The White House Wasnt Always Known as the White House. What Did the White House Used to Be Called?
Equally the official workplace and executive residence of the president of the United States, the White House stands as i of the nigh famous, and recognizable, buildings in the world. But behind its stately neoclassical facade, details of its structure and history are far less well known. Below, observe answers to vi mutual questions most the iconic structure that has served equally home to all but one U.S. president.
Did Slaves Build the White Firm?
The U.S. government didn't own slaves, according to the National Archives, but it did pay slave owners to hire them to help build the White House. According to the White Business firm Historical Clan, Washington, D.C.'s city commissioners originally planned to spirit workers from Europe for the construction, which started in 1792 and took eight years to complete. When they got little response, they instead enlisted the labor of both costless and enslaved African Americans to work alongside local white laborers and craftsmen, plus a handful of Europeans to build not just the president's abode, but other authorities buildings such as the U.Southward. Capitol equally well.
James Hoban, an Irish immigrant and builder hand-picked by President George Washington, designed the original edifice. Afterwards the British prepare burn to information technology in 1814, during the War of 1812, Hoban led the endeavour to rebuild the construction.
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View of the s facade of the White Business firm, c. 1840s.
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Where is the White House?
The White House is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., in Washington, D.C., perhaps the nation's most famous accost. Empowered past the Residence Act of 1790, President George Washington chose the exact spot for the 10-square-mile upper-case letter, on the Potomac River's due east bank and near the Capitol building. Builders laid the White Business firm cornerstone on October thirteen, 1792, with the Capitol cornerstone following soon after on August xviii, 1793.
Over the years, the executive mansion has seen multiple renovations, including extensive work by Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, which included the installation of electrical lights. In 1948, after engineers discovered the building to exist structurally unsound and dangerous for habitation, Harry South. Truman ordered a complete gutting of the interior and a full overhaul of the edifice'south structure and foundation. Truman and his family lived in Blair House across the street during the renovations.
Sentry: America's Book of Secrets: The White House on HISTORY Vault.
Who Was the First President to Alive in the White House?
Although Washington chose its location and architect, he was the simply president never to live in the White House. President John Adams was the first to move into the residence, in 1800 earlier it was finished. Since then, every president and his family has lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Two presidents have also died in the White House: William Henry Harrison in 1841 and Zachary Taylor in 1850, too as three first ladies, Letitia Tyler, Caroline Harrison and Ellen Wilson.
The chief floor programme of the White Business firm, fatigued by F. D. Owen.
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How Many Rooms Are in the White Business firm?
At 55,000 square feet, the six-floor White House boasts 132 rooms (16 are family guest rooms), forth with 35 bathrooms. Co-ordinate to the official White House spider web folio, it'due south abode to 28 fireplaces, 8 staircases, three elevators, 412 doors and 147 windows—and has a kitchen equipped to serve full dinner for up to 140 guests, or hors d'oeuvres for 1,000-plus visitors. And when it gets a new coat of paint every four to six years? It takes 570 gallons to cover the exterior.
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The mansion and grounds also include a now-covered indoor swimming pool, installed for Franklin D. Roosevelt, and an outdoor pool, installed by Gerald R. Ford. Other on-site facilities where the president can permit off some steam: a lawn tennis court, 1-lane bowling alley, small cinema, game room, jogging rail and putting green.
There are rumors of secret rooms in the edifice, but, according to the White Firm Historical Association, the only "hole-and-corner" passage is an emergency shelter congenital under the East Wing during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, following the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. Vice President Dick Cheney used the passage during the 9/11 terrorist attacks and, The Washington Post reports, President Donald Trump was likely sequestered in that location during a 2020 protest outside the White House.
According to the newspaper, at to the lowest degree ii tunnels exist under the mansion: Ane connects to the Treasury Edifice, and the other leads to the South Lawn.
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Was It Always Called the White House?
The rock exterior of the building was first painted with a lime-based whitewash in 1798 to protect it from the elements and freezing temperatures. Co-ordinate to the White Firm Historical Association, the "White Business firm" moniker began to announced in newspapers before the State of war of 1812.
But information technology was President Theodore Roosevelt, who, in 1901, designated the official proper noun of the residence of the U.S. president to be the White Business firm. (Previous names included the Presidents' House, the Executive Mansion, the Presidential Palace and the Presidential Mansion.) It as well commonly goes by "The People's Business firm."
The main conference area of the White House State of affairs Room.
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What Happens in the West Wing?
Ever since Theodore Roosevelt moved his workspace from the residence to the newly built Due west Fly in 1902, the 2-story West Wing has been home to the U.Due south. presidential offices. In add-on to the Oval Office, the W Wing complex includes the State of affairs Room, Cabinet Room, Roosevelt Room and press briefing room, among others.
The Oval Office, which has served every bit the president'southward office since President William Howard Taft in 1909, is in fact oval-shaped and features the oak Resolute Desk, gifted to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria in 1880 and made from boards of the British transport H.M.South. Resolute. It has been used past nearly every president since, with the exceptions of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
The Situation Room, known officially as the John F. Kennedy Briefing Room, is located in the Westward Wing basement and actually comprises several rooms. Designated in 1961 by JFK as a space for crisis coordination, information technology was used by Johnson during the Vietnam War and is where President Barack Obama watched Osama Bin Laden's killing by Navy SEALs.
The Chiffonier Room, as its proper noun implies, is where the president meets with members of his chiffonier, and the Roosevelt Room, where Theodore Roosevelt's office was located, serves as a general-purpose conference room.
Also ii stories, the East Wing, meanwhile, contains office space for the first lady and her staff and features a covered entrance for guests during big events.
Source: https://www.history.com/news/white-house-history-facts-presidents
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