XIV Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2022

The White House is the official office and residence of the president of the United States of America. Many years ago it was known as the Presidential Palace or the Executive Mansion

It is situated in Washington, D.C. at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, facing Lafayette Square. The White House was built from 1792 to 1800, at the time when Washington D.C. itself was being built. Originally the house was grey, but after the reconstruction it became white. The building has quite simple but graceful looks. The White House with its landscapes occupies about 18 acres of land

The only president who didn’t reside here was George Washington (1789-1797) – the first president of the country. He lived in New York and Philadelphian residences. However, it was him who chose the place for the new city. Together with a French engineer Pierre L’Enfant they created Washington, D.C. L’Enfant planned the city and the Presidents’ Palace was an important part of this plan. The design of the building was created by an architect James Hoban

The first person who lived in White House was John Adams – the second president of the United States. He lived there with his wife Mrs. Adams, who didn’t really like her new house. It was always cold there and even fifty fireplaces couldn’t warm the three-storey mansion. In 1814 many buildings in the USA were burned by British invaders and the White House was among them. Thus, James Hoban had to rebuild the president’s house.

Today, the White House is one of the most popular places for tourists in the United States. Only five rooms are open to public and every year more than a million people go through them.

The mansion quickly became a focal point of the new federal city and was symbolically linked to the United States Capitol by way of Pennsylvania Avenue. Following his inauguration in March 1801, Jefferson became the second president to reside in the executive mansion. In keeping with his ardent republicanism, he opened the house to public visitation each morning, a tradition that was continued (during peacetime) by all his successors. He personally drew up landscaping plans and had two earthen mounds installed on the south lawn to remind him of his beloved Virginia Piedmont. Meanwhile, construction continued on the building’s interior, which still lacked ample staircases and suffered from a persistently leaky roof. During Jefferson’s tenure, the White House was elegantly furnished in Louis XVI style (known in America as Federal style)

The inauguration of Andrew Jackson (1829–37), the “people’s president,” attracted thousands of well-wishers to the nation’s capital. As Jackson rode on horseback down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, he was surrounded by a frenetic throng of 20,000 people, many of whom attempted to follow him into the mansion to get a better look at their hero. A contemporary, Margaret Bayer Smith, recounts what happened next: “The halls were filled with a disorderly rabble…scrambling for the refreshments designed for the drawing room.” While friends of the new president joined arms to protect him from the mob, “china and glass to the amount of several thousand dollars were broken in the struggle to get at the ices and cakes, though punch and other drinkables had been carried out in tubs and buckets to the people.” Said Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, “I was glad to escape from the scene as soon as possible.” During his administration Jackson spent more than $50,000 refurbishing the residence, including $10,000 on decorations for the East Room and more than $4,000 on a sterling silver dinner and dessert set decorated with an American eagle.

In 1842 the visit to the United States of the English novelist Charles Dickens brought an official invitation to the White House. After his calls at the White House door went unanswered, Dickens let himself in and walked through the mansion from room to room on the lower and upper floors. Finally coming upon a room filled with nearly two dozen people, he was shocked and appalled to see many of them spitting on the carpet. Dickens later wrote, “I take it for granted the Presidential housemaids have high wages.” Until the Civil War, however, most White House servants were enslaved people. Moreover, the wages of all White House employees—as well as the expenses for running the White House, including staging official functions—were paid for by the president. Not until 1909 did Congress provide appropriations to pay White House servants.

Dickens was not the only foreign visitor to be disappointed with the White House. On a trip to Washington just before the Civil War, Aleksandr Borisovich Lakier, a Russian nobleman, wrote that “the home of the president…is barely visible behind the trees.” The White House, he said, was “sufficient for a private family and not at all conforming to the expectations of a European.” Subsequent changes to the building in the 19-th century were relatively minor. The interior was redecorated during various presidential administrations and modern conveniences were regularly added, including a refrigerator in 1845, gas lighting in 1849, and electric lighting in 1891.

The White House was the scene of mourning after the assassination of Pres. Abraham Lincoln (1861–65). While Mary Todd Lincoln lay in her room for five weeks grieving for her husband, many White House holdings were looted. Responding to charges that she had stolen government property when she left the White House, she angrily inventoried all the items she had taken with her, including gifts of quilts and waxworks from well-wishers.

List of literature:

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https://www.sochinyashka.ru/referaty/english/the-white-house.html

https://americausa.ru/zhizn-v-scha/belyj-dom-v-ssha-odna-iz-glavnyx-dostoprimechatelnostej-ameriki.html

http://engmaster.ru/topic/3180

https://bazara0.com/belogo-doma-v-ssha-istoriya-sxema-interesnye-fakty.html