First president of America, George Washington, selected the site of the white house in 1791. The cornet stone was laid in 1792 and a competition design submit by Irish-born architect jams Hoban Was chosen. After eight years of construction, President john Adams and his wife, Abigail, moved into the unfinished house in 1800. During the war of 1812, the British set fire to the president’s house in 1814. James Hoban wad appointee to rebuild the house, and president jams Monroe mobbed into the building in 1817. During Monroe’s administration, the south portico was conducted in 1824, and Andrew Jackson oversaw the addition of the north portico in 1829. During the late 19th century, various proposals were never realized. In 1920, president Theodore Roosevelt began a major renovation of the white house, including the relocation of the president’s offices from the second floor of the residence to the newly constructed temporary executive office building. The Roosevelt renovation was planned and carried out by the famous New York architectural firm Mckim, mead and white. Roosevelt’s successor, president William Howard Taft, had the oval office constructed within an enlarged office wing. Less than fifty years after the Roosevelt renovation the white house was showing signs of serious structural weakness. president harry S.Truman bean renovation of the building in which everything but the outer walls were dismantled. The reconstruction wad overseen by architect Lorenzo Winslow, and the Truman family moved back into the white house in 1952. Every president since john Adam had occupied the white house, and the history of this building extends far beyond the construction of ids walls. From the ground floor corridor rooms, transformed from their early use as service areas, to the state floor rooms, where countless leaders and dignitaries have been entertained, the white house is a both the home of the resident of the united states and his family, and museum of American history, the white house od place where history continued to unfold.
• There are 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, and 6 levels in the residence, there are also 412 doors, 147 windows, 28 fire place, 8 staircases, and 3 elevators.
• The white house kitchen is able to serve dinner to as many as 140 guests and hors d,oeuvres to more than 1000.
• At various times in history, the white House has been known as the “president’s palace,” the “president’s house,” and the
Executive mansion.”
• President Theodore Roosevelt officially gave the white House its current name in 1901.