Collection "The President's Own"
On July 11, 1798, President John Adams approved legislation that officially brought "The President's Own" United States Marine Band into being, making...
The Octagon
How Long? 1 minute
On September 8, 1814, the Madisons moved into the Octagon, second in size only to the burned President's House, and the only private home in Washington with the requisite elegance and scale for grand entertaining.
Designed by William Thornton, the Octagon was built in 1800-01 as a winter townhouse for Colonel John Tayloe III, a wealthy Virginia planter and horse breeder. An agreement was made for a rental fee of $800 for six months and Madison set up his office in the circular study on the second floor.
The Madisons held their first Wednesday evening levee at the Octagon on September 21. Resentment toward the president gradually waned and crowded receptions at the Octagon began to resemble the famed White House "squeezes." On March 5, 1815, Dolley Madison wrote to Hannah Gallatin: "Still our house is crowded with company. [I]n truth ever since the peace my brain has been turn'd with noise & bustle. Such over flowing rooms I never saw before—I sigh for repose."
The Octagon (on the right behind a row of tall trees) and the surrounding neighborhood as it appeared in a painting by S. Lewis about 1813.
You Might Also Like
-
-
Collection The White House Social Secretary
For more than one hundred years, White House Social Secretaries have displayed a profound knowledge of protocol and society in...
-
Collection Dining in the Executive Mansion
A dinner at the White House has always had significance beyond the merely gastronomical. The elegance of the State Dining...
-
Collection Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day"
The White House Historical Association and the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project present this collaboration in an effort to open a...
-
Presidents' Day at the White House
Just how does the president celebrate Presidents’ Day? Throughout the more than 200-year history of the White House, presidents themselves ha...
-
Sicilian Salvador Catalano
Few people today know the story of a Sicilian-born sailor named Salvadore Catalano who became an early American naval hero....
-
The Presidential Sweet Tooth
As the holidays approach, thoughts inevitably turn to sugar plums, gingerbread, and all of the other delectable treats that season...
-
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...
-
The Working White House: Witness to History
White House workers’ memoirs abound with recollections of significant international and national events and episodes. As they go about their da...
-
Hoover Easter Egg Rolls
The annual White House Easter egg roll was a well-established tradition when President Herbert Hoover took office, and the Hoovers...
-
Foreword; White House History Number 33
Further pursuing our interest in the neighborhood context of the White House, as well as the presidential complex itself, this...
-
Music and Musical Performances in the White House Timeline
1790sBefore the White House was completed in 1800, President George Washington and his wife Martha lived first in New York City,...
