Architecture: 1790s-1840s
1790sThe Presidents House was a major feature of Pierre Charles L'Enfant's 1791 plan for the city of Washington. He envisioned a...
James Hoban's White House Reconstruction
How Long? 1 minute
Considering that it had taken nearly ten years to build the first White House, it was remarkable that James Hoban was able to direct a reconstruction of the house (after the British torched the house in 1814) in slightly less than three years. This was possible in part because some of the stone walls could be reused, but the main reason was that Hoban altered the structural scheme of the house by substituting timber for brick in some of the interior partitions. The shortcut saved time, but produced a weaker structure than the one George Washington watched over in the 1790s. The ill effects of this decision would cause the virtual demolition and rebuilding of the White House some 130 years later in 1948-1952. External forces also contributed to the hasty rise of the President's House: innovation, business prosperity, and the success of manufacturing in the United States. In the invoices of the 1790s, the names of individual craftsmen and tradesmen abound, but in the reconstruction records after 1814 were bills from manufacturers, merchants, suppliers, contractors and other businessmen predominate.
Demolition work in the entrance hall in 1950 exposed Hoban’s plaster cornice.
You Might Also Like
-
-
Architecture: 1850s-1890s
1850sJames Buchanan, at the urging of his niece and White House hostess Harriet Lane, added a wooden greenhouse on the...
-
Architecture: 1950s-2000s
1950sSoon after moving into the White House in 1945, President Truman noticed large areas of cracking in the plaster throughout the...
-
Architecture: 1900s-1940s
1900sOne of Theodore Roosevelts earliest acts as President was to issue an order establishing the "White House" as the buildings...
-
Romantic Expansions
In our own time thoughts about “the West” have been rather vividly colored by popular culture imagery depicting the rugged indi...
-
Introduction: Where Oh Where Should the Capital Be?
So much about the new United States was new—a democracy in a world full of monarchies, an elected president in...
-
Unbuilt White Houses of the 19th Century
Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century, several major proposals were made to alleviate crowding at the White House...
-
White House Music During the 1990s
President and Mrs. George Bush recognized music as a supreme American gesture, a vital symbol of American life as it...
-
Restoring the Original White House Stone
The restoration of the exterior of the White House, which I performed from 1989 to 1996, was an exciting and challenging task....
-
The President, the Press, and Proximity
The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room has been the on-grounds quarters for the White House correspondents and news photographers...
-
Foreword; White House History (Number 35)
This number of White House History recalls the burning of the White House, which took place in 1814, two hundred years...
-
In a White House Passageway
Arches and vaults are techniques of construction that serve to divert the support of heavy masses that would otherwise require...