The White House Is the Official Residence of the President of the United States

WashingtonD.C. Places of interest.

The White House is the official residence of the President of the United States. It is located on a site near the Mall chosen in 1790 by president George Washington and Pierre l'Enfant, the architect who created the master plan for the new capital. Meanwhile the president resided in the President's House at the temporary capital Philadelphia.A competition held for the design of the new President's House received nine entries. The winner was James Hoban, an architect of Irish descent. His neo-classical design is presumably based on the Leinster House in Dublin.Construction started in 1792 and in 1800, when the building was almost completed, president John Adams moved in. Ever since, each President of the United States has lived in the White House. In 1814, British troops invaded the defenseless city and torched several buildings, including the Capitol, the Treasury, the War Department and the White House. President Madison decided to rebuild the public buildings. James Hoban rebuilt the White House, of which only the outer walls were still standing, according to the original plans.Most people seem to think the building was first painted white after it was rebuilt in 1817, but already in 1798 it was made white by a protective lime-based whitewash. It wasn't named White House from the beginning though: it was originally named the 'President's Palace', 'President's House' or 'ExecutiveMansion'. It was soon nicknamed 'White House' and in 1901 president Theodore Roosevelt made it the official name.The White House has been extended and modified many times. The most important extensions were the addition of the East Wing and the West Wing. The latter contains the famous 'Oval Office', the president's main office. The room was modeled on the 'Blue Room', an oval room at the center of the White House. The building contains a total of 132 rooms, some of them can be visited on a tour, including the Green Room, Blue Room, Red Room and State Dining Room. The garden around the White House was first planted by John Adams. It was later redesigned by many presidents and first ladies. The most famous part of the garden was added in 1913 by Ellen Wilson, wife of president Woodrow Wilson. She created a Rose Garden, which would later be redesigned and used as a venue for official ceremonies by president Kennedy. It is located just outside the Oval Office.Thomas Jefferson was the first president to allow public tours of the White House in 1805. Since September 11, 2001 they have been suspended but US residents can arrange group tours of 10 or more people through their member of Congress.

The US Capitol houses the legislative branch of the American government. The Senate occupies the building's north wing and the House of representatives is housed in the south wing. The Capitol is located on top of a hill, now known as the capitol hill, on the east side of the National Mall.Construction of the Capitol started in 1793, two years after an area ceded by Maryland was selected as the District of Columbia, site of the new capital. The original design was created by Dr. William Thornton, a Scottish physician. His design called for a domed building flanked by a southern and northern wing. The construction of the sandstone building was supervised by James Hoban, the architect of the White House. He would be followed by many more architects over the next 200 years. Construction progressed slowly and in 1800 Congress met in the new - unfinished - Capitol for the first time. Until then they had met in eight different cities, the last one being Philadelphia. In 1814, when construction was still going on, the Capitol was set on fire by British troops. A rainstorm prevented the complete destruction of the building and construction resumed the next year. The building was finally completed in 1826 by Charles Bulfinch, a Boston architect known for his design of the Massachusetts State House.The addition of new states soon made the Capitol too small for the increasing number of senators and representatives. In 1851 the Capitol was extended after a design by the Philadelphia architect Thomas U. Walter. He added new wings and used marble instead of the already deteriorating sandstone for the extensions. The existing dome had become too small in comparison to the wings and in 1856 the dome was removed. A new, large cast-iron dome was constructed. In 1863 the bronze 'statue of freedom' was installed on top of the majestic dome.The Capitol continued to be modified and extended. In 1881 construction of the terraces started. Designed by the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead - also known for his design of Central Park in New York City - the terraces added more than 100 rooms to the already large building.The next major expansion of the building was the east front extension constructed between 1958 and 1962 under the supervision of architect J. George Stewart. During the second half of the 20th century several renovation projects were undertaken, the last one was completed in 1993.Despite the large number of architects and modifications, the US Capitol's architecture is surprisingly homogenous.The neo-classical building's size is impressive: it is 751ft/229m long and 350ft/107m wide. The dome including the 19ft tall statue reaches a height of 188ft or 57m. The building contains some 540 rooms spread out over five floors. Some of the most notable of these rooms are the rotunda, a large domed room in the center of the capitol and the National Statuary Hall, where statues of prominent citizens are displayed. Self-guided tours to the US Capitol are not allowed anymore, but you can still take a free guided tour.

