The White House Washington, D.C

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The White House Washington, D.C. USA

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21006_BI.indd 1 07/07/2011 6:28 PM James Hoban

James Hoban, 1762-1831, was born in Desart, near Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland. Hoban was raised at Cuﬀesgrange, Co. Kilkenny where he learned carpentry skills. He studied architecture at the Royal Dublin Society. During the American Revolutionary War, Hoban emigrated to the United States, and established himself as an architect in Philadelphia in 1781. Hoban moved to South Carolina in 1787, with his brothers Philip and Joseph; he lived there for at least six more years. We know little of Hoban’s life in South Carolina except that he formed a partnership with carpenter Pierce Purcell and became well known among the gentry for his ability as an architect and builder. He was a

founding vestryman in 1791 of Saint Mary’s Church, Collection) House (White Association Historical House White The the first Catholic church established in the Carolinas. Among Hoban’s references were some of the most prominent citizens of Charleston: Henry Laurens, a close friend of President George Washington; fellow Irishman Aedanus Burke; and American Revolutionary War General William Moultrie.

21006_BI.indd 2 25/6/14 12:46 pm 21006_BI.indd 3 The planofWashington To beconnectedinastraight line by anavenue

establish a city withdirectionestablish acity andcharacter. 160 feet wide, L’Enfant high spots–JenkinsHill two selected Charles L’Enfant city. todesignthenewcapital L’Enfant’s actually documented design,was asaHoban 1,200-seat and plantation housesintheCharleston area, mostnotably south andeast-west. Diagonalavenues, to whichcame plan was based on a grid, plan withstreetswas based traveling north- In 1791 President George Washington appointed Pierre with thegridtoform plazas.The overall eﬀect aimedto Hoban’s namehasbeenconnectedwithpublic buildings Seabrook house. Another prominent building in Charleston, theater onSavage’s Green thatnolongersurvives. andtheWilliam Courthouse the historicCharleston County be named after thestates,crossed thegrid,intersectingbe namedafter half away for the “President’s Palace”. The avenue, for the “Congress House” hill and asecond amileand

to theTreasury building in1840eﬀectively blocked it, though nolongerastraight line, sinceanaddition, became Pennsylvaniabecame Avenue. 25/6/14 12:46pm

Pierre L’Enfant plan of Washington, D.C. Wikimedia Commons 3 As described above, the pattern of radiating avenues was appearance, much like the most important buildings in joined and filled by a gridiron matrix of streets, which were Europe. The young nation had never seen anything like it, numbered to the east and west and lettered to the north and that was what Washington liked about it. The building and south - excluding J Street, which L’Enfant omitted was to be more than the home and office of the president; to avoid confusion with the letters l and J that were it was to be a symbol of the presidency. A republic could indistinguishable and often interchangeable at the time, not have a king’s palace, but the building must command according to a 1994 Washington Post Magazine article. respect from citizens in the United States and, just as Although L’Enfant’s design became the basis for land importantly, foreign visitors who came to visit America’s sales, construction and planning, President Washington leader. fired him a year after he was hired because L’Enfant “forged On July 16, 1792, President Washington examined at ahead regardless of his orders, the budget, or landowners least six designs submitted in the President’s House with prior claims”. architectural competition. The plans were quite varied. One of the designs was by James Hoban, an Irishman whom the president had met a year earlier in Charleston. A The design competition second plan was submitted by a mysterious man known only as “A.Z.”. Historians have speculated that Thomas In 1792, at Washington’s request, Secretary of State Thomas Jeﬀerson was the mystery designer, but records suggest Jeﬀerson announced an architectural competition to that the architect in question was more likely John Collins, produce design drawings for the President’s House. a builder from Richmond, Virginia. A third of the six Washington insisted that the building should be made designs is by James Dimond, a Maryland inventor. of stone, so that it would have a more substantial

21006_BI.indd 4 25/6/14 12:46 pm 21006_BI.indd 5 The Palladianism of theWhiteHouseisinteresting asit Thomas Jeﬀerson,must ofIrishdescent, have himself gained particular pleasuregained particular occupant asthesecond ofthe White HouseinWashington, whichwas doubtless inspired House in Dublin claim to have inspired James Hoban. President Washington sought outconferred Hoban, with by Irish Palladianism. andLeinster Coole BothCastle him, andquickly thearchitect’s selected proposed design for thePresident’s HouseinJuly 1792.

James Hoban’s White House design.

