White House Tour

The name "White House" probably came into colloquial use soon after the stonemasons whitewashed the house in 1798 to protect the walls. The white finish brought out the fine exterior ornamentation, although "Executive Mansion" and "President's House" were more commonly used until 1901, when the building was officially named the "White House."

On November 1, 1800, President John Adams became the first occupant of the house. The exterior and a handful of rooms were finished in time for the Adams' brief four-month residency. Thomas Jefferson was the next president to reside in the house. During his presidency, he had two water closets installed and outfitted the fireplaces with coal-burning fixtures. With architect Benjamin Latrobe's assistance, Jefferson also built long, columnar terraces extending on the east and west.

In 1810, Latrobe installed a "Pettibone" furnace for President James Madison and First Lady Dolley Madison. It used a series of kettles and clay pipes to force hot air up from the basement. When British troops set fire to the house on August 24, 1814, the system was destroyed and never replaced.

Burned to a charred skeleton during the War of 1812, the President's House became an object of shame and wonder. Talk spread of moving the capital inland with a suggestion to go as far as Cincinnati, Ohio. But Andrew Jackson's victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans restored national pride and the idea of rebuilding in the nation's capital became symbolic of triumph.

James Hoban was hired to rebuild the Executive Mansion in 1815. Two years later, President James Monroe took up residence and purchased furnishings for the still unfinished interiors. In 1824 during James Monroe's administration, Hoban completed the South Portico. Double stairs curved up to a much-needed porch, and columns lent a vertical sweep to the architecture of the house. In 1829, Hoban started construction of the North Portico and finished it a year later during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. The fine carved stone of the North Door, a garland of roses and acorns over the north portal, was overshadowed by the mass of the portico.

Running water was introduced to the Jackson White House in 1833. An ingenious system was devised to pump water to an East Terrace bathing room. In 1840, Martin Van Buren hired a live-in fireman to manage the boilers of a monstrous new furnace. In 1848, James Polk directed that gaslights replace candles in the chandeliers and wall fixtures. It was an era of great innovations.

From the 1830s until 1902, changes to the main block of the White House occurred principally to its interiors. Under Andrew Jackson the East Room was completed and fully decorated. Succeeding presidents and their wives periodically refurbished the house to reflect the changing tastes of their time.

Abraham Lincoln was too immersed in the crisis of the Civil War to care about "flub dubs for this damned old house", but after Lincoln's presidency, the White House returned to its routine pattern of changes which came with each new administration.

In 1879, the first telephone was installed for President Rutherford B. Hayes. Electric wiring was installed in 1891. President Benjamin Harrison and First Lady Caroline Harrison, afraid of being shocked, were nervous about working the lights.

Chester A. Arthur, president from 1881 to 1885, called on Louis Comfort Tiffany to add his touch to the White House. A number of spaces on the State Floor were transformed by his decorative patterns, glazing, and trademark colored glass technique, most notably in the Entrance Hall, Transverse Hall, and Blue Room. In 1890, First Lady Caroline Harrison promoted a major expansion of the White House complex that included an art wing open to visitors, but Congress refused to fund the project.

Early on during his presidency Theodore Roosevelt changed the building name from Executive Mansion to "White House." In 1902, First Lady Edith Roosevelt asked the distinguished architect Charles McKim for his advice concerning the cramped Second Floor quarters. His recommendations for a complete renovation of the house doubled the space allocated to the family living quarters, provided a new wing for the president and his staff, and created a new area on the east for receiving guests. The plans changed the interior and the functioning of the White House. With a few exceptions, much of the complex as we know it today reflects the design of 1902.

In 1909, President William Howard Taft had the West Wing enlarged, adding the first Oval Office. Herbert Hoover remodeled the wing and rebuilt it after a fire in 1929. With the expansion of the staff in the 1930s, Franklin D. Roosevelt requested additional space, and the wing was renovated under the eye of architect Eric Gugler. He built a second story, excavated a larger basement for staff and support services, and moved the Oval Office from the south to its present location in the southeast corner, adjacent to the Rose Garden. The term "West Wing" for the new executive office space came into common usage in the 1930s.

In 1948, architect Lorenzo S. Winslow built a balcony on the South Portico for Harry Truman. Soon after, the entire building showed signs of significant structural damage. The brick that Hoban had used to line the stone facade was being stressed to its limits. Winslow began a full renovation of the White House, which, as one inspector put it, "was standing up purely from habit."

The Truman renovation retained the original walls, the third floor and the roof, while removing and then reinstalling the interiors within a skeleton of steel structural beams on a new concrete foundation. Two levels of subbasements, and service areas under the North Portico were constructed, and the Grand Staircase was substantially changed. Of the State Floor rooms, only the State Dining Room wall panels were reinstalled, but then were painted. Updated conveniences were added, including central air. On March 27, 1952, Truman moved back into his new home.

Since 1952, attempts to preserve the history of the President's House and new research have resulted in decorative interior changes but no substantive architectural work. Beginning in 1980, as many as forty successive layers of paint were removed from the exterior walls. Following the removal of the paint, masons restored the stone. In 1990, the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) began a documentation project to record the exterior elevations and the interior architecture of the White House. This comprehensive record of the historic main house will be used for future renovation, restoration, maintenance, and interpretation of the house.

This immersive 360 degree tour experience will bring you inside the halls of the White House and provide access to all the public rooms on the Ground and State Floors. It will also allow you to examine the rooms and objects even closer than you would in person.

This feature was made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor.