Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0346Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of the White House. Above the image "16" is printed, below the image "23295 - The Official Home of the President - The White House, Washington, D. C." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company COPYRIGHTED Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Portland, Oregon, London, Eng., Sydeny, Aus." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
23295
THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON, D. C.
La. 39 (Degrees) N.; Long. 77 (Degrees) W.
This picture shows the north front of the home of the nation's Chief Executive. According to the original plans of Washington, the south front was intended to be the main one, but modern conditions have changed it. With the exception of the Captiol, this building is the oldest one in Washingto devoted to public uses. it was in March 1792 that the Commissioners of the District advertised for desings for the Capitol and the President's house. James Hoban offered the accepted plan. Washington himself chose the site and laid the conerstone. john Adams was the first president to make his home here in 1800. It was a grey house, then, built of Virginia freestone. When the British captured Washington in 1814nothing was left of the Executive Mansion but the blackend walls. When it was rebuilt, white paint was used to cover the marks of the fire, hence its name, "the White Hosue." However, it was not until Roosevelt became president that it was accorded this name official usage. While it does not equal the royal palaces of the old world in splendor, its simplicity marks it as a distinctive piece of architecture.
The grounds around the White House are of the same simplicity that characterizes the house itself. From the protico on the south front one can look across the garden tot he Washington Monument, the Potomac River, and the Virginia Hills. The house contains thirty-one rooms.
Copyright by the Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection