- George Washington personally chose
the site for the construction of the president's home in the
new capital and authorized the cornerstone laid on October 13,
1792
- No official name was given to the
structure so it was known by a variety of titles, President's
House and Executive Mansion the more popular
- The exterior walls were made from
sandstone reflecting a grayish-brown color, but when whitewashed
in 1798, it prompted some popular usage of the term White House
- The structure was designed by Irish-born
architect James Hoban
- The new home was only one-fifth of
its original design
- The earliest written reference to
the name White House didn't appear in print until nearly a decade
later in a political pamphlet, the Baltimore Whig, November
22, 1810
- Even though the term White House was
not in popular usage apparently the name had spread to England.
During the War of 1812 commanding British General Robert Ross
received a dispatch from French Minister Louis Barbe Serurier
suggesting the "White House" be considered neutral
territory, citing its significance as a landmark of the new United
States
- Ross ignored the request however and
torched the structure in August 1814 when the British stormed
Washington, D.C
- The house was destroyed, save the
exterior walls, thanks to an overnight rainstorm
- Hoban was called to revamp the President's
House and ordered the fire-blackened exterior painted white,
thus leading to the popular reference, White House
- But it was not until the presidential
proclamation of Theodore Roosevelt in 1901, over a century since
its construction, that the structure was officially decreed The
White House
- Ironically the father of our country
was the only president who never lived in the new Executive Mansion,
but when George Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis their
first home was on her plantation estate coincidentally named,
The White House.
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