Friday, October 26, 2007

White House
See also: Executive Office of the President of the United States
The White House is the official home and principal workplace of the President of the United States of America. The house is built of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. As the office of the United States President, the term "White House" is used as a metonym for a United States president's administration, the Executive Office of the President. The property is owned by the National Park Service and is part of the President's Park.


The young republic's new capital city was sited on land ceded by two states—Virginia and Maryland—which both transferred ownership of the land to the federal government in response to a compromise with President Washington. The D.C. commissioners were charged by Congress with building the new city under the direction of the President. The architect of the White House was chosen in a competition, which received nine proposals, including one submitted anonymously by Thomas Jefferson.
The White House maintains a comments line to register voice opinions on the phone number 202-456-1111.

The official White House website is http://www.whitehouse.gov/. It was established on October 17, 1994, during President Clinton's administration. The two versions of the White House website used by the Clinton administration have been archived by the National Archives and Records Administration. Both are maintained in an active form, with active links. The first White House site can be found at http://clinton1.nara.gov/, and the second at http://clinton2.nara.gov/. They are among the earliest examples of historic preservation of digital media.
The website whitehouse.com was an adult and political entertainment website that first came online in 1997. Now marketed as "your source for up-to-date information to help you keep track of the major party candidates for President."
The website whitehouse.org should not be mistaken as the official White House website as it is a parody of U.S. President George W. Bush and his family, friends and administration.

Under president Harry S. Truman, who oversaw a major renovation of the house, several U.S. State Department embassies and consular facilities were modeled on the White House. A 1:25 scale model at Minimundus at Klagenfurt in Carinthia, Austria, is extremely accurate, including the East and West Colonnades and the East and West Wings. In Atlanta, Georgia, a nearly full-scale model exists. The exterior is less accurate. It is owned by Atlanta home builder Fred Milani, an American citizen born in Iran. In 2001 a Chinese businessman built a model of cast concrete. The Chinese model is nearly exact in exterior dimensions but departs from the original in details, such the pitch of the portico modeled on the North Portico. It also lacks the carved details in the window hoods and above doorways. The interior of the Chinese copy has a fanciful floor plan placing the Oval Office in the central residence, where the Blue Room would be on the State Floor of the White House. In front of the replica stands a miniature Washington Monument. It also has a one-third-size Mount Rushmore with employees' quarters located in the back.
An exacting scale model of the White House built by John and Jan Zweifel has traveled across many of the United States on exhibition.




Category:Rooms in the White House
White House Historical Association
White House History
Committee for the Preservation of the White House
White House Office of the Curator
White House Executive Residence
Chief Usher of the White House
State Arrival Ceremony
White House Endowment Trust
White House Acquisition Trust
Western White House
Number One Observatory Circle, the residence of the Vice President.
White House Communications Agency
White House Situation Room
White House Fellows
List of U.S. Presidential residences
Official residence
Abbott, James A. A Frenchman in Camelot: The Decoration of the Kennedy White House by Stéphane Boudin. Boscobel Restoration Inc.: 1995. ISBN 0-9646659-0-5.
Abbott James A., and Elaine M. Rice. Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration. Van Nostrand Reinhold: 1998. ISBN 0-442-02532-7.
Abbott, James A. Jansen. Acanthus Press: 2006. ISBN 0-926494-33-3.
Clinton, Hillary Rodham. An Invitation to the White House: At Home with History. Simon & Schuster: 2000. ISBN 0-684-85799-5.
Garrett, Wendell. Our Changing White House. Northeastern University Press: 1995. ISBN 1-55553-222-5.
Kenny, Peter M., Frances F. Bretter and Ulrich Leben. Honoré Lannuier Cabinetmaker from Paris: The Life and Work of French Ébiniste in Federal New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and Harry Abrams: 1998. ISBN 0-87099-836-6.
Leish, Kenneth. The White House. Newsweek Book Division: 1972. ISBN 0-88225-020-5.
McKellar, Kenneth, Douglas W. Orr, Edward Martin, et al. Report of the Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion. Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion, Government Printing Office: 1952.
Monkman, Betty C. The White House: The Historic Furnishing & First Families. Abbeville Press: 2000. ISBN 0-7892-0624-2.
Penaud, Guy Dictionnaire des châteaux du Périgord. Editions Sud-Ouest: 1996. ISBN 2-87901-221-X.
Seale, William. The President's House. White House Historical Association and the National Geographic Society: 1986. ISBN 0-912308-28-1.
Seale, William, The White House: The History of an American Idea. White House Historical Association: 1992, 2001. ISBN 0-912308-85-0.
West, J.B. with Mary Lynn Kotz. Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan: 1973. SBN 698-10546-X.
Wolff, Perry. A Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy. Doubleday & Company: 1962.
Exhibition Catalogue, Sale 6834: The Estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis April 23-26, 1996. Sothebys, Inc.: 1996.
The White House: An Historic Guide. White House Historical Association and the National Geographic Society: 2001. ISBN 0-912308-79-6.
The White House. The First Two Hundred Years, ed. by Frank Freidel/William Pencak, Boston 1994.
Official White House website
National Park Service website for the President's Park
The White House Museum, a detailed online tour of the White House
The White House Historical Association, with historical photos, online tours and exhibits, timelines, and facts
Twentieth Century American Sculpture at the White House, including artists Nancy Graves, Allan McCollum, and Tom Otterness
Maps and aerial photos for 38°53′52″N 77°02′12″W / 38.89767, -77.03655Coordinates: 38°53′52″N 77°02′12″W / 38.89767, -77.03655

  • Maps from WikiMapia, Google Maps, Live Search Maps, Yahoo! Maps, or MapQuest
    Topographic maps from TopoZone or TerraServer-USA
    A time magazine report about the Chinese replica