The Family Residence in the White House
South Face 2007
North Face 2007
Quick FactsThe White House sits at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, the capital city of the United States, in the District of Columbia (DC), a federal district carved out of neighboring Maryland and Virginia. Just as it did when it was first completed over 200 years ago, the White House still houses the president's family as well as offices for their top staff (although today, many more "White House staff" members work in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street). The chief usher is in charge of keeping the house running smoothly. He has a staff of 90 workers to assist him: a head housekeeper, five chefs, and numerous maids, butlers, carpenters, plumbers, gardeners, and engineers. The Residence is 170 feet wide by 85 feet deep and 58 feet high (52 m by 26 m and 18 m high). The White House hosts about 5,000 visitors a day, or 1,825,000 visitors a year.
The White House has:
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The President's Residence
The White House is a grand mansion in the neo-classical Federal style, with details that echo classical Greek Ionic architecture. James Hoban's original design was modeled after the Leinster House in Dublin, Ireland and did not include the north and south porticos. The presidential mansion is situated on the angled Pennsylvania Avenue at the 1600 block, down the street from the Capitol building, and so is given the address 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC.
Residence Construction: 1792-1800
The original design of the White House, 1800 (Library of Congress) |
The White House construction began in 1792. John Adams became the first president to take residence in the building on November 1, 1800. It was a grand mansion in the neo-classical federal style, with details that echo classical Greek Ionic architecture. James Hoban's original design was modeled after the Leinster House in Dublin, Ireland and did not include the north and south porticos. Still, when it was complete, the President's house was the largest residence in the United States and would remain so until the 1860s.
Jeffersonian Enhancements: 1801-1809
The house that Thomas Jefferson entered in March of 1801 was still unfinished. Among his first acts was to have proper water closets (early toilets) built in the upper floor to replace the outdoor privy. He created a wilderness museum in the Entrance Hall, with mounted animals and Indian artifacts. He housed his private secretary in canvas-walled chambers in the south end of the unfinished East Room. He also had a revolving cabinet built in the Public Dining Room (today's Family Dining Room) similar to ones he had in Monticello. And he built pavilions on the east and west sides for servants and stables.
Madison Reconstruction: 1814-1817
In 1814, during the War of 1812, much of Washington, DC, was burned down by British troops and the White House was gutted, leaving only the exterior walls standing. Despite architect Latrobe's suggestions for changes, President James Madison pledged to restore the White House just as it was. Original architect James Hoban returned to supervise the reconstruction, and few architectural changes were made when restoration was completed in 1817 under President James Monroe, who furnished the house in fashionable style.
Floor plan of the White House before the 1902 remodeling (LOC top, bottom) |
Architectural Improvements & War: 1825-1865
The front and rear porticos were added to the White House 1825 and 1830, when Thomas Jefferson commissioned Benjamin Henry Latrobe to make architectural changes to the mansion (Latrobe had done proposals that included porticos as early as 1807). Additional changes followed in 1835, when running water and central heating were installed.
Post-War Renovation 1866-1872
President Johnson's daughter redecorated the house in bold geometric designs. And large glass conservatories were constructed on either side of the mansion, providing flowers and plants of all sorts, as well as a pleasant place to talk or read a book.
Victorian Ornamentation: 1873-1901
US Grant converted the White House to a high Victorian style, although his choices were openly mocked by some. This was further enhanced by Louis Tiffany with Tiffany glass windows, gaslight fixtures, and other ornamentation in the 1890s. Electric lights replaced gaslights starting in 1891.
TR Restoration: 1902-1904
In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt embarked on an extensive remodeling of the Residence. Plans had been in the works for years to build a new White House or expand the original. TR trod lightly, though, and merely removed the Victorian decor accumulated over the previous thirty years and returned the White House to its Federal-period roots with some Georgian elements. Building the first West Wing (and East Wing) allowed him to move the presidential staff out of the family rooms on the second floor.
Roof Expansions: 1917 and 1927
The Wilsons renovated part of the attic in 1917 to include a painting room and guest rooms, but it was never adequate. Calvin Coolidge discovered how leaky the roof was during a rain storm and, in 1927, had the roof and attic replaced with a full third floor using steel girders. Although this provided better accommodations for servants and guests, the combination of the somewhat hasty TR restoration and new steel structure badly weakened the building over the next two decades.
Lorenzo Winslow's circa 1947 plan for changes to the White House, close to the actual implementation |
Truman Reconstruction: 1948-1952
In 1948, President Harry S Truman added a much-discussed balcony to the South Portico at the second-floor level. Not long after the Truman Balcony was constructed, the main body building was found to be structurally unsound.
The old interior was dismantled, leaving the house as a shell. It was then rebuilt using concrete and steel beams in place of its original wooden joists. Some modifications were made, including bathrooms for each bedroom and the repositioning of the grand staircase to open into the Entrance Hall, rather than the Cross Hall.
