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112-650: The TEC was established by an agreement signed on April 30, 2007 at the White House by U.S. President George W. Bush , President of the European Council Angela Merkel (also German Chancellor ) and EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso . The Council is co-chaired by an EU and a U.S. official. Currently, they are US Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh and European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis . The Council meets at least once

224-546: A Dream" speech . President Donald Trump hung mostly portraits on the office walls: Rembrandt Peale's George Washington , George H. Story's Abraham Lincoln , Asher B. Durand's Andrew Jackson , George P. A. Healy's Thomas Jefferson , John Trumbull's Alexander Hamilton , Joseph-Siffred Duplessis's Benjamin Franklin . He later substituted in other portraits: Rembrandt Peale's Thomas Jefferson and Ralph E. W. Earl's Andrew Jackson . President Joe Biden's Oval Office features

336-473: A National Wing on the east for a historical art gallery, and a wing on the west for official functions. A plan was devised by Colonel Theodore A. Bingham that reflected the Harrison proposal. These plans were ultimately rejected. In 1902, however, Theodore Roosevelt hired McKim, Mead & White to carry out expansions and renovations in a neoclassical style suited to the building's architecture, removing

448-525: A TEC meeting on 17 December 2010 in Washington, D.C. , the leaders released a U.S.-EU Transatlantic Economic Council Joint Statement committing all parties to deeper transatlantic cooperation on secure trade and supply chain security policies. This was followed by an EU / United States joint statement on supply chain security signed in Brussels on 23 June 2011. White House The White House

560-520: A canal and swampy lands, which provided conditions ripe for malaria and other unhealthy conditions, was questioned. Brigadier General Nathaniel Michler was tasked with proposing solutions to address these concerns. He proposed abandoning the use of the White House as a residence, and he designed a new estate for the first family at Meridian Hill in Washington, D.C. Congress, however, rejected

672-436: A cluster of five portraits at its north end, with Frank O. Salisbury's Franklin D. Roosevelt given pride of place over the mantel. A tradition evolved in the latter part of the twentieth century of each new administration redecorating the office to the president's liking. A new administration usually selects an oval carpet , new drapery , the paintings on the walls, and some furniture. Most incoming presidents continue using

784-677: A complete refit, repaint, and restock paid for by the United States Government. It was returned to England in 1856 and decommissioned in 1879. The same year the British Admiralty launched a competition to design a piece of furniture made from the timbers of the Resolute which Queen Victoria could gift to the American president. Following a design competition, Queen Victoria ordered that three desks be made from

896-539: A convoy of British ships led by HMS Fantome sank en route to Halifax off Prospect during a storm on the night of November 24, 1814, even though Fantome had no involvement in that action. After the fire, President James Madison resided in the Octagon House from 1814 to 1815, and then in the Seven Buildings from 1815 to the end of his term. Meanwhile, both Hoban and Latrobe contributed to

1008-517: A copy of the Lansdowne portrait , and in 1939 a Canadian man returned a jewelry box to President Franklin Roosevelt, claiming that his grandfather had taken it from Washington; in the same year, a medicine chest that had belonged to President Madison was returned by the descendants of a Royal Navy officer. Some observers allege that most of the spoils of war taken during the sack were lost when

1120-625: A front room and passing through an unfolding door, made their salutations to the President, and turning off, stood on one side. President John Adams occupied the Philadelphia mansion from March 1797, and used the bow window in the same manner as had his predecessor. Curved foundations of Washington's bow window were uncovered during archaeological excavation of the site of the President's House in 2007. They are exhibited under glass at

1232-475: A ground-floor double staircase leading to an Ionic colonnaded loggia and the Truman Balcony , built in 1946. The more modern third floor is hidden by a balustraded parapet and plays no part in the composition of the façade. The building was originally variously referred to as the President's Palace , Presidential Mansion , or President's House . The earliest evidence of the public calling it

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1344-541: A partial basement for staff offices. He restored the Oval Office, upgrading the quality of trim and installing air conditioning. He also replaced the furniture, which had undergone no major changes in twenty years. Dissatisfied with the size and layout of the West Wing, President Franklin D. Roosevelt engaged New York architect Eric Gugler to redesign it in 1933. To create additional staff space without increasing

1456-495: A permanent building, doubling its size by expanding it southward, and building the first Oval Office. Designed by Nathan C. Wyeth and completed in 1909, the office was centered on the building's south facade, much as the oval rooms in the White House are. Taft wanted to be more involved with the day-to-day operation of his presidency, and intended the office to be the hub of his administration. The Taft Oval Office had ample natural light from its three windows and skylight. It featured

