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Palace of State: The Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Featuring John F.W. Rogers, Chairman of the White House Historical Association’s Board of Directors
Main Content
"Capture of the City of Washington," a representation of the destruction of Washington by the British during the War of 1812.
Library of CongressThe North Portico of the White House as it appeared with the paint removed during stone restoration in 1990.
White House CollectionIdyllic view of the White House from the south during the Jacksonian Age, c. 1834. This image may be a reversed view taken from a daguerreotype, as the ornamental garden presented here was actually on the building's east side.
White House Collection/The White House Historical Association"Statuary marble" Italian mantelpieces ordered from Purviance, Nichols, & Company were delivered to the White House in 1819. Examples can be seen in the Red and Green Rooms today.
White House Historical AssociationThe South Portico of the White House today.
White House Historical AssociationPresident John Adams first occupied the President's House on November 1, 1800. It stood for thirteen years and eight months until it was burned during the British invasion in August 1814. After a concerted effort by Congress to move the capital to Cincinnati, the government appointed two architects to "repair" the Federal City's public buildings: Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an Englishman of skill in architecture and engineering, worked on the Capitol; and Hoban rebuilt the White House. Hoban completed the work in 1817, but he returned in 1824 to build the South Portico for President James Monroe, and in 1829- 30 to add the North Portico for President Andrew Jackson.
Time, and occupants with different needs, have altered the White House in many ways. However, the White House image famous throughout the world is Hoban's entirely. It is a handsome residence, embellished with unquestionably the finest architectural stone carving produced in America at that time an august house, yet a house and not a palace. And when Hoban rebuilt it, he was ordered to make it as it had been, which he did, perpetuating the image and his own claim to a place in history.