Home Sweet Home
When you think of famous home several come to mind. France’s Versailles, Englands Buckingham Palace, George Washington’s Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticllo are just to name a few. Despite these homes there is one house the stands above them all: The White House. For a great rate on your own home try fixed home loan today.
Built between 1792 and 1800 this single house has become an icon of freedom and the American way of life over the last two hundred years.All presidents since John Adams, the 2nd president, have lived there. World changing decisions were made in its offices and some of the world’s greatest leaders have slept in its rooms. It has had an extensive history to be sure. If you want your own awesome home come to fha mortgage for the best rates around.
The original house was designed by architect James Hoban but it has seen many additions and changes. Two colonades were added by Thomas Jefferson’s administration in order to conceal storage rooms and stables. However, the interior and most of the exterior were destroyed by the British Army during the War of 1812.
President Monroe moved back in 1817 after it was rebuilt. Since then it has been added to and restructured many times. President Theodore Roosevelt constructed the West Wing and moved government offices into it to avoid over-crowding. Ironically, the famously obese President Taft expanded the West Wing more and added the first Oval Office. The White House proper, as we know it today, was made when by Trumans administration when the interior was ripped out and refitted with steel beam supports.
Little people realize this but there are six floor to the White House. They are the two basements, the Ground Floor, State Floor, Second Floor and finally the Third Floor. The House is divided into five sections called the West Wing, East Wing, the Executive Wing, the Eisenhower Exectuive Office Building and the Cabinet Room. If you happen to have equity and would like to take some cash out, check out home equity loans
The Kennedy administration saw the House enter a new phase as the sought to restore most of the original furniture and art work to the White House. The established different “rooms” decorated by various periodic pieces of art and furniture. Federal style for the Green Room, French Empire for Blue Room, American Empire for the Red Room and Louis the XVI for the Yellow Oval Room and Victorian for the president’s study, known as the Treaty Room.
The Neoclassical style White House is clearly based on the Leinster House in Dublin, Ireland. The Leinster House would later become the seat of the Irish Parliament. There is however, much debate about the rounded colonades on the back. Some claim it is based on the Chateau de Rastignac, another Neoclassical house in the Dordogne region of France. The problem with this theory is that Hoban never visited France. Others claim that Jefferson visited France, saw the building designs and passed the idea along to Hoban, but there has never been evidence for this theory. Regardless of the situation, today the White House still stands as a true American icon.
Pierce Hawkly
WHITE WING