Wikimedia Commons Hoban died on December 8, 1831. He is buried at own claimtoaplaceinhistory. of1790,design forCoole Castle inIreland. also Ironically, produced inAmericaatthattime.AndwhenHobanrebuilt with unquestionablythefinestarchitecturalstonecarving Mount OlivetCemeteryinWashington, D.C. Hoban’s entirely.Itisahandsomeresidence,embellished House inmanyways.However,theWhiteHouseimageis House, whiletheSouthernfacade isgiven oneﬂoormore South facade, resembles whichclosely JamesWyatt’s the Palladian manner. staircasemore Coole,andhas anexternal in than Castle facadelacksthe North one of the ﬂoors from Leinster it, followingthefirein1814,hewasorderedtomakeitas is almostanearlyform ofneoclassicism, especially the had been,whichhedid,perpetuatingtheimageandhis Time, andoccupants,havealteredtheWhite 13/6/14 5:04pm

5 History of The White House

The White House has a total of six storeys, a two-storey the White House Solarium, Game Room, Linen Room, a basement, the Ground Floor, State Floor, Second Floor Diet Kitchen, and another sitting room. and Third Floor. There are 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms The exterior of the White House was expanded to in the White House. There are also 412 doors, 147 include two colonnades in 1801. Further additions windows, 28 fireplaces, 8 staircases, and 3 elevators. include the South portico in 1824 and the North portico The White House has a variety inof 1829. recreation Today, the porticosfacilities connect to the East and including a tennis court, jogging track, swimming West Wings. The West Wing was added to the house in pool, movie theater, billiard room and a bowling lane. 1901, with the Oval Office added to the wing in 1909. The The State Floor includes the EastEast Wing Room, was added Green in 1942. Room, Blue Room, Red Room, State Dining Room, Family Dining Room, Cross Hall, Entrance Hall, and Grand Staircase. The Ground Floor is made up of the Diplomatic Reception Room, Map Room, China Room, Vermeil Room, Library, the main kitchen, and other offices. The second floor family residence includes the Yellow Oval Room, East and West Sitting Halls, the White House Master Bedroom, President’s Dining Room, the Treaty Room, Lincoln Bedroom and Queens’ Bedroom, as well as two additional bedrooms, a smaller kitchen, and a private dressing room. The third floor consists of Lorenzo Winslow’s 1948 plan for Alterations to the Executive Mansion. changes. White House Museum Library of Congress, Prints & Photo- 6 graphs Division

21006_BI.indd 6 25/6/14 12:46 pm Federal style

The White House is a grand mansion in the neoclassical planning undertaken by the federal government was Federal style, with details that echo classical Greek expressed in federal projects of lighthouses and harbor Ionic architecture. James Hoban’s original design was buildings, hospitals and in the rationalizing urbanistic modeled after the Leinster House in Dublin, Ireland and layout of L’Enfant’s Washington, D.C. and in New York the did not include the north and south porticos. Commissioners’ Plan of 1811. Federal style architecture is the name for the American federal architecture diﬀers from preceding classicizing architecture built in the United States Georgian colonial interpretations in its use of plainer between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to surfaces with attenuated detail, usually isolated in panels, 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal tablets and friezes. Period. In the early Republic, the founding generation consciously chose to associate the nation with the ancient democracies of Greece and the republican values of Rome. Grecian aspirations informed the Greek Revival, lasting into the 1850s. Using Roman architectural vocabulary, the Federal style applied to the balanced and symmetrical version of Georgian architecture that had been practiced in the American colonies new motifs of neoclassical architecture as it was epitomized in Britain by Robert Adam, who published his designs in 1792. The classicizing manner of constructions and town Sailors’ Snug Harbor, Minard Lafever. Tennessee State Capitol, William Wikimedia Commons Strickland. Wikimedia Commons 7

21006_BI.indd 7 25/6/14 12:46 pm Facts from The White House

Location: ...... 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Year: ...... First cornerstone laid in October Washington, D.C. USA of 1792. The full construction of Style : ...... Neoclassical Federal blended the building took place between with Irish Palladianism 1792 and 1800 when the fi rst Materials: ...... Aquia Sandstone residents moved in. Size : ...... 55,000 ft2 (5,110 m2)

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The front and rear porticos were added to the White House in 1824 and 1829 respectively, when Thomas Je≠ erson commissioned Benjamin Henry Latrobe to make architectural changes to the mansion (Latrobe had drawn up proposals that included porticos as early as 1807).

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In 1948, President Truman decided to add a balcony to the South Portico at the second- ﬂ oor level. A great deal of public objection was raised, but this time the president had the money to complete the project without relying on Congress, and the balcony was constructed according to plan.

