Designing and Building the White House

The White House was designed by architect James Hoban (1762 - 1831), an Irish immigrant who came to the newly formed United States of America right after the Revolutionary War.  He first settled in Philadelphia, PA and then relocated to South Carolina, where he designed the first state capitol building (Columbia, 1791).  George Washington became familiar with Hoban's work and encouraged him to enter a competition for the design of the presidential mansion in 1792.  The cornerstone was laid in 1792 and Hoban supervised the construction until it's completion in 1801 -- he was not only an accomplished architect, but a formidable carpenter and mason.

Designed in the neoclassical style that was popular in the mid-18th century, the architecture embraces the purity of ancient Roman and Grecian styles, using white-painted Aquia Creek Sandstone to create its iconic image.  The exterior whitewash was necessary to seal the porous material against the effects of the environment.  Hoban's design was modeled after the Leinster House, which was a governmental palace in Dublin, Ireland that currently serves as the house of the Irish Parliament.  A grand total of $232,372 was spent on the original construction, which would be equivalent to more than $100 million dollars in 2019.  It was the largest residence in the United States until the 1860s and was first occupied by President John Adams and his family, even though the building wasn't yet complete.  The familiar north and south porticoes were not added to the White House until 1825 and 1830, based on designs created as early as 1807.  East and West Wings were added to the main building during the early 1900s to expand office space, include more formal and public entrances, and even to cover an underground bunker (the Presidential Emergency Operations Center).

Many improvements, redecorations, and reconstructions were completed throughout the building's history.  In 1814, during the War of 1812, the British army occupied Washington, D.C. and burned much of the White House, gutting the interior but leaving the exterior mostly intact.  President James Madison vowed to restore the building just as it was, and James Hoban returned to supervise the reconstruction.  During the Truman Administration (1945 - 1953), the main body was found to be structurally unsound and was rebuilt using concrete and steel.  Since the 1960s, the White House has been recognized as a sort of living museum and very few alterations have been made to the architectural theme and functional layout.