The President's Neighborhood
Since the White House was first occupied by President John Adams in 1800, influential people and organizations—or those who hoped to have influence—have bought property and built homes and offices along the streets surrounding the White House. For more than two centuries, this neighborhood has been the setting for political decision-making and diplomacy, social gatherings and protests, wartime expediencies and peacetime hospitality. In this collection, we invite you to learn more about these landmarks in the President’s Neighborhood and their historic significance.
Good Neighbors: FDR, Major Gist, and Blair House
The History of Lafayette Park
Monuments to the American Revolution
The President's Park
The Evolution of Lafayette Park and the Ellipse
Making Religion Fashionable
Benjamin Henry Latrobe and St. John's Church
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Collection Weddings and the White House
From First Lady Dolley Madison's sister Lucy Payne Washington's wedding in 1812 to the nuptials of President Joseph Biden and First...
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Podcast Bunny Mellon and the White House Rose Garden
Philanthropist, stylemaker, and renowned gardener Rachel Lambert “Bunny” Mellon was not formally trained as a horticulturist or landscape designer. However, her...
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Podcast Dinner with the President
From hot dogs to haute cuisine, U.S. Presidents have communicated important messages through food. Stewart McLaurin, President of the...
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Podcast Becoming FDR: The Personal Crisis That Made a President
In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in for the first of his four terms as president of the United States....
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Podcast 250 Years of American Political Leadership
The American experiment has long held the curiosity of people around the world, especially for Iain Dale, an award-winning British...
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Podcast A Coronation Preview with the British Ambassador to the U.S.
Britain and the U.S. have long had what Prime Minister Winston Churchill called a “special relationship.” From adversaries to alli...
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Podcast At the Helm with John H. Dalton
Former Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton has written a new memoir called “At the Helm: My Journey with Fa...
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Podcast An Ordinary Man: President Gerald R. Ford
Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association, welcomed respected author and historian Richard Norton Smith to a special...
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Collection The 2023 White House Christmas Ornament
Every year since 1981, the White House Historical Association has had the privilege of designing the Official White House Christmas Ornament....
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Podcast Jacqueline Kennedy: Art in Cultural Diplomacy
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was the driving force behind a brilliant act of cultural diplomacy: bringing Leonardo Da Vinci’s ma...
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Podcast Home Again with Susan Ford Bales
It was a homecoming decades in the making. Stewart McLaurin, President of the White House Historical Association, had the unique...
