White House: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Official residence and workplace of the US president}}

The residence was designed by [[Ireland|Irish]]-born architect [[James Hoban]] in the [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] style.{{r|TSGjH}} Hoban modeled the building on [[Leinster House]] in [[Dublin]], a building which today houses the [[Oireachtas]], the Irish legislature. Constructed between 1792 and 1800, its exterior walls are [[Aquia Creek sandstone]] painted white. When [[Thomas Jefferson]] moved into the house in 1801, he and architect [[Benjamin Henry Latrobe]] added low [[colonnade]]s on each wing to conceal what then were stables and storage.{{r|bwDpG}} In 1814, during the [[War of 1812]], the mansion was set ablaze by [[British Empire|British]] forces in the [[burning of Washington]], destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President [[James Monroe]] moved into the partially reconstructed [[Executive Residence]] in October 1817. Exterior construction continued with the addition of the semicircular South Portico in 1824 and the North Portico in 1829.

Following his April 1789 inauguration, President [[George Washington]] occupied two private houses in New York City, which served as the executive mansion. He lived at the first, the [[Samuel Osgood House|Walter Franklin House]], which was owned by Treasury Commissioner [[Samuel Osgood]], at 3{{nbs}}Cherry Street, through late February 1790.{{r|Baker1897}}{{r|mvorg}}  The executive mansion moved to the larger quarters at [[Alexander Macomb House]] at 39–41 [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]],{{r|mvorg}} where Washington stayed with his wife [[Martha Washington|Martha]] and a small staff until August 1790. In May 1790, construction began on a new official residence in [[Manhattan]] called [[Government House (New York City)|Government House]].

President [[John Adams]], who succeeded Washington and served as the nation's second president, occupied the High Street mansion in Philadelphia from March 1797 to May 1800. Philadelphia began construction of a much grander [[President's House (Ninth Street)|presidential mansion]] several blocks away in 1792. It was nearly completed by the time of Adams' 1797 inauguration. However, Adams chose not to occupy it, saying he did not have [[United States Congress|Congressional]] authorization to lease the building. It remained vacant until 1800 when it was sold to the [[University of Pennsylvania]].{{r|Westcott1894}}

The President's House was a major feature of [[Pierre Charles L'Enfant|Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's]]{{efn|L'Enfant identified himself as "Peter Charles L'Enfant" during most of his life while residing in the United States. He wrote this name on his [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3850.ct000512 "Plan of the city intended for the permanent seat of the government of t(he) United States{{nbs}}..."] (Washington, D.C.) and on other legal documents. However, during the early 1900s, a French ambassador [[Jean Jules Jusserand]] popularized the use of L'Enfant's birth name, "Pierre Charles L'Enfant". (Reference: Bowling, Kenneth R (2002). ''Peter Charles L'Enfant: vision, honor, and male friendship in the early American Republic.'' George Washington University, Washington, D.C. {{ISBN|978-0-9727611-0-9}}). The [[United States Code]] states in {{USC|40|3309}}: "(a) In General.{{snd}}The purposes of this chapter shall be carried out in the District of Columbia as nearly as may be practicable in harmony with the plan of Peter Charles L'Enfant." The [[National Park Service]] identifies L'Enfant as "[http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/Wash/text.htm#washington Major Peter Charles L'Enfant]" and as "[https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/presidents/washington_monument.html Major Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant]" on its website.}} 1791 [[L'Enfant Plan|plan]] for the newly established federal city of Washington, D.C.{{r|IYuWd}} After L'Enfant's dismissal in early 1792, Washington and his Secretary of State, [[Thomas Jefferson]], who both had personal interests in architecture, agreed that the design of the President's House and the Capitol would be chosen in a [[Architectural design competition|design competition]].{{r|Frary}}

[[File:HobanWHProgressDrawing.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|A 1793 [[Multiview orthographic projection#Elevation|elevation]] by James Hoban. His three-story, nine-bay original submission was altered into this two-story, 11-bay design.]]

Decades of poor maintenance, the construction of a fourth-story attic during the [[Presidency of Calvin Coolidge|Coolidge administration]], and the addition of a second-floor balcony over the south portico for Harry S. Truman{{r|wh museum 1948–1952}} took a great toll on the brick and sandstone structure built around a timber frame.{{r|whha overview}} By 1948, the house was declared to be in imminent danger of collapse, forcing President Truman to commission a reconstruction and to live across the street at [[Blair House]] from 1949 to 1951.{{r|OA7bu}}

While the Truman reconstruction preserved the house's structure, much of the new interior finishes were generic and of little historic significance. Much of the original plasterwork, some dating back to the 1814–1816 rebuilding, was too damaged to reinstall, as was the original robust Beaux Arts paneling in the East Room. President Truman had the original timber frame sawed into paneling; the walls of the [[Vermeil Room]], [[Library (White House)|Library]], [[China Room]], and [[Map Room (White House)|Map Room]] on the ground floor of the main residence were paneled in wood from the timbers.{{r|UtzOl}}

File:White House North Side Comparison2.jpg|The North Portico of the White House compared to [[Leinster House]]

File:White House South Side Comparison.jpg|The [[Château de Rastignac]] compared to the South Portico of the White House, {{circa|1846}}

File:The Government House, New York 1650665.jpg|[[Government House (New York City)|Government House]] in Manhattan, built in 1790–1791, was designed to be the permanent presidential mansion, but [[United States Congress|Congress]] moved the national capital to Philadelphia before its completion.

File:House intended for the President Birch's Views Plate 13 (cropped).jpg|[[President's House (Ninth Street)|President's House]] in Philadelphia (built in the 1790s), was not used by any president after the presidential mansion, known as the White House, was moved from Philadelphia to the new national capital of Washington, D.C.