White House

The White House is the official house and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was planned by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical style. It has been the residence of each U.S. President since John Adams. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he extended the building outward, creating two colonnades that were meant to conceal stables and storage.

In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroy the interior and charring a lot of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost instantly, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed house in October 1817. Construction nonstop with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829. Because of crowding within the executive house itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had nearly all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901.

Eight years later, President William Howard Taft extended the West Wing and created the first Oval Office which was eventually moved as the section was expanded. The third-floor attic was changed to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as a reception area for social events; Jefferson's colonnades linked the new wings. East Wing alterations were finished in 1946, creating additional office space. By 1948, the house's load-bearing external walls and internal wood beams were found to be close to failure.