QUEBEC-RESEARCH-L Archives
Archiver > QUEBEC-RESEARCH > 2004-10 > 1097678664
From:
Subject: Excerpt Of History
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 10:44:24 EDT
WHITE HOUSE CORNERSTONE LAID:
October 13, 1792
The cornerstone is laid for a presidential
residence in the newly designated capital city of
Washington. In 1800, President John Adams became
the first president to reside in the executive
mansion, which soon became known as the "White
House" because its white-gray Virginia freestone
contrasted strikingly with the red brick of
nearby buildings.
The City of Washington was created to replace
Philadelphia as the nation's capital because of
its geographical position in the center of the
existing new republic. The states of Maryland and
Virginia ceded land around the Potomac River to
form the District of Columbia, and work began on
Washington in 1791. French architect Charles
L'Enfant designed the area's radical layout, full
of dozens of circles, crisscross avenues, and
plentiful parks. In 1792, work began on the
neoclassical White House building at 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue under the guidance of Irish
American architect James Hoban, whose design was
influenced by Leinster House in Dublin and by a
building sketch in James Gibbs' Book of
Architecture. President George Washington chose
the site.
On November 1, President John Adams was welcomed
into the executive mansion. His wife, Abigail,
wrote about their new home: "I pray heaven to
bestow the best of blessings on this house, and
on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none
but wise men ever rule under this roof!"
In 1814, during the War of 1812, the White House
was set on fire along with the U.S. Capitol by
British soldiers in retaliation for the burning
of government buildings in Canada by U.S. troops.
The burned-out building was subsequently rebuilt
and enlarged under the direction of James Hoban,
who added east and west terraces to the main
building, along with a semicircular south portico
and a colonnaded north portico. The smoke-stained
stone walls were painted white. Work was
completed on the White House in the 1820s.
Major restoration occurred during the
administration of President Harry Truman, and
Truman lived across the street for several years
in Blair House. Since 1995, Pennsylvania Avenue
between the White House and Lafayette Square has
been closed to vehicular traffic for security
reasons. Today, more than a million tourists
visit the White House annually. It is the oldest
federal building in the nation's capital.
This thread: