Why is the White House white
The White House is under the scrutiny of world factions all the time, because of the momentous role it has to play in the politics of United States, which in turn, directly impacts the political interests of the rest of the world. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the White House is the official living place of the President of United States.
Its name is rather suggestive of the fact that white makes a good part of its architectural make up. Irish born designer James Hoban is the man behind the original structure of what was then known as the President’s House. The major construction activity of the White House occurred in the later half of the last decade of the eighteenth century. White-painted Aquia sandstone and the undercurrents of Neoclassical architecture were the driving forces behind the eventual outlook of the White House. President John Adams was the first honorary inhabitant of the White House in the year 1800. Catastrophe struck the building in 1814 when the British forces set the building on fire. This was a jolt to the national integrity of the United States. Immediate attempts to re-establish the building in all its grandeur followed the scathing attack. White color was used to conceal the burn stains. Some strongly suggest that this is what laid the base for the nomenclature of the President’s House as White House. However, it is quite natural for the reader to point to the fact that such a name could have been coined earlier also, because of the white painted stonework. Expansion and addition of many different specialized wings to the building continued well into the 1920s, but white always remained the most noticeable feature of the building all the while.
In all likelihood, there was always the phrase ‘White House’ associated with the building, and it was only a matter of time before this was endorsed as the official name. This happened in 1901 with the decree of Theodore Roosevelt as U.S. President. Today, White House is the name by which the United States’ President’s residence is known to the world, and it shall continue this way. The name is like a shade of glory to the proud American political history.