13 октября 1792 года начали строить Белый дом

Its temporary residents characterized the presidential palace in different ways: Abraham Lincoln called it cursed and old, Jacqueline Kennedy found it cold and dark, while William Howard Taft considered it the loneliest place in the world. The first American President, George Washington, requested to build a house for the first person of the United States. On October 13, 1792, architect James Hoban started its construction. They were erecting it fast, but Washington did not wait until construction completion. Other residents moved into the new house. They were President John Adams and his wife Abigail. The First Lady used to complain about its cold, dampness and imperfections. She used to dry clothes in what we now know as the East Room. Now the building located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. is called the White House. During the War of 1814, the mansion burned, and then it was painted white during its restoration. Ninety years later, Theodore Roosevelt requested that the familiar name “White House” be considered official. It remained the largest building in the country till the American Civil War. Together with the presidents, the White House was inhabited by their favorites: cats, dogs, guinea pigs. The record holder is Theodore Roosevelt: during his presidency, apart from him, his six children and dogs, the White House was inhabited by a bear, a lizard, a badger, a macaw parrot, a pig, a chicken, a rooster, an owl, a rat, a hyena, a pony, and several snakes. Today, after all construction and finishing operations, the White House comprises 132 rooms of a various size, including the famous Oval Office – the workplace of the current President of the United States. It is surrounded by an area of 18 acres or, according to our system, 7.3 hectares with the Rose Garden under the windows of the Oval Office and a lawn meant for helicopter landing and open-air ceremonies. Besides, today one can read the words from the letter of its first owner on a fireplace in the dining room: “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.”