The White House is the official
residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is
located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.,
and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in
1800. The term "White House" is often used as a metonym for
the president and his advisers.
There are 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, and 6 levels in
the Residence. There are also 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fireplaces, 8
staircases, and 3 elevators. The White House kitchen is able to serve dinner to
as many as 140 guests and more than 1,000. The White House
requires 570 gallons of paint to cover its outside surface. At various times in
history, the White House has been known as the President’s Palace, the
President’s House, and the Executive Mansion. President Theodore Roosevelt
officially gave the White House its current name in 1901.
First president, George Washington, selected
the site for the White House in 1791. The cornerstone was laid in 1792 and a
competition design submitted by Irish born architect James Hoban was
chosen. After eight years of construction, President John Adams and
his wife, Abigail, moved into the unfinished house in 1800. During the War of 1812,
the British set fire to the President’s House in 1814.
James Hoban was appointed to rebuild the house, and President
James Monroe moved into the building in 1817. During Monroe’s
administration, the South Portico was constructed in 1824, and Andrew Jackson oversaw
the addition of the North Portico in 1829. During the
late 19th century, various proposals were made to significantly
expand the President’s House or to build an entirely new house for the
president, but these plans were never realized.
In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt began a major
renovation of the White House, including the relocation of the president’s
offices from the Second Floor of the Residence to the newly constructed
temporary Executive Office Building. The Roosevelt
renovation was planned and carried out by the famous New York architectural
firm McKim, Mead and White. Roosevelt’s successor, President William
Howard Taft, had the Oval Office constructed within an enlarged office wing.
Less than fifty years after the Roosevelt
renovation, the White House was showing signs of serious structural weakness.
President Harry S. Truman began a renovation of the building in which
everything but the outer walls were dismantled. The reconstruction was overseen
by architect Lorenzo Winslow, and the Truman family moved back into the White
House in 1952.
Every president since John Adams has occupied the
White House, and the history of this building extends far beyond the
construction of its walls. From the Ground Floor Corridor rooms, transformed
from their early use as service areas, to the State Floor rooms, where
countless leaders and dignitaries have been entertained, the White House is
both the home of the President of the United States and his family, and a museum
of American history. The White House is a place where history continues to
unfold.
