The White House

Introduction

The White House, located in the United States' capital Washington D. C., is not only the most famous mansion in the city, but also in the whole of the country, since it's here that the President of the United States lives. I would even go as far as to say that this is the most famous house in the world, as the United States is one of the most high-profile countries on Earth, and has clear power and influence over many other countries. The White House is visited by more than half a million people every year.

The History of the White House

The White House was built on the instruction of the first President of the United States, George Washington, who came up with the idea for the project and hosted an architectural competition for the design, won by the Irish architect James Hoban. The President who unveiled the building, however, was John Adams in 1800. The White House's address is Number 1600, Pennsylvania Avenue (an enormous avenue which it takes over an hour to walk down on foot) in northeast Washington D. C. Originally known as the Executive Mansion, the building's name was changed to the 'White House' during the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt at his own request.

President Adams wrote a letter to his wife Abigail during the first days of his presidency praising the house, and a century later, this phrase was carved onto the stone fireplace in the State Dining Room, also under the instruction of President Roosevelt. On November 2nd, 1800, Adams wrote to his wife: 'I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof. ' Despite this blessing, the house was set on fire by the British in 1814 during the Burning of Washington, where other important buildings such as the Capitol were also burned. It was later rebuilt and re-occupied in 1817.

Once again, it was President Roosevelt who lead the White House's first expansion project, since there had been complains about the lack of space. During his presidency, the west wing was constructed, and an east wing was added during the Truman presidency, completing the building we know and recognise today.

The mansion

Thanks to my new life in Washington D. C., I'm now living with someone who knows the White House well, and therefore can share some interesting information about it with you. I've still not been able to visit the inside of the White House, and I don't have any contacts inside it, either.

The White House is the workplace of the President and their workforce as well as a home. Working in the same place all the time has to be quite monotonous, made worse by the fact that the house is so enormous and only a temporary residence: the President of the United States cannot be elected for more than two consecutive terms of office (a maximum of eight years in total).

It's not just the house itself which has such an easy name: many other rooms inside it are named after the colour of their furniture or their walls, such as the Green Room, the Red Room and the Blue Room.

The grandest of all the rooms and halls are the State Dining Room, which can accommodate up to 140 people, and the Oval Office, the President of the United States's official office.

In addition to halls and bedrooms, the White House features very valuable furniture and decoration, much of which was added during the Kennedy presidency, during which First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy undertook the lengthiest and most expensive redecoration of the mansion in its history, and received priceless presents from rich patrons for this purpose.

Another interesting fact that not everyone knows is that the White House has its own postal code, 20, 500. It really tickled me when I got told this!

In terms of the outside facades, there are two, and it's unclear which is the most famous. For example, in my opinion, the best known facade is the rear one overlooking the National Mall, whereas other people I've spoken to say that they consider the main facade to be the best-known one. The main facade disappointed me a little though, since it just looks like a real house - which of course it is, but this is the White House we're talking about here. You can get up close to this facade though and get a full view of it, while the bars around the rear facade are further away, so you have to admire the house at a distance.

The outside rear or south facade consists of a semicircular construct with some columns in its centre, and a wing at either side. This is my favourite part of the building because it really reflects the importance and luxuriousness of the place. You can also see a large green area from here, which is the back gardens of the mansion with a large fountain in the centre. There are always people there taking photos of the house or just taking a look at it, so don't expect to have much space for taking photos of your own or of yourself with the house in the background.

The main facade, on the other hand, features a central large triangular gabled roof with four columns supporting it. On either side, there is a rectangular wing with eight windows on each side (the house appears to have two floors).

As you can see from the photos, I was lucky enough to see the house looking whiter than it usually does, surrounded by frost. The gardens are very beautiful in the spring and summertime, but this is a sight which I'll always remember, as not everyone is lucky enough to see it like this.

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building

I'm mentioning this building to you not just because of its function, but also because of its attractive and impressive design. I stumbled across this building by accident while walking from the back to the front of the White House; it's to the west of the Presidential house.

This building is an executive headquarters where many White House workers have their offices. It also houses the Executive Offices of the President and Vice President.

Considered a National Historical Monument, as you can see from the photos, the building is quite large and features several columns and reliefs on its exterior facade. I think it's my favourite building in the city, since it's different, extravagant and somehow elegant all at the same time.

Opening hours, prices and top tips

The opening hours of the White House aren't very average and aren't really opening hours at all, since if you want to go inside you have to book a tour months in advance. If you're planning on visiting in the wintertime, booking your tour a month in advance should be enough, but if you're visiting in high season, e. g. spring or summertime, then you'll need to book your tour more than six months in advance. The general opening hours are from Tuesday to Saturday from 7. 30am to 12. 30pm, and the opening hours for the Visitors Centre are 7. 30am to 4pm. The outside of the White House can be visited at any time of day without reservation.

It's important that you bear these facts in mind when visiting, since a lot of people visit the capital just for a day and expect to be able to visit the house. I almost made the same mistake when I was in New York, as I was thinking about catching a bus to Washington D. C. for a day, and of course, the only thing I knew about and wanted to visit there was the White House. Good job I didn't make the journey then!

Another thing my acquaintance who works in the White House told me is that just going on a tour of the White House does not necessarily means you'll get to see the US President. It's actually very difficult to get to see them, but if you do, get in there first to greet them since the opportunity to present yourself will be very brief before they're besieged by the rest of the visitors and then leave.

Tours have to be reserved through members of Congress or Senate representatives (so I'm not really sure how you would go about booking one if you don't live in the United States), and the White House reserves the right to cancel these tours very last minute if need be. From this, you can see that getting into the White House is no mean feat. You have to give them your name, date of birth, Social Security Number, and from what I've seen they're beginning to give people DNA tests now too - though it's logical that the US President is given maximum security.

The visit lasts less than half an hour, but at the very least, it's entirely free. This is quite a normal occurrence in Washington D. C., since the majority of the museums and monuments are also free to visit. Some of the best museums I've been to in my life are in Washington D. C., and just because they are free to enter doesn't mean that they aren't interesting to visit.

When you enter, you have to pass through a metal detector and show your photo ID card. The queue and security search takes another twenty minutes, so build in at least an hour on top of the tour time if you plan to visit the inside of the White House.

I forgot to mention that it's also very common to see journalists outside the White House and people protesting. I even saw an old lady protesting. On the day I visited, the police told us to move further away from the barriers: I'm not really sure why, but there seemed to be a lot of activity outside in front of the main facade. There was also a bomb threat that day because a food cart had exploded in the vicinity and the loud noise had alarmed the President's security team. It was just like something out of a film!

Speaking of the cinema, you've surely seen this building before in films. It'll look familiar to you when you see it in person since, as well as having been photographed and published in thousands of newspapers and on the news, it's also been used in films and series (though I think they only used the outside walls or a replica of them). Some examples are the films 'Independence Day' and '2012', plus the series 'House of Cards', among many others.

How to get there

To get to this famous house, the best thing to do is to use public transport if you're not best friends with the President and can't fly there in his famous helicopter. There aren't many parking spaces in the area, so taking the car isn't a good idea. There are several stops near to the White House: Federal Triangle, McPherson Square and Farragut West on the orange, silver and blue lines.

If you're in the National Mall, go to one end - the White House is near to the Washington Monument, on the right hand side when looking in the direction of the Lincoln Monument.

I hope you get to see Obama on your visit to the White House!