Kennedy Renovation: 1961-1963
The Kennedys embarked on a campaign to renovate the decor and furnishings of the White House, which had been somewhat neglected since the time of Hoover. Mrs. Kennedy created the White House Historical Association to help publicize the heritage of the president's house and got the White House declared a museum to help preserve it.
Mrs. Kennedy also converted the former Prince of Wales suite into a Private Dining Room and Family Kitchen for the first family. And she and the president had the Rose Garden redesigned to better accommodate press briefings.
Cross-section of the Residence showing the floors (CREM) |
Ongoing Maintenance
Since the early 60s, each presidential administration has seen the White House as a kind of living museum, making changes to the decor and maintaining the building's structure and exterior, but making very limited alterations to the architecture and layout. In the early 1990s, the White House exterior was extensively refurbished, with some 40 layers of paint removed and the sandstone exterior repaired and repainted. In 1993, the White House embarked on an extensive "greening" project [PDF] to reduce energy consumption.
Aside from ordinary maintenance and renovations of the decor....
- The Johnsons created the Children's Garden and redecorated the Solarium.
- Richard Nixon refreshed the state floor rooms and had the swimming pool converted to the Press Briefing Room and built a one-lane bowling alley in the basement.
- Gerald Ford installed an outdoor swimming pool.
- Ronald Reagan set up an exercise room in the small West Bedroom.
- Hillary Clinton redecorated some of the family rooms, converted a third floor room into a sound-dampened music room for Bill, and converted another into an exercise room. Mrs. Clinton also created a small sculpture garden on the east side.
- George and Laura Bush redecorated the family rooms, expanded the Situation Room, and renovated the Family Theater and Press Briefing Room.
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/Floor2.htm
The floor plan provided at the link plus descriptions of the individual rooms on the second floor of the White House is fascinating! Go take a look!
As a total guess, I am thinking that Malia and Sasha Obama will occupy the East and West Bedrooms. I know I would be very happy in either one!
West Bedroom in 1992
East Bedroom 1992
And, of course, the Master Bedroom for the President and the First Lady
Master Bedroom 1992
Master Dressing Room 1992
Family Kitchen 1992
Private Dining Room 1997
The Top Floor
The third floor of the White House Residence is where the first family relaxes. It includes a billiards room, a workout room and music room the Clintons put in, and a sun room.
Solarium 1985
The old attic had long been used for storage along with about eight small sloped-ceiling bedrooms for servants (initially, Zachary Taylor's slaves), but it was accessible only by ladder. The 1902 renovation installed a staircase and expanded the space for some ironing rooms, linen closets, clothing storage, and guest rooms. The Tafts finished more of the space and the Wilson still more. One room was dubbed the "Bachelor's Suite" for young men who courted the Wilson daughters, and in another well-lit area painter Ellen Wilson worked on her canvases.
In 1927 the attic was enlarged and finished as a third floor while the White House roof was rebuilt. Ike Hoover, chief usher at the time, wrote:
Going up either by the stairway or the elevator, we find ourselves in a long central corridor running east and west with rooms on both sides and a suite at either end, the one on the east being used by the African American female help, such as the cooks and housemaids. On the south side of the corridor are six rooms. Four of them were furnished and intended to be guest-rooms, but were used as offices by [First Lady] Mrs. Hoover's three secretaries. The other rooms are a sewing-room and a valet's bedroom. On the north side of the corridor are all kinds of rooms—two are used by the housekeeper, two are linen-rooms, three general storerooms, one cedar-room for winter storing, and finally a very large space over the north portico is used to store the chairs used at musicales and dinner parties.
Lou Hoover's secretaries worked here. FDR's personal secretary Missy LeHand lived here, and later so did little Diana Hopkins, daughter of FDR's live-in adviser Harry Hopkins. After enduring the intolerable food supervised by a housekeeper who ignored his wishes, FDR had a small kitchen created on the third floor, and there his meals were made. Dwight Eisenhower cooked his own soups and stews here.
In 1952, the sloped corners were squared off to create corner rooms during the Truman reconstruction. The penthouse suite on the west side was used by the remaining in-house servants. This floor now has 20 rooms, 1 main corridor, 9 bathrooms.
Jackie Kennedy first decorated the third floor bedrooms with antiques, the most notable being the "Empire Guest Room," which featured a bed used by John Adams. The Carter family sentimentally had one of the rooms lined with wood panels from an old family barn in Georgia. Julie Nixon and her husband, David Eisenhower, the visiting Reagan and Bush children and grandchildren, and relatives of the Clintons all stayed here, and while in residence the Ford and Carter sons lived in rooms on this floor.
Hillary Clinton created her own Eleanor Roosevelt room where she kept memorabilia of her predecessor that had been sent to her as gifts and used the west-side suite as office space. Under the Reagans, and again under the Clintons, the bedroom suites were beautifully decorated with items from the White House collection.
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