The White House is built

1800 · Crisp, hopeful late-autumn morning

The newly finished President's House in Washington, a long white two-storey neoclassical building with a central pediment on four engaged columns, stands on a raw yard while workers paint from a timber scaffold and a horse pulls a cart of sandstone. — The north front of the newly finished President's House: eleven bays of white-painted stone, a pediment on four engaged columns over an arched door, a balustrade and chimneys, with no portico yet. Painters stand on a lashed timber scaffold at the right end, and in the muddy yard a horse pulls a two-wheeled cart with a sandstone block, workers carry stone and sacks past a lime tub, and an overseer in a dark coat points. Autumn trees and a board shanty stand at the edges.

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What happened

In November 1800 John Adams became the first president to live in the President's House in Washington, James Hoban's mansion of white-painted sandstone.

The President's House, known today as the White House, was designed by the Irish-born architect James Hoban, who won a competition in 1792. George Washington chose the site, and the cornerstone was laid on 13 October 1792. The walls were built of sandstone from Aquia Creek in Virginia by stonemasons from Scotland together with free and enslaved African American labourers and local workers, and the stone was coated with a lime-based whitewash to protect it.

Hoban's design, modelled partly on Leinster House in Dublin, was reduced to two main storeys over a basement. In 1800 the north front had eleven bays, a central pediment carried by four engaged Ionic columns, alternating window pediments on the main floor and a balustrade hiding the roof; the north and south porticoes were only added in the 1820s. President John Adams moved in on 1 November 1800, while plaster was still drying and the grounds were a building site with workers' sheds.

The house was burned by British troops in 1814 and rebuilt by 1817. It has been the home and office of every American president since Adams, and the name White House became official in 1901.

Key facts

Event: Completion of the President's House (White House)
Date: 1 November 1800
Location: Washington, D.C., United States
Mood: Crisp, hopeful late-autumn morning
Palette: #efeadd
#3a3e5e
#a5bfcc
#3e6b3a
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Tags: white house
washington
architecture
neoclassical
18th century
Size: 1024 × 768 vector (4:3). PNG at 512, 1024, or 2048 pixels wide.
License: CC0 1.0. No attribution, commercial use allowed.
Text: This page as markdown

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