Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: White House history

Monday, December 06, 2010

White House history

From: “Random Dead Presidents Fact of the Day: 12.3.10: http://deadpresidents.tumblr.com/post/2083912681/random-dead-presidents-fact-of-the-day-12-3-10

Dead Presidents

About The Author Book Reviews Presidents Talk About Presidents Index Random Facts of the Day Index Original Essays AND Magazine Articles Presidential Quotes of the Day Questions, Comments, Suggestions, Requests?

Historical facts, thoughts, ramblings and collections on the Presidency and about the Presidents of the United States.

By Anthony Bergen

E-Mail: bergen.anthony AT gmail.com

The White House was not quite 50 years old when this daguerreotype was taken in 1846. Today, the official residence and workplace of the President of the United States is over 200 years old.

George Washington selected the site of the nation’s capital and picked Pierre L’Enfant to plan the federal city. Architect James Hoban’s design for the President’s House was chosen from a field of nine designs (one of which was submitted anonymously by Thomas Jefferson). L’Enfant envisioned a Presidential Palace five times larger than the White House that was eventually built.

Important numbers:

•132 rooms

•35 bathrooms

•412 doors

•147 windows

•28 fireplaces

•8 staircases, 3 elevators

•55,000 square feet of floor space

•6 stories

•1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the address

•18 acres of land surround the White House complex

•42 Presidents have lived in the building; George Washington is the only President who never lived in the White House

Important Dates:

•1792: Cornerstone laid and construction begins

•1800: John Adams is the first President to move into the building

•1814: The British burn the building, leaving nothing standing besides charred walls; contrary to popular belief, painting over the soot marks is not why the building is known as the “White House” — it was referred to as the “White House” before the War of 1812 because of its whitewashed walls

•1817: James Monroe moves back in after the building is reconstructed

•1824: The South Portico is added

•1829: The North Portico is added

•1834: Indoor plumbing is installed

•1837: Central heating is installed

•1848: Gaslights are installed

•1853: President Fillmore is the first to use hot water

•1866: A telegraph is installed

•1879: The first White House telephone is installed. The White House phone number was “1” and it remained the only phone in the building for thirty years.

•1881: Air-conditioning is installed to help ease the suffering of President Garfield following his shooting.

•1891: Electricity is installed

•1901: The Secret Service begins protecting the President and the White House after President McKinley is assassinated

•1902: The West Wing is added; Theodore Roosevelt officially names the building “The White House”; it was previously known officially as “The Executive Mansion”

•1909: The Oval Office is constructed

•1921: A radio is installed

•1922: The White House Police is formed

•1926: An electric refrigerator is installed

•1933: An indoor swimming pool is built for President Roosevelt; it was later turned into the Press Room by President Nixon

•1942: The East Wing, including a movie theater, is built

•1947: A television is installed

•1949: The White House is found to be structurally unsound; President Truman moves into Blair House while the White House is completely gutted on the inside and reconstructed, with two basements added.

•1952: President Truman moves into the reconstructed White House

•1961: The White House Historical Association is created

•1979: Computers are installed

•1988: The White House is accredited as a museum

•1994: A pilot kills himself trying to fly a small plane into the White House; it crashes on the lawn before reaching the building

•2001: Public tours of the White House are severely restricted following the September 11th terrorist attacks

#Random Fact of the Day #The White House

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