1568-459: A reconstruction and to live across the street at Blair House from 1949 to 1951. The work, completed by the firm of Philadelphia contractor John McShain , required the complete dismantling of the interior spaces, construction of a new load-bearing internal steel frame, and the reconstruction of the original rooms within the new structure. The total cost of the renovations was about $ 5.7   million ($ 67 million in 2023). Some modifications to

1680-459: A series of electrified wall sconces have come and gone. Though some presidents have chosen to do day-to-day work in a smaller study just west of the Oval Office, most use the actual Oval Office for work and meetings. Traffic from the large numbers of staff, visitors, and pets over time takes its toll. There have been four sets of flooring in the Oval Office. The original floor was made of cork installed over softwood; however, President Eisenhower

1792-491: A set of solar water heating panels that were mounted on the roof of the White House, was removed during Reagan's presidency. Redecorations were made to the private family quarters and maintenance was made to public areas during the Reagan years. The house was accredited as a museum in 1988. In the 1990s, Bill and Hillary Clinton refurbished some rooms with the assistance of Arkansas decorator Kaki Hockersmith, including

1904-449: A temporary structure, for use until a permanent building was erected there or elsewhere. Sitting the building west of the White House allowed the removal of a vast, dilapidated set of pre– Civil War greenhouses, which had been erected by President James Buchanan . Roosevelt moved the offices of the executive branch into the newly constructed wing in 1902. His workspace was a two-room suite of Executive Office and Cabinet Room, occupying

2016-808: A theme for each room: the Federal style for the Green Room , French Empire for the Blue Room , American Empire for the Red Room , Louis XVI for the Yellow Oval Room , and Victorian for the president's study, renamed the Treaty Room . Antique furniture was acquired, and decorative fabric and trim based on period documents was produced and installed. The Kennedy restoration resulted in a more authentic White House of grander stature, which recalled

2128-425: A white marble mantel, simple Georgian Revival woodwork, and twin glass-doored bookcases. It also was likely the most colorful presidential office in history; its walls were covered with vibrant seagrass green burlap. On December 24, 1929, during the first year of President Herbert Hoover 's administration, a fire severely damaged the West Wing. Hoover used this as an opportunity to create additional space, excavating

2240-473: A year, called by the chairs. The Council is tasked with helping to meet economic partnership objectives and harmonize regulations . Other priorities include: road safety , and petrol conservation, cosmetics testing (finding alternatives to animal testing ), technologies, and more cooperation. However the Council has been criticised as getting bogged down in minor details and failing to produce results. At

2352-535: Is hidden by a balustraded parapet . The three-level southern façade combines Palladian and neoclassical architectural styles. The ground floor is rusticated in the Palladian fashion. The south portico was completed in 1824. At the center of the southern façade is a neoclassical projected bow of three bays. The bow is flanked by five bays, the windows of which, as on the north façade, have alternating segmented and pointed pediments at first-floor level. The bow has

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2464-409: Is hidden by a raised carriage ramp and parapet . The central three bays are situated behind a prostyle portico that was added c.  1830 . The windows of the four bays flanking the portico, at first-floor level, have alternating pointed and segmented pediments , while the second-floor pediments are flat. A lunette fanlight and a sculpted floral festoon surmount the entrance. The roofline

2576-661: Is recorded as being brief, and he quickly selected Hoban's submission. The Neoclassical design of the White House is based primarily on architectural concepts inherited from the Roman architect Vitruvius and the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The design of the upper floors also includes elements based on Dublin's Leinster House , which later became the seat of the Irish parliament ( Oireachtas ). The upper windows with alternate triangular and segmented pediments are inspired by

2688-633: Is speculated as the source of inspiration due to its similarity with the South Portico, although this matter is one of great debate. Italian artisans, brought to Washington to help in constructing the U.S. Capitol , carved the decorative stonework on both porticos. Contrary to speculation, the North Portico was not modeled on a similar portico on another Dublin building, the Viceregal Lodge (now Áras an Uachtaráin , residence of

2800-554: Is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States . Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. , it has served as the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800 when the national capital was moved from Philadelphia . The "White House" is also used as a metonym to refer to the Executive Office of the President of the United States . The residence

2912-596: The 1976 Bicentennial . Most of these works remained in place through the administrations of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. President George H. W. Bush hung landscape paintings on the walls, along with three portraits: Rembrandt Peale's George Washington , Charles Willson Peale's Benjamin Henry Latrobe , and Thomas Sully's Andrew Jackson . President Bill Clinton chose the Childe Hassam and Norman Rockwell paintings mentioned above, along with Waiting for

3024-538: The Charleston County Courthouse then under construction, which had been designed by Hoban. Washington is reputed to have met with Hoban during the visit. The following year, Washington summoned the architect to Philadelphia and met with him in June 1792. On July 16, 1792, the president met with the commissioners of the federal city to make his judgment in the architectural competition. His review

3136-656: The Croatian island of Brač , specifically the Pučišća quarry whose stone was used to build the ancient Diocletian's Palace in Split , was used in the building's original construction. However, researchers believe limestone from the island was used in the 1902 renovations and not the original construction. Others suggest the original sandstone simply came from Aquia Creek in Stafford County, Virginia , since importation of

3248-495: The Curator of the White House . Six desks have been used in the Oval Office by U.S. presidents since its construction in 1909. The desk usually sits in front of the south wall of the Oval Office, which is composed of three large windows. Some presidents only use the desk in this room for ceremonial purposes, such as photo opportunities and press announcements, while others use it as their main workspace. The first desk used in

3360-723: The Dordogne region of France. Construction on the French house was initially started before 1789, interrupted by the French Revolution for 20 years, and then finally built between 1812 and 1817 based on Salat's pre-1789 design. The conceptual link between the two houses has been criticized because Hoban did not visit France. Supporters of the connection contend that Thomas Jefferson , during his tour of Bordeaux in 1789, viewed Salat's architectural drawings, which were on file at École Spéciale d'Architecture . On his return to

3472-698: The President's Park . In 2007, it was ranked second on the American Institute of Architects list of America's Favorite Architecture . 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 Walter Franklin House , which was owned by Treasury Commissioner Samuel Osgood , at 3   Cherry Street, through late February 1790. The executive mansion moved to

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3584-473: The Presidential Seal . Rather than a chandelier or ceiling fixture, the room is illuminated by light bulbs hidden within the cornice that wash the ceiling in light. In small ways, hints of Art Moderne can be seen, in the sconces flanking the windows and the representation of the eagle in the ceiling medallion. Roosevelt and Gugler worked closely together, often over breakfast, with Gugler sketching

3696-666: The Smithsonian Institution beginning in 1966. Jimmy Carter returned the Resolute desk to the Oval Office in 1977. Artworks are selected from the White House collection or may be borrowed from museums or individuals for the length of an administration. Most presidents have hung a portrait of George Washington – usually the Rembrandt Peale Porthole portrait or the Charles Willson Peale three-quarter-length portrait – over

3808-606: The State Department and other departments (it now houses additional offices for the president's staff and the vice president ), and Blair House , a guest residence. The Executive Residence is made up of six stories: the Ground Floor, State Floor, Second Floor, and Third Floor, and a two-story basement . The property is a National Heritage Site owned by the National Park Service and is part of

3920-503: The War of 1812 , the mansion was set ablaze by 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

4032-656: The mantel goes back to the administration of John F. Kennedy , and the current plants were rooted from the original plant. A Federal longcase clock, made in Boston by John and Thomas Seymour c. 1795–1805 – commonly known as the Oval Office grandfather clock – was purchased by the White House Historical Association in 1972, and has stood next to the Oval Office's northeast door since 1975. President Harry S. Truman replaced

4144-554: The president of Ireland ), for its portico postdates the White House porticos' design. For the North Portico, a variation on the Ionic Order was devised, incorporating a swag of roses between the volutes. This was done to link the new portico with the earlier carved roses above the entrance. By the time of the American Civil War , the White House had become overcrowded. The location of the White House, just north of

4256-410: The presidential pool and spa. One hundred sixty-seven solar photovoltaic grid-tied panels were installed at the same time on the roof of the maintenance facility. The changes were not publicized as a White House spokeswoman said the changes were an internal matter, but the story was covered by industry trade journals. In 2013, President Barack Obama had a set of solar panels installed on the roof of

4368-541: The "White House" was recorded in 1811. A myth emerged that during the rebuilding of the structure after the Burning of Washington , white paint was applied to mask the burn damage it had suffered, giving the building its namesake hue. The name "Executive Mansion" was used in official contexts until President Theodore Roosevelt established "The White House" as its formal name in 1901 via Executive Order. The current letterhead wording and arrangement of "The White House" with

4480-465: The 19th century. In November 1800, John Adams became the first president to occupy the White House. He and his successor, President Thomas Jefferson , used Hoban's oval rooms as Washington had used his bow window salon, standing before the three windows at the south end to receive guests. In the 19th century, some presidents used the White House's second-floor Yellow Oval Room as their private offices and libraries. This cultural association, between

4592-516: The French taste of Madison and Monroe. In the Diplomatic Reception Room , Mrs. Kennedy installed an antique "Vue de l'Amérique Nord" wallpaper which Zuber & Cie had designed in 1834. The wallpaper had hung previously on the walls of another mansion until 1961 when that house was demolished for a grocery store. Just before the demolition, the wallpaper was salvaged and sold to the White House. The first White House guidebook

