Located along the banks of the Potomac River, the site of the nation’s capital city was selected after much debate through a compromise between southern and northern representatives during the late 1780s.
The Residence Act of 1790 placed the site along the Potomac River, and gave President George Washington the authority to select the exact location of the new capital city.
President George Washington signed the Residence Act in July 1790 declaring that the Federal Government would reside in a district “not exceeding ten miles square…on the river Potomac.”
City Planner Pierre (Peter) Charles L’Enfant laid out plans for the nation’s new capital and together with President Washington chose the site for the “President’s House.”
The building’s history begins in 1792, when a public competition was held to choose a design for a presidential residence in the new capital city of Washington.
Thomas Jefferson, later the country’s third president (1801–09), using the pseudonymous initials “A.Z.,” was among those who submitted drawings, but Irish American architect James Hoban won the commission (and a $500 prize) with his plan for a Georgian mansion in the Palladian style.
The structure was to have three floors and more than 100 rooms and would be built in sandstone imported from quarries along Aquia Creek in Virginia.
President Washington marked the spot for the future north walls and entrance of the White House in 1791. The chosen location and position for the White House symbolically linked the President’s House to the U.S. Capitol via Pennsylvania Avenue (1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. in Washington, DC)
The cornerstone was laid on October 13, 1792. Laborers, including local enslaved people, were housed in temporary huts built on the north side of the premises. They were joined by skilled stonemasons from Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1793.
In 1800 the entire federal government was relocated from Philadelphia to Washington. John Adams, the country’s second president (1797–1801), moved into the still unfinished presidential mansion on November 1 and the next night Adams wrote in a letter to his wife, Abigail Adams:
“I Pray Heaven Bestow the Best of Blessings on This House and All that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under this Roof.”
At the insistence of President Franklin Roosevelt (1933–45), the quotation was inscribed on the fireplace of the State Dining Room immediately below the portrait of Abraham Lincoln, by George Healy.
During the War of 1812 the building was burned by the British, and President James Madison (1809–17) and his family were forced to flee the city. The Madisons eventually moved into the nearby Octagon House, the Washington mansion of John Tayloe, a Virginia plantation owner.
Reconstruction and expansion began under Hoban’s direction, but the building was not ready for occupancy until 1817, during the administration of President James Monroe (1817–25).
It survived a fire at the hands of the British in 1814 (during the war of 1812) and another fire in the West Wing in 1929, while Herbert Hoover was President.
President John Adams opened the White House to the public and started the tradition of hosting New Year’s Day receptions. President Thomas Jefferson expanded on this tradition of hospitality and hosted the first Fourth of July celebration.
Thomas Jefferson held the first Inaugural open house in 1805. Many of those who attended the swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol simply followed him home, where he greeted them in the Blue Room. President Jefferson also opened the house for public tours, and it has remained open, except during wartime, ever since.
In 1829, a horde of 20,000 Inaugural callers forced President Andrew Jackson to flee to the safety of a hotel while, on the lawn, aides filled washtubs with orange juice and whiskey to lure the mob out of the mud-tracked White House.
After Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, Inaugural crowds became far too large for the White House to accommodate them comfortably.
In Grover Cleveland’s first presidency he held a presidential review of the troops from a flag-draped grandstand built in front of the White House. This procession evolved into the official Inaugural parade we know today. Receptions on New Year’s Day and the Fourth of July continued to be held until the early 1930s.
The 1902 renovation relocated the public entrance to the White House to the East Terrace, but the president and his wife still welcome state visitors in the Entrance Hall.
The Second and Third Floors are private living quarters, used only by the president, family, and guests.
Although the name “White House” was commonly used (because the mansion’s white-gray sandstone contrasted strikingly with the red brick of nearby buildings), it did not become the official name of the building until 1901, when it was adopted by President Theodore Roosevelt (1901–09). The White House is the oldest federal building in the nation’s capital.
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.
With five full-time chefs, the White House kitchen is able to serve dinner to as many as 140 guests and hors d’oeuvres to more than 1,000.
For recreation, the White House has a variety of facilities available to its residents, including a tennis court, jogging track, swimming pool, movie theater, and bowling lane.
The White House and its landscaped grounds occupy 18 acres. The White House Grounds and the surrounding parkland, known as President’s Park, provide an elegant setting to welcome foreign dignitaries and to host national celebrations such as the lighting of the National Christmas Tree and the annual Easter Egg Roll, and on occasion public protests.
The Ellipse is the central landscape feature on the south side. Lafayette Park, on the north side, is surrounded by many historic buildings of interest and is the site of an equestrian statue of President Andrew Jackson and a number of statues of Revolutionary War heroes erected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The National Park Service maintains the White House Gardens and Grounds, the surrounding parkland known as President’s Park, and provides interpretive programs in the park and at the White House Visitor Center.
For two hundred years, the White House has stood as a symbol of the Presidency, the United States government, and the American people.
Click the following link to a general summary about the White House:
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