Ask Mike: Who designed the white house?
After months of speeches, debates, and commercials, Election Day 2012 is tantalizingly close to being a thing of the past. Of course, no matter what happens, the victor will take up residence in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Arguably the most famous house in the world, the architect of the White House is considerably less well known.
The White House was designed by the Irish-born James Hoban, who won a contest organized by President George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (then Secretary of State). Kind of like “America’s Got Talent,” only not at all. According to the National Park Service, it is widely believed that Jefferson (himself an accomplished architect) submitted his own plans under a pseudonym. Hoban’s design (which President Washington altered a bit) prevailed.
But while President Washington helped organize the competition, he never got a chance to live in White House. President John Adams and his wife Abigail were the first to call the house a home. The official White House site explains that the Adams family (sorry) moved in to the still unfinished house in 1800. The house was burned by the British in 1814 and then rebuilt (again by Hoban). President James Monroe moved in to White House 2.0 in 1817.
Thanks for reading. Here’s to no more campaigning (for a while).
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That is interesting.. I’ve always wondered, who chose to call it “The White House” and why? It seems like a pretty average name for such a big thing! lol.
I am sure that it has been redesigned thru time, as technology and modernism becomes significantly important. You can always google this information; however, I can tell you that SLAVES built it. Could have been a slave that designed it, too; however, back in the day, slaves ideas were stolen, and copywritten by others.
Not sure, but the Canadians burned it down.
lol canadians made it white. we burned it down and to cover the burn marks americans bought the cheepest color paint-white. so technically canadians gave the white house its name.
James Hoban
I always thought it was Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker.
I Believe it was…
Irish-born,
James Hoban.
Short,and informative. But why is it still called THE WHITE HOUSE ?
I think it is callet The White House because it is, ah
because it is white.
i did
I don’t know his name, but I do know for a fact that he was Irish and I am proud to say that the man who designed the home for one of the most powerful leaders in the world, is from the same country as me
#irishandproud
This is so fascinating. Now I’m definitely going to subscribe to your rss feed, mike.
Here’s a site with lots of facinating information: http://www.whitehouse.com
Well I know that George Washington hired people to build it.
Wow! it’s really a nice information to increase my GK…though we read about it on google search…but at the moment some important questions are not clicked in mind…so thanks Mike…wishes.
It was the design of James Hoban , which was selected by George Washington in 1792 from among nine submitted proposals, that won out and became our President’s primary residence and “office” space.
Also, it was mainly built by slaves, free African Americans and European workers. Called the White House by many because of its color it was originally called the “Executive Mansion” and officially renamed the “White House” by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1902 after putting it on official letter head in 1901.
According to Wikipedia, “The White House,”
The building was originally referred to variously as the “President’s Palace”, “Presidential Mansion”, or “President’s House”. The earliest evidence of the public calling it the “White House” was recorded in 1811. A myth emerged that during the rebuilding of the structure after the Burning of Washington, white paint was applied to mask the burn damage it had suffered, giving the building its namesake hue. The name “Executive Mansion” was used in official contexts until President Theodore Roosevelt established the formal name by having “White House–Washington” engraved on the stationery in 1901. The current letterhead wording and arrangement “The White House” with the word “Washington” centered beneath goes back to the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Although it was not completed until some years after the presidency of George Washington, it is also speculated that the name of the traditional residence of the President of the United States may have derived from Martha Washington’s home, White House Plantation in Virginia, where the nation’s first President had courted the First Lady in the mid-18th century.
This is awesome! Four years ago (in 2008 – back when I studied architecture), I helped design and build a monument to James Hoban in Desart, Ireland (his birth place). Fun fact
Who is the real architect of the buildings’ modernist and post-modernism is an open question, not only for the White House. The more power became, the more practiced fraud and deception. I think the world is not enough popular buildings and buildings that are designed not people whose names adorn the facades of these buildings.
i thought that after it was burnt they didn’t rebuild it but just painted it white to hide the burns
James Hoban