An early romantic view of the President’s House from the Potomac River, ca. 1836-37. Jefferson added the distinctive east and west colonnades to the house.


The White House is a large structure and from its earliest days domestic operations have demanded a general manager. For this purpose President Thomas Jefferson, through his two administrations, relied heavily on his French steward Etienne Lemaire. There were two other white servants, Julien, a French chef, and Joseph Dougherty, an Irish coachman. The remainder of Jefferson’s regular household staff, which numbered a dozen, included slaves from Monticello. Even under the best management this was a small staff. However, in the early years the president paid his household personally.

The domestic "offices" and servants’ quarters were located in the rooms of the basement. Kitchen staff, directly under the Entrance Hall, cooked busily all day providing food for servants, staff, and any guests who might be visiting. Jefferson’s style of living was simpler than that of many rich citizens along the eastern seaboard. His one concession to grandeur was to dress his menservants in livery, knee breeches, and gilt or steel-buttoned blue coats with crimson trimmings and lace edging. Although Jefferson wrote his daughter that he preferred white servants so that he could dismiss them when they misbehaved, he did care for his slaves. When a sickly child was born at the President’s House (11 months after Jefferson’s own grandson, James Madison Randolph) to slaves Fanny and Eddy in 1806, he provided for the nursing care of the baby and mother. Sadly, the child died before its second birthday. Click here to learn more

Read more: William Seale, The President’s House, White House Historical Association, 1986.