The WashingtonMonument is a 555ft/169m tall obelisk built between 1848 and 1884 in honor of the first President of the United States, George Washington. It is the tallest free standing masonry structure in the world.As early as 1783, when George Washington was still alive, plans by Pierre Charles l'Enfant for an equestrian statue of Washington were approved by Congress. The plan was never realized so in 1833, at the 100th anniversary of George Washington's birth, the Washington National Monument Society was created by James Madison and John Marshall. The purpose of the Society was to create a memorial for George Washington.The Society tried to collect funds for the monument, and in 1836 they held a competition for designs. The winning architect Robert Mills had already created a monument to Washington in Baltimore. He won the competition with a design which called for a topped-off 600ft obelisk surrounded by a circular, 100ft tall colonnade.The Society had only collected a fraction of the estimated cost of 1 million dollar so they decided to start construction of the obelisk. The colonnadewould be built later.
Finally on the Fourth of July 1848, the cornerstone was laid. The Monument was built on top of a hill on a 37acre site donated by Congress.During construction, the Society invited states and private organizations to donate stones that could be used for the construction of the WashingtonMonument. Problems arose when a stone was donated by Pope Pius IX. An anti-catholic American party, the Know-Nothings, stole the stone and took over control of the Washington National Monument Society. Congress, which was to donate $200,000 for the construction refused to fund the politicized Society. Public support for the monument started to dwindle and the Know Nothings were unable to collect money to finish the obelisk. They returned the control of the project back in 1858 to the original supporters of the Society but due to the Civil War, construction of the monument was halted. Only 152 ft was completed.In 1876, at the centennial of the Declaration of Independence, Congress approved a contribution of $200,000. The design of the monument was simplified: it was decided the colonnade would not be built and the obelisk would keep the proportions of a standard Egyptian obelisk. In 1879 construction resumed under the supervision of Lt. Colonel Thomas L. Casey. and four years later the monument was completed. The rather flat top was changed into a pyramidal one. The tip of the pyramid top was made in aluminum, at the time a rare and precious metal.

The point at which construction was halted in 1858 is still visible as a different quarry was used after the resumption of the works. The stones above 152ft have a darker tone of color than the original ones.The monument was finally dedicated on February 21, 1885. It opened to the public more than 3 years later, in October 1888. The WashingtonMonument is located at the National Mall. It is surrounded by flagpoles, with each flag representing one state. From the observatory, you have a fantastic view over all of Washington. Admission is free, but you have to reserve a ticket.

The Union Station is the main Railway Station in Washington. It was constructed between 1907 and 1908 as the new terminal for the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pennsylvania Railroads. The terminal would be the main gateway to the capital of the United States for more than 40 years.The Chicago architect Daniel Burnham designed a beautiful grand building in the Beaux-Arts style, a neoclassicist style popular since the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. An impressive 182m long, the building was the largest train station in the world. The central archway, based on the Arch of Constantine in Rome leads to the main hall with a 29m/96ft high barrel-vaulted ceiling. The coffered ceiling was decorated with gold leaf. Other expensive materials were used such as marble and granite, resulting in a then enormous cost of $125 million.

In its heyday the Union Station was the main transportation hub of Washington, servicing more than 100,000 passengers on a single day. The station even had a Presidential suite, first used by president Taft in 1909. The last of the 17 presidents using the suite was President Eisenhower. In the 1950s, when air travel became more and more popular, the number of passengers started to decline and the railway station had become too large. An attempt in the 1970s to turn it into a visitors center failed. By that time, the state of the building had deteriorated to such an extent that parts of the roof started to cave in. Congress and the Railroad authorities debated whether the Union Station would be demolished or renovated. Fortunately, in 1981 a joint public and private venture was set up to restore the building.The Union Station finally reopened in 1988. Besides serving as a train station it has become a popular place for shopping and eating with a large food court and more than 100 shops. The Washington Union Station is located on Capitol Hill, not far from the US Capitol and US Supreme Court.