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Could you live in a house where the roof leaks? Where the walls have no plaster, and the “yard” is just mud?
That’s what the president’s house was like in 1800. John and Abigail Adams were the first people to live there. Because there was no yard, Mrs. Adams had the staff hang laundry in the large hall at the east end of the house.
Work on the house continued. By the time James Madison took office in 1809, his wife, Dolley, could throw big parties there. She often served ice cream. That’s how ice cream became popular in the U.S. But her parties stopped in 1814, when the British attacked Washington. They set the mansion on fire.
When it was rebuilt, white paint was used to cover the scorched stone. After that, it was unofficially called the White House. President Theodore Roosevelt, who served from 1901 to 1909, had “The White House” printed on his stationery. Then the name became official.
Over the years, the White House has seen many changes. It now has 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms.
◀ Many presidents added “modern” conveniences to the White House. Andrew Jackson had running water piped in. James Polk put in gaslights. Benjamin Harrison replaced them with electricity. Alexander Graham Bell showed President Rutherford B. Hayes how a telephone worked. Thomas Edison did the same with a phonograph. Both inventions soon became a part of White House life. But years of remodeling made the building weak. When Harry S. Truman took office in 1945, engineers found that the White House “was standing up purely by habit.” Between 1948 and 1952, the building was mostly gutted. Then it was rebuilt.
The East Room is where Abigail Adams once had laundry hung. It’s the biggest room in the White House. That is where you can find the famous Gilbert Stuart painting of George Washington. When the British attacked in 1814, Dolley Madison saved this painting. She cut it out of the frame and rolled it up. Then she took it out of the city. The East Room is used for official receptions, ceremonies, and press conferences. It has also hosted many weddings. ▶
White House Kids
Many children and grandchildren of presidents have made the White House a lively place. ▼
▲ In 1909, President William Howard Taft added the Oval Office to the West Wing. John F. Kennedy’s children liked to visit their father there.
▲ The Baby Ruth candy bar is named for one of Grover Cleveland’s daughters.
▲ Theodore Roosevelt’s kids were called the White House gang. They roller-skated and bicycled in the East Room. Once, they snuck a pony onto a White House elevator. They wanted to cheer up their sick brother.
▲ Thomas Lincoln (nicknamed Tad by his dad) shot a toy cannon at the door during Cabinet meetings.
◀ The president’s private quarters are not just bedrooms and bathrooms. There are also a dentist’s office, a movie theater, a clinic, a barbershop, and more.
◀ Official rooms include the colorful Red Room, Green Room, and Blue Room. The president often greets guests in the Blue Room. The White House Christmas tree is placed there, too. Grover Cleveland is the only president who ever got married in the White House. The wedding was held in the Blue Room in June of 1886.
Reminders of past presidents fill the White House. One room has Abraham Lincoln’s extra-long bed. Mrs. Calvin Coolidge crocheted its coverlet. A centerpiece in the State Dining Room is a huge mirror with figurines all around it. These can be used as candleholders or small vases. President James Monroe ordered it from France. ▶
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