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4704-600: The Hour by William T. Carlton, a genre scene depicting African-Americans gathered in anticipation of the Emancipation Proclamation going into effect on January 1, 1863. President George W. Bush mixed traditional works with paintings by Texas artists and Western sculptures. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, British Prime Minister Tony Blair lent him a bust of Winston Churchill , who had guided

4816-506: The Irish building. Additionally, several Georgian-era Irish country houses have been suggested as sources of inspiration for the overall floor plan, including the bow-fronted south front and the former niches in the present-day Blue Room . The first official White House guide, published in 1962, suggested a link between Hoban's design for the South Portico and Château de Rastignac , a neoclassical country house in La Bachellerie in

4928-663: The Kennedy period were donated to the White House by wealthy philanthropists, including the Crowninshield family , Jane Engelhard , Jayne Wrightsman , and the Oppenheimer family. Stéphane Boudin of the House of Jansen , a Paris interior-design firm that had been recognized worldwide, was employed by Jacqueline Kennedy to assist with the decoration. Different periods of the early republic and world history were selected as

5040-676: The Navy Yard by George Cooke , Eastport and Passamaquoddy Bay by Victor de Grailly, and The President's House , a copy after William Henry Bartlett – have adorned the walls in multiple administrations. Passing the Outpost (1881) by Alfred Wordsworth Thompson , a Revolutionary War genre scene of a carriage stopped at a British checkpoint , hung in Gerald Ford's office, and in Jimmy Carter's and Ronald Reagan's. The Avenue in

5152-475: The North Portico in 1829. Because of crowding within the executive mansion itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901. Eight years later, in 1909, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office , which was eventually moved and expanded. In the Executive Residence, the third floor attic

5264-596: The Oval Office began on November 21, 1963, while she and President Kennedy were away on a trip to Texas. The following day, November 22, a red carpet was installed, just as the Kennedys were making their way through Dallas, where the president was assassinated. Johnson had the red carpet removed and the Truman carpet reinstalled, and used the latter for his administration. Since Johnson, most administrations have created their own oval carpet, working with an interior designer and

5376-585: The Oval Office moved to its present location: adjacent to the Rose Garden . Decades of poor maintenance, the construction of a fourth-story attic during the Coolidge administration , and the addition of a second-floor balcony over the south portico for Harry S. Truman took a great toll on the brick and sandstone structure built around a timber frame. By 1948, the house was declared to be in imminent danger of collapse, forcing President Truman to commission

5488-602: The Oval Office was the Theodore Roosevelt desk , and the desk currently in use by Joe Biden is the Resolute desk . Of the six desks used in the Oval Office, the Resolute desk has spent the longest time there, having been used by eight presidents in the room. The Resolute has been used by all U.S. presidents since 1977 with the exception of George H. W. Bush , who used the C&;O desk for his one term, making it

5600-475: The Oval Office's 23-year-old dark green carpet in 1947. He had revised the seal of the president of the United States after World War II, and his blue-gray carpet incorporated the 1945 revised Seal , represented monochromatically through varying depths of its cut pile. The Truman carpet remained in the office through the Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy administrations. Jacqueline Kennedy's redecoration of

5712-705: The Oval Office, the East Room, Blue Room, State Dining Room , Lincoln Bedroom , and Lincoln Sitting Room. During the administration of George W. Bush , First Lady Laura Bush refurbished the Lincoln Bedroom in a style contemporary with the Lincoln era ; the Green Room, Cabinet Room , and theater were also refurbished. The White House became one of the first wheelchair-accessible government buildings in Washington, D.C., when modifications were made during

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5824-504: The President's House Commemoration, next to the Liberty Bell Center . Architect James Hoban visited President Washington in Philadelphia in June 1792, and probably saw the bow window. The next month, Hoban won the design competition for the White House. The elliptic salon at the center of the White House was the outstanding feature of Hoban's original plan. Oval rooms became common in neoclassical architecture early in

5936-1396: The Rain by Childe Hassam and Working on the Statue of Liberty by Norman Rockwell flanked the Resolute desk in Bill Clinton's office and did the same in Barack Obama's. Avenue in the Rain currently hangs beside the Resolute desk in Joe Biden's office. Statuettes, busts, heads, and figurines are frequently displayed in the Oval Office. Abraham Lincoln has been the most common subject, in works by sculptors Augustus Saint-Gaudens , Gutzon Borglum , Adolph Alexander Weinman , Leo Cherne and others. Over time, traditional busts of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or Benjamin Franklin have given way to heads of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman or Dwight Eisenhower. Western bronzes by Frederic Remington have been frequent choices: Lyndon Johnson displayed The Bronco Buster , as did Gerald Ford , Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush added its companion piece, The Rattlesnake . According to The New York Times , an estimated 43 paintings and one photograph have decorated

