Engraving of the White House by William Strickland, after a watercolor by George Munger, 1814. Library of Congress Hostilities with Great Britain, begun in 1812, culminated in the invasion of Washington on August 24, 1814. British troops entered the defenseless city, where they ate a dinner prepared for the President at the White House, and then torched the building, destroying all but the outer walls. At the urging of President Madison, Congress decided to rebuild the public buildings in Washington rather than move the capital to another city. James Hoban returned to reconstruct the President’s House as it had been before the fire. The weakened walls were dismantled to the basement level on the east and west sides and on the north except for the central section. Most of the carved ornamentation, bearing the scorch marks of the fire, was re-used. President James Monroe moved into a new house in the autumn of 1817.