Table Of Content

In 1927, the attic of the Executive Mansion was expanded and became its third floor. Similar to their Oval Office, presidents have been allowed to renovate parts of the Executive Mansion and executive residence. Many presidents with children have installed playground equipment on the White House grounds and held events and receptions like prom parties and wedding receptions at the mansion. In 1805, upon winning re-election, Thomas Jefferson held the first Inauguration open house at the White House, allowing the public to enter.
22 Interesting Facts About the White House - Parade Magazine
22 Interesting Facts About the White House.
Posted: Mon, 19 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
White House Renovations and Improvements
Only thirteen years after the Presidents' House was habitable, disaster struck. The White House, along with the partially built Capitol, was destroyed in 1814. The US Secret Service, created to fight counterfeiting, only began protecting the president in 1901, making it the only federal law enforcement agency with a distinct dual mandate. Every president, beginning with Theodore Roosevelt, has received Secret Service protection, with Roosevelt having a two-agent guard. In 1922, a uniformed protectorate was created for the White House, and in 1977 it was renamed the Secret Service Uniformed Division.
Where to stay in Helsinki, Finland's design-conscious capital
Ford’s pool was built on the South Lawn, and Roosevelt’s indoor pool was covered and turned into a press briefing room. The White House’s attic was converted into a third floor during the Coolidge administration, and over the years, it has hosted a music room for President Clinton and a bedroom suite for Melania Trump. There is also a solarium, added by Grace Coolidge, with panoramic views of the Mall. The White House was first opened to the public during Thomas Jefferson’s presidency in 1805. It happened because many who attended the swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol simply followed him home, where he then greeted them in the Blue Room.
Building the White House
In this photo, because we are looking south, the West Wing is the building on the right side of the photo. Since 1902, the President has been able to walk from the Executive House, along the West Wing Colonnade, around the Rose Garden, to work in the Oval Office located in the West Wing. The East Wing on the left-side in this photo is where the First Lady has her offices. James Hoban was brought in to rebuild it according to the original design, but this time the sandstone walls were coated with lime-based whitewash. Although the building was often called the "White House," the name did not become official until 1902, when President Theodore Roosevelt adopted it. These floor plans for the White House are some of the earliest indications of Hoban's and Latrobe's design.
Growth of the West Wing Complex
Information Panel: Construction of the White House (U.S - National Park Service
Information Panel: Construction of the White House (U.S.
Posted: Tue, 27 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The White House has also been subjected to disaster, including two fires, one at the hands of the British in 1814 and one in the West Wing in 1929. Today, tours of what is undoubtedly the most iconic residence in the US are a precious commodity. Nonetheless, the visitors centre and surrounding area give a sense of the White House’s role within US history.
Native American History Museums in the USA

In addition to the Presidential Bedroom Suite, the second floor includes historic spaces, such as the Queens’ Bedroom, the Treaty Room, the Yellow Oval Room, the Center Hall, and the East and West Sitting Rooms. The central Executive Residence is home to the president’s living spaces and the State Rooms. The ground floor originally housed service areas, but now includes the Diplomatic Reception Room, the White House Library, the Map Room, the Vermeil Room, and the China Room. The State Floor features some of the White House’s most treasured spaces, including the East Room, the Blue, Red, and Green Rooms, the State Dining Room, and the Family Dining Room.

Who Was the First President to Live in the White House?
The White House is the official residence and primary workplace of the President of the United States. The Situation Room, known officially as the John F. Kennedy Conference Room, is located in the West Wing basement and actually comprises several rooms. Designated in 1961 by JFK as a space for crisis coordination, it was used by Johnson during the Vietnam War and is where President Barack Obama watched Osama Bin Laden's killing by Navy SEALs. The Truman balcony, overlooking the south lawn and the Washington Monument, was completed in 1948. To this day, by design, the White House remains rather "two-faced," one facade more formal and angular and the other rounded and less formal.
The third president of the United States detested the formal etiquette of Adams’s party, the Federalists, although Jefferson’s lifestyle and tastes were anything but simple. He immediately sold off President Adams’s seven-horse stable, the silver-trimmed harnesses, and two carriages bought with funds intended for household furnishings. Jefferson ended the great public receptions, and turned the State Dining Room, where they had been held, into his office. He erected a post-and-rail fence around the house and established the main entrance on the north side, demolishing the temporary wooden south entrance stairs. During the 200th anniversary of construction in 1992, x-ray machines were brought in to image the stone walls with short waves, but found nothing.
How Did 3 People Seemingly Escape From Alcatraz?
Capitol and the White House.[17] Hoban was born in Ireland and trained at the Dublin Society of Arts. He emigrated to the U.S. after the American Revolution, first seeking work in Philadelphia and later finding success in South Carolina, where he designed the state capitol in Columbia. From a geographical standpoint alone, it should come as no surprise that enslaved laborers were used to build the nation’s capital.
Builders laid the White House cornerstone on October 13, 1792, with the Capitol cornerstone following soon after on August 18, 1793. This view of the White House is looking south, toward the Washington Monument, over the North Lawn and Pennsylvania Avenue in the foreground. A circular driveway leads to the North Portico, considered the front entrance, where visiting dignitaries are greeted.
With the wing additions, built for domestic use, he separated the upper and lower lawns of the site andmade an official entrance on the north. He began a stone wall around the house, planted trees and flower gardens, and built graveled driveways. Following his April 1789 inauguration, President George Washington occupied two private houses in New York City, which served as the executive mansion. In May 1790, construction began on a new official residence in Manhattan called Government House. In 1800, when the house was almost finished, the second president of the United States, John Adams, and his wife Abigail moved into it. The President’s House was destroyed by fire under the invasion of the British army.
Washington, D.C., was built on landed ceded to the federal government by Virginia and Maryland, and at the time the Potomac region was home to almost half of the country’s 750,000 slaves, Lane reports. The building was not completed until 1800 when President John Adams moved in with his wife Abigail. In its more than 320-year history, the White House has undergone a lot of changes, with every president making some changes to the layout or the use of the rooms.