The White House

The White House Review

America's most famous house was designed in 1792 by Irishman James Hoban. It was known officially as the Executive Mansion until 1902, when President Theodore Roosevelt rechristened it the White House, long its informal name. The house has undergone many structural changes: Andrew Jackson installed running water, James Garfield put in the first elevator, and Harry Truman had the entire structure gutted and restored, adding a second-story porch to the south portico.

Highlights

The self-guided tour includes rooms on the ground floor, but the State Floor has the highlights. The East Room is the largest room in the White House. It's the site of ceremonies and press conferences; it's also where Theodore Roosevelt's children roller-skated and one of Abraham Lincoln's sons harnessed a pet goat to a chair and went for a ride. The portrait of George Washington that Dolley Madison saved from torch-carrying British soldiers in 1814 hangs here. The only president to get married in the White House, Grover Cleveland, was wed in the Blue Room. The White House Christmas tree stands in here every winter. The Red Room, decorated in early-19th-century American Empire style, has been a favorite of first ladies. Mary Todd Lincoln had her coffee and read the morning paper here.

The White House Spring Garden & Grounds Tour in mid-April provides an intimate peek at the Rose Garden and Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, among others, while a military band serenades visitors from a balcony above. Free, timed entry tickets are distributed each day of the tour beginning at 8 am at the Ellipse Visitor Pavilion at 15th and E Streets. They are given out on a first-come, first-served basis and usually go quickly.

Tips

To see the White House you need to contact your representative or senator. To visit in spring or summer, you should make your request about six months in advance.You need a group of 10 or more in order to visit, or the office of your representative or senator may be able to place you with another group. You'll be asked for the names, birth dates, and Social Security numbers of everyone in your group, and you'll be told where to meet and what you can bring.On the morning of your tour, call the White House Visitors Office information line, 202/456-7041. Tours are subject to last-minute cancellation.Arrive 15 minutes early. Your group will be asked to line up in alphabetical order. Everyone 15 years or older must present photo ID. Going through security will probably take as long as the tour itself: 20 to 25 minutes.