Who Built the White House

The White House. Let’s get started. It’s one of the most iconic buildings in the world, steeped in prestige and history, but the creation of The White House and the political landscape which now surrounds the building dates back more than 200 years.

The building is best known for being the primary residence of the president of the United States. The first president to call The White House home was John Adams in 1800, but construction work actually began eight years earlier.

Before The White House was built, the United States’ first president George Washington lived in two private houses in New York. Building The White House was a huge project, and therefore, to keep the costs to a minimum, the foundation of the building and its main residence was built by African-American slaves, along with Europeans who received payment for their labor.

Other parts of the building were constructed by immigrants, many of whom had not secured U.S. citizenship. Designed in a neoclassical style by John Hoban, an Irish architect, The White House is modeled after the Leinster House in Dublin.

The building’s exterior is sandstone, which has been painted white. Scottish immigrants built the walls, the decorative north entrance, and the patterns below the windows. The initial project cost around $230,000, the equivalent to about $3.5 million now. Unfortunately, in 1814 the house was set on fire by the British Army.

The fire destroyed much of the work that had been completed. The White House was rebuilt in 1817 and included extensions to the south and north sides, which were completed by 1829. But even that wasn’t big enough. The president in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt, requested a west wing, which was then expanded further under William Howard Taft’s tenure in 1909.

He also created the Oval Office and expanded the third-floor attic into a space for living. Then, in 1946, the east wing was expanded. The White House today has a multitude of suites, meeting rooms, and executive offices for some of the United States’ top political figures and diplomats and staff who maintain the building and look after its residents.

Considering the fact that slaves played a key role in it’s construction, it’s a beautiful thing that The White House finally became the residence of the country’s first African American president, Barack Obama, and First Family in 2009. It took 217 years to make that happen but, better late than never.

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