6048-417: The Tiffany screen and all Victorian additions. Charles McKim himself designed and managed the project, which gave more living space to the president's large family by removing a staircase in the West Hall and moving executive office staff from the second floor of the residence into the new West Wing. President William Howard Taft enlisted the help of architect Nathan C. Wyeth to add additional space to

6160-404: The U.S., Jefferson then shared the influence with Washington , Hoban, Monroe, and Benjamin Henry Latrobe . Construction of the White House began at noon on October 13, 1792, with the laying of the cornerstone. The main residence and foundations of the house were built largely by both enslaved and free African-American laborers, and employed Europeans . Much of the other work on the house

6272-412: The United Kingdom through World War II. President Barack Obama honored Abraham Lincoln with the portrait by Story, a bust by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. Below the proclamation was a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. by Charles Alston , and in the nearby bookcase was displayed a program from the August 28, 1963, March on Washington , at which King gave his "I Have

6384-443: The West Wing, which included the addition of the Oval Office . In 1925, Congress enacted legislation allowing the White House to accept gifts of furniture and art for the first time. The West Wing was damaged by fire on Christmas Eve 1929; Herbert Hoover and his aides moved back into it on April 14, 1930. In the 1930s, a second story was added, as well as a larger basement for White House staff, and President Franklin Roosevelt had

6496-434: The White House, making it the first time solar power was used for the president's living quarters. Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the president of the United States . Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States , it is in the West Wing of the White House , in Washington, D.C. The oval room has three large South Lawn -facing windows, in front of which

6608-415: The White House, no substantive architectural changes have been made to the house since the Truman renovation. Since the Kennedy restoration, every presidential family has made some changes to the private quarters of the White House, but the Committee for the Preservation of the White House must approve any modifications to the State Rooms. Charged with maintaining the historical integrity of the White House,

6720-409: The White House. He spent most of his presidency in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , which served as the temporary national capital for 10 years, from 1790 to 1800, while Washington, D.C. , a new city, was under construction. In 1790, Washington built a large, two-story, semi-circular addition to the rear of the President's House in Philadelphia , creating a ceremonial space in which the public would meet

6832-454: The apparent size of the building, Gugler excavated a full basement, added a set of subterranean offices under the adjacent lawn, and built an unobtrusive penthouse storey. The directive to wring the most office space out of the existing building was responsible for its narrow corridors and cramped staff offices. Gugler's most visible addition was the expansion of the building eastward for a new Cabinet Room and Oval Office. The modern Oval Office

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6944-411: The bow oval rooms in the main residence of the White House. The west wing oval office was created when the wing was expanded in the early 1900s, a few years after the wing was built. Presidents generally decorate the office to suit their own personal tastes, choosing furniture and drapery and often commissioning oval carpets. Artwork is selected from the White House collection, or borrowed from museums for

7056-468: The building and sold at a public auction . All that was saved were bust portraits of John Adams and Martin Van Buren . A proposal was made to build a new residence south of the White House, but it failed to gain support. In the fall of 1882, work was done on the main corridor, including tinting the walls pale olive and adding squares of gold leaf , and decorating the ceiling in gold and silver, with colorful traceries woven to spell "USA." The Red Room

7168-421: The building. It remained vacant until 1800 when it was sold to the University of Pennsylvania . On Saturday, November 1, 1800, Adams became the first president to occupy the White House. The President's House in Philadelphia was converted into Union Hotel and later used for stores before being demolished in 1832. The President's House was a major feature of Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's 1791 plan for

7280-429: The capital be permanently located in the new Federal District , and temporarily in Philadelphia for ten years while the permanent capital was built. Philadelphia rented the mansion of Robert Morris , a merchant, at 190 High Street, now 524–30 Market Street , as the President's House , which Washington occupied from November 1790 to March 1797. Since the house was too small to accommodate the 30 people who then made up

7392-487: The congressionally authorized committee works with each First Family — usually represented by the first lady, the White House curator , and the chief usher — to implement the family's proposals for altering the house. During the Nixon Administration (1969–1974), First Lady Pat Nixon refurbished the Green Room, Blue Room, and Red Room, working with Clement Conger , the curator appointed by President Richard Nixon . Mrs. Nixon's efforts brought more than 600 artifacts to

7504-434: The construction of both the U.S. Capitol and the White House. Hoban was born in Ireland and trained at the Dublin Society of Arts . He emigrated to the U.S. after the American Revolution , first seeking work in Philadelphia and later finding success in South Carolina , where he designed the state capitol in Columbia . President Washington visited Charleston, South Carolina , in May 1791 on his Southern Tour, and saw

7616-432: The design and oversight of the reconstruction, which lasted from 1815 until 1817. The south portico was constructed in 1824 during the James Monroe administration. The north portico was built in 1830. Though Latrobe proposed similar porticos before the fire in 1814, both porticos were built as designed by Hoban. An elliptical portico at Château de Rastignac in La Bachellerie, France, with nearly identical curved stairs,

7728-430: The design for the East and West Colonnades, small wings that helped conceal the domestic operations of laundry, a stable and storage. Today, Jefferson's colonnades link the residence with the East and West Wings. In 1814, during the War of 1812 , the White House was burned by British forces during the Burning of Washington , in retaliation for acts of destruction by American troops in the Canadas ; much of Washington

7840-403: The eastern third of the building. Its furniture, including the president's desk , was designed by architect Charles Follen McKim , and executed by A. H. Davenport and Company , both of Boston. Now much altered, the 1902 Executive Office survives as the Roosevelt Room, a windowless interior meeting room situated diagonally from the Oval Office. President William Howard Taft made the West Wing

7952-442: The finished structure contained only two main floors instead of the planned three, and a less costly brick served as a lining for the stone façades. When construction was finished, the porous sandstone walls were whitewashed with a mixture of lime, rice glue, casein, and lead, giving the house its familiar color and name. The main entrance is located on the north façade under a porte cochere with Ionic columns. The ground floor

8064-543: The floor plan were made, the largest being the repositioning of the grand staircase to open into the Entrance Hall, rather than the Cross Hall. Central air conditioning was added, as well as two additional sub-basements providing space for workrooms, storage, and a bomb shelter. The Trumans moved back into the White House on March 27, 1952. While the Truman reconstruction preserved the house's structure, much of

8176-537: The house, the largest acquisition by any administration. Her husband created the modern press briefing room over Franklin Roosevelt 's old swimming pool. Nixon also added a single-lane bowling alley to the White House basement. Computers and the first laser printer were added during the Carter administration , and the use of computer technology was expanded during the Reagan administration . A Carter-era innovation,

8288-566: The interior rooms were completely dismantled and a new internal load-bearing steel frame was constructed inside the walls. On the exterior, the Truman Balcony was added. Once the structural work was completed, the interior rooms were rebuilt. The present-day White House complex includes the Executive Residence, the West Wing, the East Wing, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building , which previously served

8400-495: The larger quarters at Alexander Macomb House at 39–41 Broadway , where Washington stayed with his wife Martha and a small staff until August 1790. In May 1790, construction began on a new official residence in Manhattan called Government House . Washington never lived at Government House since the national capital was moved to Philadelphia in 1790, where it remained through 1800. The July 1790 Residence Act designated

8512-486: The main residence were paneled in wood from the timbers. Jacqueline Kennedy , wife of President John F. Kennedy (1961–63), directed a very extensive and historic redecoration of the house. She enlisted the help of Henry Francis du Pont of the Winterthur Museum to assist in collecting artifacts for the mansion, many of which had once been housed there. Other antiques, fine paintings, and improvements from

8624-454: The mantel and later beside his desk. He also displayed the painting Fired On by Western artist Frederic Remington. President Dwight D. Eisenhower filled the office walls with landscape paintings, as well as a portrait of Robert E. Lee . President John F. Kennedy surrounded himself with paintings of naval battles from the War of 1812 , photographs of sailboats, and ship models. President Lyndon Johnson installed sconces on either side of

8736-455: The mantel at the north end of the room. A portrait of Andrew Jackson by Thomas Sully hung in the offices of Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. A portrait of Abraham Lincoln by George Henry Story hung in George W. Bush's office, continued in Barack Obama's and currently hangs in Joe Biden's. Three landscapes and cityscapes – City of Washington from Beyond

8848-476: The mantel in the State Dining Room. Adams lived in the house only briefly before Thomas Jefferson moved into the "pleasant country residence" in 1801. Despite his complaints that the house was too big ("big enough for two emperors, one pope, and the grand lama in the bargain"), Jefferson considered how the White House might be expanded and improved. With Benjamin Henry Latrobe , he helped lay out

8960-585: The mantel, and added the office's first painting by a woman artist, Franklin D. Roosevelt by Elizabeth Shoumatoff . President Richard Nixon tried three different portraits of George Washington over the mantel, and hung a copy of Earthrise – a photograph of the Earth taken from the Moon's orbit during the Apollo 8 mission – beside his desk. President Gerald Ford hung historic paintings, possibly in anticipation of

9072-424: The mantel, including Rembrandt Peale's George Washington , Charles H. Woodbury 's Woodrow Wilson , Luis Cadena 's George Washington (the gift of Ecuador ), and a copy of Tito Salas 's Equestrian Portrait of Simon Bolivar (the gift of Venezuela). A large photograph of the White House portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt, under whom Truman had served as vice president and who died in office in 1945, hung beside

9184-519: The modern Oval Office was completed in 1934. The basic Oval Office furnishings have been a desk in front of the three windows at the south end, a pair of chairs in front of the fireplace at the north end, a pair of sofas, and assorted tables and chairs. The Neoclassical mantel was made for the Taft Oval Office in 1909 and salvaged after the 1929 West Wing fire. A tradition of displaying potted Swedish ivy ( Plectranthus verticillatus ) atop

9296-626: The nation from the Oval Office on occasion. Examples include Kennedy presenting news of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), Nixon announcing his resignation from office (1974), Ronald Reagan following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (1986), and George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11 attacks (2001). The White House was not ready for occupancy until 1800. George Washington never occupied

9408-458: The nation's first president courted the first lady in the mid-18th century. On Saturday, November 1, 1800, John Adams became the first president to take residence in the building. The next day he wrote his wife Abigail: "I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this House, and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof." President Franklin D. Roosevelt had Adams's blessing carved into

9520-474: 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 , China Room , and Map Room on the ground floor of

9632-516: The newly established federal city of Washington, D.C. 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 design competition . Nine proposals were submitted for the new presidential residence with the award going to Irish-American architect James Hoban . Hoban supervised

9744-496: The plan. Another option was Metropolis View, which is now the campus of The Catholic University of America . When Chester A. Arthur took office in 1881, he ordered renovations to the White House to take place as soon as the recently widowed Lucretia Garfield moved out. Arthur inspected the work almost nightly and made several suggestions. Louis Comfort Tiffany was asked to send selected designers to assist. Over twenty wagonloads of furniture and household items were removed from

9856-652: The presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt , who used a wheelchair because of his paralytic illness . In the 1990s, Hillary Clinton , at the suggestion of the Visitors Office director, approved the addition of a ramp in the East Wing corridor, affording easier wheelchair access for the public tours and special events that enter through the secure entrance building on the east side. In 2003, the Bush administration reinstalled solar thermal heaters. These units are used to heat water for landscape maintenance personnel and for

9968-404: The president and an oval room, was more fully expressed in the Taft Oval Office (1909) in the West Wing. The West Wing was the idea of President Theodore Roosevelt , brought about by his wife's opinion that the second floor of the White House, then shared between bedrooms and offices, should be solely a domestic space. Completed in 1902, the one-story Executive Office Building was intended to be

10080-428: The president's desk traditionally stands, and a fireplace at the north end. Two built-in bookcases are recessed in the western wall. There are four doors: the east door opens to the Rose Garden ; the west door leads to a private study and dining room; the northwest door opens onto the main corridor of the West Wing; and the northeast door opens to the office of the president's secretary. The room takes inspiration from

10192-435: The president's ideas. One notion resulting from these sketches that has become fixed in the layout of the room's furniture is that of two high back chairs in front of the fireplace. The public sees this most often with the president seated on the left and a visiting head of state on the right. This allowed Roosevelt to be seated, with his guests at the same level, de-emphasizing his inability to stand without help. Construction of

10304-545: The president's term. The Oval Office has become associated in Americans' minds with the presidency itself through memorable images, such as a young John F. Kennedy, Jr. peering through the front panel of his father's desk, President Richard Nixon speaking by telephone with the Apollo 11 astronauts during their moonwalk, and Amy Carter bringing her Siamese cat Misty Malarky Ying Yang to brighten her father President Jimmy Carter 's day. Several presidents have addressed

10416-451: The president. Standing before the three windows of this bow window , he formally received guests for his Tuesday afternoon audiences , delegations from Congress and foreign dignitaries, and the general public at open houses on New Year's Day , the Fourth of July , and his birthday. Washington received his guests, standing between the windows in his back drawing-room. The company, entering

10528-402: The president. This prevented them from being sold (as many objects in the executive mansion had been in the past 150 years). When not in use or display at the White House, these items were to be turned over to the Smithsonian Institution for preservation, study, storage, or exhibition. The White House retains the right to have these items returned. Out of respect for the historic character of

10640-576: The presidential family, staff, and servants, Washington had it enlarged. 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 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 Congressional authorization to lease

10752-514: The room has remained mostly unchanged architecturally. More than any president, Roosevelt left an impression on the room and its use. Doors and window frames have been modified slightly. A screen door on the east wall was removed after the installation of air conditioning. President Lyndon B. Johnson's row of wire service Teletype machines on the southeast wall required cutting plaster and flooring to accommodate wiring. The Georgian style plaster ornament has been cleaned to remove accumulated paint, and

10864-537: The rug of their predecessor until their new one is installed. The retired carpet very often is then moved to storage. The redecoration of the Oval Office is usually coordinated by the first lady's office in the East Wing , working with an interior designer and the White House curator . Since the present Oval Office's construction in 1934 during the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