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President Calvin Coolidge discovered how leaky the roof was during a rain storm and had the roof and attic replaced with a full third ﬂ oor using steel girders. Although this provided better accommodation, a combination of hasty restoration work and the new steel structure badly weakened the building over the next two decades. 65

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21006_BI.indd 70 07/07/2011 6:25 PM Renovating The White House

During this renovation the south portico was added. It is 1792-1800: Residence Construction rumored that following the fire, the house was painted 1801-1809: Thomas ffersonJe Enhancements white to help cover soot stains from the fire, and that it is 1814-1817: James Madison Reconstruction from this time that people began to refer to it as “The 1825-1865: Architectural Improvements & War White House”. 1866-1872: Post-War Renovation Between 1948 and 1952, The White1873-1901: House Victorian was Ornamentation extensively renovated. During this renovation the interior 1902-1904: Theodore Roosevelt Restoration of the house was gutted, new foundations were built and 1917 & 1927:Roof Expansions a steel framework was added to reinforce the building’s 1948-1952: Truman Reconstruction original sandstone walls. 1961-1963: Kennedy Renovation

Since the early 60s, each presidential administration has seen the White House as a kind of living museum, making changes to the decor and maintaining the building’s structure and exterior, but making very limited alterations to the architecture and layout. In the early 1990s, the White House exterior was extensively refurbished, with some 40 layers of paint removed and the sandstone exterior repaired and repainted. In 1993, the White House embarked on an extensive “greening” project to reduce energy consumption. National Park Service, Abbie National Park Service, Abbie Rowe, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Rowe, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library. Library. 71

21006_BI.indd 71 07/07/2011 6:25 PM A Word from the Artist

As an Architectural Artist my desire is to capture the essence Starting with the center section I focused on depressing of a particular architectural landmark in its pure sculptural the windows allowing shadows to develop. The last two form. I fi rst and foremost do not view my models as literal components that make up the form are the front portico and replicas, but rather my own artistic interpretations through the the back rotunda. Each of these design elements focuses use of LEGO® bricks as a medium. The LEGO brick is not your attention to the center of the house. This center also initially thought of as a material typically used in creating art or acts as a spine joining the two symmetrical wings. I used used as an artist’s medium. However, I quickly discovered the subtle details to recreate the columns, railings, and even the LEGO brick was lending itself as naturally to my applications hanging chandelier by letting the LEGO pieces themselves as paint to a painter or metal to a blacksmith. As I explore embrace your “postcard” imagination. The last feature I how to capture these buildings with the basic shapes of the decided was important to include, was a little hint of foliage. bricks and plates, I fi nd the possibilities and challenges they off er almost magical.

The White House My initial concern while designing this model was how to replicate the style without the model appearing to be an ordinary white shoebox. I layered the model by isolating the three major components of the building form. Then I reﬁ ned each one of those in its own way to emphasize or capture those highlights most often associated with The White House. – Adam Reed Tucker

21006_BI.indd 72 07/07/2011 6:25 PM “Architecture – a wonderful game”

This was the title, or rather a paraphrase of the French title (“L’architecture est un jeu … magnifique”) of a 1985 exhibition hosted by the Pompidou Centre in Paris, where 30 young European architects were given the opportunity to play with the famous Danish LEGO® bricks. The original idea was actually Dutch, Rotterdam’s Kunststichting arranging a small event the previous year where ten local architects were let loose on a large number of LEGO bricks. Such was the success of this first initiative that the Pompidou Centre decided to expand the idea to include 30 young aspiring architects from across Europe – their goal: to each draw an imaginary villa which would then, brick by brick, be built at LEGO HQ in Billund. During the event, many a quotation was made from the history of architecture. For example, the Italian Renaissance architect Palladio was quoted alongside by the 30 talents ended in weird and wonderful pseudo- modernists such as Mies van der Rohe and Gerit Rietveld, philosophical comments on opportunities, or rather the the quotes relating to architectural projects from oil lack of same in the Eighties, it was all nevertheless, a platforms to romantic ruins. It was a case of no holds wonderful game. barred and, even though some of the projects produced

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21006_BI.indd 74 07/07/2011 6:25 PM 14x 4216581 References 4x 4558953 4x 428226 2x 4211399 1x Text credits: Photo credits pages 19, 49 and 65: 379426 whitehousehistory.org Library of Congess, 6x 4211415 whitehousemuseum.org Prints & Photographs Division clinton4.nara.gov 1x 1x about.com 4515350 4211398 wikipedia.org dcpages.com 2x 1x 486526 4211414

1x 1x 3001140 4211356

10x 4521915 1x 4560183

Customer Service 8x 4245566 Kundenservice Service Consommateurs Servicio Al Consumidor 2x www.lego.com/service or dial 4243797

6x 00800 5346 5555 : 4549214 1-800-422-5346 : 75

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