New Delhi, July 19 -- President Donald Trump has looked to the marble finishes and hefty price tag of the Federal Reserve headquarters to claim grounds to fire Chair Jerome Powell, with whom he has tussled for years over interest rates. But the extensive use of marble in the building is, at least in part, the result of policies backed by Trump himself.

As the Fed moved forward with plans to renovate its Great Depression-era headquarters in Washington during Trump's first term, it faced concerns in 2020 during a vetting process involving Trump appointees, who called for more "white Georgia marble" for the facade of the building.

The Fed's architects said the central bank wanted glass walls, to reflect the Fed as a transparent institution...