10976-400: The same pattern as the Reagan floor. In the late 1980s, a comprehensive assessment of the entire house, including the Oval Office, was made as part of the National Park Service 's Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) . Detailed photographs and measured drawings were made documenting the interior and exterior and showing even slight imperfections. A checklist of materials and methods

11088-627: The shortest-serving desk to date. Other past presidents have used the Hoover desk , the Johnson desk , and the Wilson desk . The Resolute desk, the current desk in use, is built from oak timbers that were once part of the ship HMS  Resolute . The British Resolute was trapped in Arctic ice in 1854 and abandoned. The ship was discovered in 1855 by an American whaling ship and later underwent

11200-442: The stone at the time would have proved too costly. The initial construction took place over a period of eight years at a reported cost of $ 232,371.83 (equivalent to $ 4,172,000 in 2023). Although not yet completed, the White House was ready for occupancy circa November 1, 1800. Pierre L'Enfant 's plan for a grand palace was five times larger than the house that was eventually built. Due in part to material and labor shortages,

11312-432: The timbers of Resolute . The one that is now known as the Resolute desk was designed by Morant, Boyd, & Blanford, built by William Evenden at Chatham Dockyard , and announced as "recently manufactured" on November 18, 1880. The desk was delivered as a gift to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880. President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested that a panel be installed in the kneehole during his presidency. The desk

11424-579: The walls of the Oval Office since 1961. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to occupy the Modern Oval Office, and placed Rembrandt Peale's George Washington over the mantel. Assorted prints of the Hudson Valley hung on the walls. President Harry S. Truman displayed works related to his home state of Missouri , prints of biplanes and sailing ships, and models of jet airplanes. A series of paintings held pride of place over

11536-460: The word "Washington" centered beneath it dates to the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt . Although the structure was not completed until some years after the presidency of George Washington, there is speculation that the name of the traditional residence of the president of the United States may have been derived from Martha Washington 's home, White House Plantation , in Virginia , where

11648-460: Was affected by these fires as well. Only the exterior walls remained, and they had to be torn down and mostly reconstructed because of weakening from the fire and subsequent exposure to the elements, except for portions of the south wall. Of the numerous objects taken from the White House when it was sacked by the British, only three have been recovered. White House employees and slaves rescued

11760-430: Was an avid golfer and damaged the floor with his golf spikes. Johnson had the floor replaced in the mid-1960s with wood-grain linoleum . In 1982, President Ronald Reagan had the floor replaced with quarter sawn oak and walnut, in a cross parquet pattern similar in design to a 1933 Eric Gugler sketch, which had never been executed. In August 2005, the floor was replaced again under President George W. Bush , in exactly

11872-465: Was built at the West Wing's southeast corner, offering Roosevelt, who was physically disabled and used a wheelchair , more privacy and easier access to the Residence. He and Gugler devised a room architecturally grander than the previous two offices, with more robust Georgian details: doors topped with substantial pediments, bookcases set into niches, a deep bracketed cornice, and a ceiling medallion of

11984-433: Was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as a reception area for social events; Jefferson's colonnades connected the new wings. The East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space. By 1948, the residence's load-bearing walls and wood beams were found to be close to failure. Under Harry S. Truman ,

12096-676: Was designed by Irish -born architect James Hoban in the Neoclassical style. 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 colonnades on each wing to conceal what then were stables and storage. In 1814, during

12208-437: Was done by immigrants, many of whom had not yet obtained citizenship, including the sandstone walls, which were erected by Scottish immigrants , the high-relief rose, and garland decorations above the north entrance and the fish scale pattern beneath the pediments of the window hoods. There are conflicting claims as to where the sandstone used in the construction of the White House originated. Some reports suggest sandstone from

12320-405: Was painted a dull Pomeranian red, and its ceiling was decorated with gold, silver, and copper stars and stripes of red, white, and blue. A fifty-foot jeweled Tiffany glass screen, supported by imitation marble columns, replaced the glass doors that separated the main corridor from the north vestibule. In 1891, First Lady Caroline Harrison proposed major extensions to the White House, including

12432-491: Was produced under the direction of curator Lorraine Waxman Pearce with direct supervision from Mrs. Kennedy. Sales of the guidebook helped finance the restoration. In a televised tour of the house on Valentine's Day in 1962, Kennedy showed her restoration of the White House to the public. Congress enacted legislation in September 1961 declaring the White House a museum. Furniture, fixtures , and decorative arts could now be declared either historic or of artistic interest by

12544-536: Was used in various areas of the White House until Jacqueline Kennedy had it moved to the Oval Office in 1961. Following the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy , the Resolute desk was transferred, on loan, to the Smithsonian Institution and went on tour around the country to help raise funds for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum . After this tour, the desk was put on view at

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