#White house layout free#

With Latrobe's plans, Hoban oversaw the building of the graceful south portico in 1824 and the Greek Revival design of the north portico in 1829. He set to work completing the Capitol, the presidential home and other buildings in Washington, D.C. Appointed by Thomas Jefferson, designer and draftsman Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820) became 'Surveyor of the Public Buildings' of the United States. Although the building was often called the 'White House,' the name did not become official until 1902, when President Theodore Roosevelt adopted it. James Hoban was brought in to rebuild it according to the original design, but this time the sandstone walls were coated with lime-based whitewash.

The White House, along with the partially built Capitol, was destroyed in 1814. The War of 1812 brought invading British armies who set the house afire. Only thirteen years after the Presidents' House was habitable, disaster struck. The stately rounded portico (left side of this illustration) on the south side was originally designed with steps, but they were eliminated. The porticoes on the north and south facades were added by another White House architect, the British-born Benjamin Henry Latrobe. Over the years, the initial modest architecture became more stately. The Presidential palace was a stately but simple home made of pale gray sandstone. Costing $232,372, the house was considerably smaller than the grand palace L'Enfant had envisioned. In 1800, when the home was almost finished, America's second president, John Adams and his wife Abigail moved in. President Washington oversaw the construction, although he never got to live in the presidential house.

#White house layout free#

Most of the labor was done by African Americans, some free and some enslaved.

Washington liked the design, so on October 13, 1792, the cornerstone was laid for the President's House in the new capital. Hoban had tried out a neoclassical design in Charleston, South Carolina, as he was finishing up the 1792 Charleston County Courthouse. Image LC-USZC4-1495 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division (cropped) Proposed East Facade of the President's House by B. Like many home builders even today, the plans were downsized from three floors to two - local stone would have to be allotted to other government buildings. Hoban's 1793 elevation drawing showed a neoclassical facade very similar to the mansion in Ireland. Many historians believe that James Hoban based his design on the Leinster House, a grand Irish home in Dublin. It would have three floors and more than 100 rooms.

The 'White House' proposed by Hoban was a refined Georgian mansion in the Palladian style. Eight other architects also submitted designs, but Hoban won the competition - perhaps the first instance of the presidential power of executive preference. Capitol building by a grand avenue.Īt George Washington's suggestion, Irish-born architect James Hoban (1758-1831) traveled to the federal capital and submitted a plan for the presidential home. Working with George Washington to design a capital city for the new nation, L'Enfant envisioned a majestic home approximately four times the size of the present White House. Originally, plans for a 'President's Palace' were developed by the French-born artist and engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant.