Who Was the First American President to Live in the White House?

Table Of Content

• Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–
• The first first family
• Warren G. Harding (1921–
• Building the White House

With the wing additions, built for domestic use, he separated the upper and lower lawns of the site andmade an official entrance on the north. He began a stone wall around the house, planted trees and flower gardens, and built graveled driveways. Although Hoban was the architect, Washington oversaw construction of the house while serving his two terms as president in New York and Philadelphia. He insisted that the President’s House be built of stone and embellished with extensive stone ornamentation. A quarry at Aquia Creek 40 miles down the Potomac from the site proved to be convenient.

Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–

Presidents Day: Fun and strange facts revealed about US presidents - USA TODAY

Presidents Day: Fun and strange facts revealed about US presidents.

Posted: Mon, 19 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Its construction started in 1792, and its location was chosen by the country's first president, President George Washington, the previous year. A series of designs for the structure were submitted, and Washington selected the one created by Irish-American architect James Hoban. During his presidency, per Scholastic, Washington resided in two houses in New York and the President's House in Philadelphia. Today’s structure was built in 1942 and sits atop the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.

The first first family

A routine developed in the workmen’s village that grew up around the White House during its construction. Sunday was a day for hunting and fishing or perhaps taking a coach ride to big-city Baltimore to spend the week’s wages. Spread out over what is today Lafayette Square and the North Lawn of the White House were brickyards and kilns, the carpenters’ hall, storehouses, the cookhouse, and the stonecutters’ lodges.

Warren G. Harding (1921–

The general layout of the White House grounds today is based on the 1935 design by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. of the Olmsted Brothers firm, commissioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During the Kennedy administration, the White House Rose Garden was redesigned by Rachel Lambert Mellon. Bordering the East Colonnade is the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, which was begun by Jacqueline Kennedy but completed after her husband's assassination. The East Wing, which contains additional office space, was added to the White House in 1942.

The West Wing also houses the Situation Room, the Cabinet Room, the Press Room, and offices for advisors and the chief of staff. Additional offices for the president’s staff are located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The vice president has an office in the West Wing, as well as the ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Before the construction of the North Portico, most public events were entered from the South Lawn, the grading and planting of which was ordered by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson also drafted a planting plan for the North Lawn that included large trees that would have mostly obscured the house from Pennsylvania Avenue. During the mid-to-late 19th century a series of ever larger greenhouses were built on the west side of the house, where the current West Wing is located.

Stamp Act goes into effect in the American colonies

Ford’s pool was built on the South Lawn, and Roosevelt’s indoor pool was covered and turned into a press briefing room. The White House’s attic was converted into a third floor during the Coolidge administration, and over the years, it has hosted a music room for President Clinton and a bedroom suite for Melania Trump. There is also a solarium, added by Grace Coolidge, with panoramic views of the Mall. Architect Lorenzo Winslow oversaw the three-year gut renovation, during which the inside of the White House was demolished and completely rebuilt. “The Truman renovation is the largest reconstruction at the White House because of the sheer amount of demolition and reconstruction that you see inside,” says Fling.

When California's former Governor Jerry Brown moved into that state's Governor's Mansion in 2017, it had been without a full-time resident for more than half a century before. Massachusetts, Idaho, Arizona and Rhode Island are among the states that don't even have an executive residence. As the official workplace and executive residence of the president of the United States, the White House stands as one of the most famous, and recognizable, buildings in the world. But behind its stately neoclassical facade, details of its construction and history are far less well-known. Below, find answers to six common questions about the iconic structure that has served as home to all but one U.S. president.

International Presidents’ Day Wreath Laying

Commissioners, charged by Congress with building the new city, initially planned to import workers from Europe. Response to recruitment was dismal, but they found good hands among African Americans—enslaved and free—to increase the labor force that built the White House, U.S. Capitol, and other early government buildings. In L’Enfant’s city plan, both the President’s House and the Capitol were to be located at the cardinal points of the city. His original plan proposed that the executive mansion be four times larger than the house that would eventually be built. It would be built on a ridge with a beautiful view overlooking the Potomac toward Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home.

The mansion quickly became a focal point of the new federal city and was symbolically linked to the United States Capitol by way of Pennsylvania Avenue. Following his inauguration in March 1801, Jefferson became the second president to reside in the executive mansion. In keeping with his ardent republicanism, he opened the house to public visitation each morning, a tradition that was continued (during peacetime) by all his successors.

This was done to link the new portico with the earlier carved roses above the entrance. Thomas Jefferson added his own personal touches upon moving in a few months later, installing two water closets and working with architect Benjamin Latrobe to add bookending terrace-pavilions. Having transformed the building into a more suitable representation of a leader’s home, Jefferson held the first inaugural open house in 1805, and also opened its doors for public tours and receptions on New Year’s Day and the Fourth of July. Jefferson planned an arched carriage gate, designed by Latrobe, at the center of the East Wing, but the work was delayed and the mortar would not set in the winter cold.

Ronald Reagan, a former actor, had a television camera placed inside his limousine during the ride from the Capitol to the White House in 1985. And in 1997, Bill Clinton’s inauguration was the first to be streamed live on the internet. In 1897, William McKinley’s inauguration was captured on a motion picture camera, and Calvin Coolidge’s in 1925 was transmitted on radio. In 1921, Warren G. Harding was the first to ride to his inauguration in an automobile.

Here’s a look at the history of the country’s most famous residence and its growth from a simple house to a vast office complex capable of running the nation. Irish-born architect James Hoban modelled his plans on Leinster House in Dublin and won the competition for his practical and attractive design. Construction began immediately, with the neoclassical style building being built by enslaved people, labourers and stonemasons imported from Edinburgh, Scotland, between 1792 and 1800. Madison insisted on rebuilding on the same spot — using the original architect, James Hoban, and incorporating the scorched mansion's sandstone walls that remained standing — and reconstruction soon began.

As a result, the White House still frequently hosts members of the public for tours free of charge, except during times of war. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he added low colonnades on each wing that concealed stables and storage. Successive presidents and their families have also made structural changes, and it is custom for presidents and their families to decorate the interior to suit their personal taste and style. Jefferson often contributed to Latrobe’s designs and occasionally caused the architect some annoyance.

In 1842 the visit to the United States of the English novelist Charles Dickens brought an official invitation to the White House. After his calls at the White House door went unanswered, Dickens let himself in and walked through the mansion from room to room on the lower and upper floors. Finally coming upon a room filled with nearly two dozen people, he was shocked and appalled to see many of them spitting on the carpet. Dickens later wrote, “I take it for granted the Presidential housemaids have high wages.” Until the Civil War, however, most White House servants were enslaved people.