place since the post-Second World War period — and even then it was a comparatively minor addition, as then-president Harry Truman added a balcony to the second floor of the executive residence.

Truman also gutted the interior after decades of neglect. Roosevelt knocked down pre-Civil War greenhouses to build the West Wing in 1902. His distant cousin, former president Franklin Roosevelt, added the Oval Office as it's known today in 1934.

McBride, who also worked in the Reagan and H.W. Bush administrations, said it's the president's prerogative to do what he wants with the place — with some limits, of course.

"The building has evolved over 233 years. It's been through changes before and with many of them there were strong feelings on both sides, but we ultimately adapted," she said. "It will take some getting used to."

The ballroom project follows Trump's recent decision to pave over part of Jacqueline Kennedy's Rose Garden to install new tiles for an outdoor patio and put two towering flag poles on either side of the White House to boldly fly the Stars and Stripes.

In a nod to his Trump Tower apartment, the president has placed gold detailing all over the Oval Office and other interior spaces in a building that was much more modest when it first opened in 1800.

"The White House was built by our founding fathers, particularly George Washington, to not be like the palaces of Europe. But I'm not sure they could have envisioned the kind of world we live in today," McBride said. "It's the personal preference of this president. Maybe it's not to everybody's taste, but it is Trump's. While he's there, this is how he wants it."

Crime crackdown, Kennedy Center takeover

Beyond the White House gates, Trump is promising an ambitious campaign to fix the district's parks, roads and medians, because he said the current setup is "embarrassing" when world leaders come to see him. 

Bowser, the D.C. mayor, has pushed back on Trump's narrative, saying the city is already more beautiful and safe than it was — tourism numbers are up and business activity has improved after a post-COVID slump.

But Trump described the city in dystopian terms as he moved to deploy the D.C. National Guard to the streets of the capital.

His D.C. takeover doesn't stop there.

Trump commandeered the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts's board of trustees, who then installed him as its chair.

He dropped some purportedly progressive programming and promoted a summer schedule of the play Les Misérables, which just finished a five-week sold-out run on his watch.

Now, Trump will personally host the centre's annual awards ceremony and give prizes to hand-picked celebrity recipients in a bid to drive up TV ratings.

He is leading renovation efforts to that space, too, recently convincing Republicans in Congress to allocate $257 million for an overhaul. Some of his congressional allies are pushing for the building's opera house to be renamed after First Lady Melania Trump.

And then there's the Smithsonian, which earlier this year removed a reference to Trump's first-term impeachments from a display in the Museum of American History — it later returned with a modified text.

This week, White House officials urged the museum's top administrator to reevaluate what's put on display as the country approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026.

The White House wants visitors to see displays that "celebrate American exceptionalism."

"There is nothing traditional about the way Trump wants to get things done," McBride said. "He's getting things done his own way — the way he's used to."