The White House is the oldest public building in Washington, DC and has been the home of every president except George Washington. George Washington and city planner Pierre L’Enfant held a contest to find a builder and chose James Hoban of Ireland who modeled the White House after an Irish country house. The White House took 8 years to build. The interior has been restored and remodeled over the years.
The Blue Room is the center of the State Floor of the White House where the President formally receives guests. Large parties and receptions are held in the East Room. The Red Room is one of the four state reception rooms. The State Dining Room seats as many as 140 guests and is used for formal dinners with visiting heads of state. The President and his staff work in the West Wing, which was built in 1902 to separate the offices from the first family’s living quarters. The Oval Office is the President’s office where he meets with advisors.
History of White House
White House History is a semi-annual periodical published by the White House Historical Association, a private, non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance the public’s understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the White House, the official home and principal workplace of the President of the United States.White House History features articles on the White House, especially those relating to the house’s use and life as lived there. Articles are formally documented in notes, where it is appropriate.White House History is not a political forum, although political history may very likely play a part in the subject matter.White House History serves a readership including historians, professionals and lay people in the areas of political history, architecture and decorative arts.First published in 1983, White House History has been issued twice each year since 1997. The first 18 issues are available in bound sets. More recent issues are available individually. Topics have included inaugurations, White House kitchens, presidential retreats, presidential portraiture, and horses. Several issues focus on a particular presidential administration. They include John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Buchanan, Dwight Eisenhower, and John Kennedy administrations. Future editions will focus on the subject of include Abraham Lincoln’s White House, working in the White House, the White House neighborhood, presidential journeys, and the second and third floor family quarters, not open to the public.
Construction of White House
Construction of the White House began with the laying of the cornerstone on October 13, 1792, although there was no formal ceremony. The main residence, as well as foundations of the house, were built largely by enslaved and free African-American laborers, as well as employed Europeans.Much of the other work on the house was performed by immigrants, many not yet with citizenship. The sandstone walls were erected by Scottishimmigrants, employed by Hoban, as were the high relief rose and garland decorations above the north entrance and the “fish scale” pattern beneath the pediments of the window hoods. The initial construction took place over a period of eight years, at a reported cost of $232,371.83 (equal to $3,182,127 today). Although not yet completed, the White House was ready for occupancy on or circa November 1, 1800.Shortages, including material and labor, forced alterations to the earlier plan developed by French engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant for a “palace” that was five times larger than the house that was eventually built. The finished structure contained only two main floors instead of the planned three, and a less costly brick served as a lining for the stone façades. When construction was finished the porous sandstone walls were coated with a mixture of lime, rice glue, casein, and lead, giving the house its familiar color and name.It will not be an exaggeration to say that White House is a Awesome Place For Vacations.
Naming conventions of White House
The building was originally referred to variously as the “President’s Palace”, “Presidential Mansion”, or “President’s House”. The earliest evidence of the public calling it the “White House” was recorded in 1811. A myth emerged that during the rebuilding of the structure after the Burning of Washington, white paint was applied to mask the burn damage it had suffered, giving the building its namesake hue. The name “Executive Mansion” was used in official contexts until President Theodore Roosevelt established the formal name by having “White House–Washington” engraved on the stationery in 1901. The current letterhead wording and arrangement “The White House” with the word “Washington” centered beneath goes back to the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Although it was not completed until some years after the presidency of George Washington, it is also speculated that the name of the traditional residence of the President of the United States may have derived from Martha Custis Washington’s home, White House Plantation in Virginia, where the nation’s first President had courted the First Lady in the mid-18th century.
The White House Today
Today, the home of America’s president has six floors, seven staircases, 132 rooms, 32 bathrooms, 28 fireplaces, 147 windows, 412 doors and 3 elevators placeforvacations.com Despite two hundred years of disaster, discord and remodelings, the original design of the immigrant Irish builder, James Hoban, remains intact. The sandstone exterior walls are original.
