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The South Lawn features over three dozen commemorative trees that date back to the 1870s. During the Kennedy administration, Rachel Lambert “Bunny” Mellon redesigned the White House gardens, including the famed Rose Garden outside the West Wing. The East Garden, also redesigned by Mellon, was later named in honor of Jacqueline Kennedy.
Overcrowding and building the West Wing
“There had been a pool inside the White House added by Franklin Roosevelt that he would use as exercise for his polio, but later, Gerald Ford wanted an outdoor pool,” says Fling. 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.
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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. The wallpaper had hung previously on the walls of another mansion until 1961 when that house was demolished for a grocery store.
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President Harry S. Truman discovered that the property had major structural problems and the building was deemed unfit. The entire building was gutted, although the original exterior blocks did remain in place. Truman and his family moved back into the finished White House in 1952. President Theodore Roosevelt had massive renovations done to the White House in 1902, and this is when the President’s Offices were moved from the second floor to their current location in the West Wing. It was Roosevelt’s successor, William Howard Taft, that had the Oval Office built.
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He personally drew up landscaping plans and had two earthen mounds installed on the south lawn to remind him of his beloved Virginia Piedmont. Meanwhile, construction continued on the building’s interior, which still lacked ample staircases and suffered from a persistently leaky roof. During Jefferson’s tenure, the White House was elegantly furnished in Louis XVI style (known in America as Federal style). During the War of 1812 the building was burned by the British, and Pres. James Madison (1809–17) and his family were forced to flee the city.
The White House since the Kennedy restoration
Latrobe, born in England to an American mother and an English father, had practiced in the United States for seven years. Like Jefferson, he was multilingual and an accomplished musician. They shared an intense interest in architecture, science, invention, philosophy, and religion. Was the perfect spot for the U.S. captial, but its selection was controversial.
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Roosevelt believed “White House” was a more appropriate name and made it the official moniker of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Four stonecutters threatened Hoban, and he asked the constable for protection. Vice became a concern as the hardworking men reveled in gambling and drunkenness. When Betsy Donohue, the wife of one of the carpenters, opened a house of“riotous and disorderly” conduct, she was fined but by no means shut down. Her house, which was owned by Hoban, was moved and reopened off the public land. A routine developed in the workmen’s village that grew up around the White House during its construction.
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Located in Washington, DC, the White House has witnessed some of the most pivotal moments in US history. It was built over two hundred years ago, opening in 1800, and has since evolved from a striking neoclassical structure to an elaborate complex of some 132 rooms spread over 55,000 square feet. “Everything in the White House must have a reason for being there,” the first lady told Life magazine in 1961. That is a question of scholarship.” Kennedy showed off the restoration during a televised tour that aired on CBS in 1962. The White House is the official office and residence of the president of the United States.
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When finished, over 45 coats of paint had been removed from the exterior walls. The White House is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., in Washington, D.C., perhaps the nation's most famous address. Empowered by the Residence Act of 1790, President George Washington chose the exact spot for the 10-square-mile capital, on the Potomac River's east bank and near the Capitol building. Builders laid the White House cornerstone on October 13, 1792, with the Capitol cornerstone following soon after on August 18, 1793. When the Adamses moved in, the biggest room on the first floor, or State Floor, was the unfinished East Room, which occupied the entire east end of the building and was intended as an audience room for public events. An unfinished oval room (what is now the Blue Room) was at the center of the plan to facilitate public receptions where guests traditionally stood in a circlewaiting to greet the president.
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.
The Oval Office was moved to its present location during President Franklin D Roosevelt’s presidency. Since then, most cabinets have used the Cabinet room for official cabinet meetings and elected to meet with individual department secretaries in the Oval Office. L’Enfant initially proposed an opulent design for the residence, which would have resulted in a building four times the size of what stands today. He was ultimately dismissed by the three-person committee overseeing the development of the District of Columbia, and his palatial design was abandoned. Instead, Washington and his secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson, decided that the design would be chosen through a national competition.
“It was Hoban who convinced George Washington, a man with a passion for the countryside, of the attractiveness of the grand Irish country house as a model for the United States,” the anthology reads. There are 132 rooms, including 16 guest bedrooms and 35 bathrooms. Other rooms include a home cinema room, a gym, an indoor swimming pool, and both a chocolate shop and a flower shop. One was started by the British in 1814 as part of the War of 1812.
President Bill Clinton briefly revived the New Year's Day open house in his first term. 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.
There was also a question of whether the sandstone supply would last. The scale and status of the building today reflects its profile on the world stage as a landmark of presidential – and by extension, American – power. Jefferson then formalised the open house policy, opening up the residence for tours. In 1829, an inaugural crowd of 20,000 people followed President Andrew Jackson to the White House. He was forced to flee to the safety of a hotel while staff filled washtubs with orange juice and whiskey to lure the mob out of the house.
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