Executive Residence
The Executive Residence is the central and most recognizable part of the White House complex, being the actual "house" part of the White House. This central building is home to the president of the United States and the first family. The Executive Residence was first constructed from 1792 to 1800. It primarily occupies four floors: the ground floor, the state floor, the second floor, and the third floor. The third floor was created in 1927 from attic space. A sub-basement with a mezzanine, created during the 1948–1952 Truman Reconstruction, is used for HVAC and mechanical systems, storage, and service areas.
Sub-basement and sub-basement mezzanine
This level was added during the 1948–1952 renovation, and contains the air conditioning and water softening equipment. The sub-basement and mezzanine also contain storage areas, the heating system, elevator machinery rooms, an incinerator, a medical clinic, a dentist's office, the electrical control system, a laundry room, and flatware and dishware storage.Ground floor
Original kitchen and ancillary spaces
The ground floor of the White House originally contained service rooms. The White House is built on a small slight hill that slopes to the south. To provide access to the north side of the ground floor, the area around the north side of the mansion and its northeast and northwest corners was excavated to provide light and air to this half of the ground floor. Architect James Hoban designed the ground floor so that the kitchen was directly beneath the Entrance Hall, the door to the kitchen below the North Portico. Storerooms were east of the kitchen, while a toilet and dishwashing room were to the west. The kitchen was relocated into the two rooms in the northwest corner of the ground floor by 1846, while the old kitchen space was transformed into an informal sitting room/reception space. As of 2010, this large central space, originally occupied by the kitchen in the early 1800s, had been subdivided into offices for the White House curator and the United States Secret Service. The kitchen, too, continues to occupy the three rooms, somewhat altered in size now, in the northwest corner of the ground floor.The storeroom to the east of the kitchen became a pantry in 1809, a meat locker in 1825, and then a flight of stairs leading to the state floor by 1946. This area remains largely unchanged as of 2010, with the exception of the narrowing of the stairs in 1952 to create an elevator shaft.
Library and ancillary spaces
The storeroom in the northeast corner of the ground floor remained in use as storage space only until 1809, when it became a laundry. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt hired the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White to renovate the White House. They turned the room into a "gentleman's anteroom". This room became the White House Library in 1935. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy radically transformed the room in 1961. Kennedy consulted initially with a group consisting of members of the United States Commission of Fine Arts, designers from the American Institute of Interior Designers, and historians. The AIID agreed to take on the job of refurbishing the room, and Kennedy worked with decorator Jeanette Becker Lenygon of the AIID on the project. Lenygon designed an early American library room in the Federal style. Except for minor decorative changes, the White House Library remains the same as of 2010.The toilet and laundry room west of the kitchen became general-use work areas by 1809, and a pantry, small kitchen, and cook's office by 1825. By 1946, these had become general workrooms, with a narrow, winding staircase inserted into the room closest to the former kitchen. The 1952 renovation turned the winding staircase into a steep, straight stairs and added an elevator in this space. As of 2010, a pantry-sized refrigerator also occupied a portion of this space.
Diplomatic Reception Room
The oval space beneath what is now the Blue Room was originally a Servants' Hall, but was turned into a furnace room in 1837. During the White House's 1902 renovation, the room was turned into a sitting room. President Franklin D. Roosevelt used it for his "fireside chat" radio broadcasts in the 1930s. Rebuilt during the 1948-to-1952 renovation, the room became the Diplomatic Reception Room. It was only sparsely furnished until First Lady Mamie Eisenhower received a large donation of museum-quality antique furniture from the National Society of Interior Designers in 1960. Except for decorative updating, it remains unchanged as of 2010.Map Room
West of the Servants' Hall, the ground floor originally contained a small bedroom and, in the two westernmost rooms, a Steward's Office. The smaller, westernmost of the two rooms in the Steward's Office became the White House vault. By 1825, the Housekeeper's Office had moved into the easternmost room of the Steward's Office. The Steward's Office and vault became general workrooms by 1946, but the 1902 renovation had turned the Housekeeper's Office into a ladies' powder room. Less than a decade later, President Woodrow Wilson turned it into a billiards room. At the outbreak of World War II in December 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt removed the billiards table and turned the room into a place where he could keep track of the war's progress on a wide range of maps and store top-secret communications with world leaders. The Map Room was heavily guarded, as highly secret U.S. and allied military information was constantly updated on the maps kept in this room. In the early 1960s, the Map Room was transformed into a ladies' powder room again by Jacqueline Kennedy, and portraits of first ladies were hung there. The Map Room continued to retain its name, but in 1970 was decorated in the Chippendale style and turned into a reception room. It retained its name and function as of 2010. A small medical clinic and the office of the White House physician occupy the three rooms to the west of the Map Room as of 2010.China Room and Vermeil Room
East of the original Servants' Hall was the Housekeeper's Office, and then a room for general work. The Housekeeper's Office was turned into general workspace in 1809, while the bedroom became a general-use servants' room. All rooms east of the oval Servant's Hall were turned into staff bedrooms by 1825. In 1837, President Martin Van Buren made the bedroom that would become the China Room into quarters for a stoker, whose job was to keep the White House furnace fueled 24 hours a day, seven days a week. First Lady Edith Wilson turned this room into the China Room in 1917 to display the Executive Residence's growing collection of White House china. Just east of the China Room, the 1902 renovation turned the staff bedroom into a sitting room known as the Social Room. It was briefly renamed the Billiard Room after the 1952 restoration, but became the Vermeil Room in 1957 after mining heiress Margaret Thompson Biddle bequeathed 1,575 pieces of vermeil silverware to the White House. It remained little changed as of 2010.North Lawn extension
During the 1948-to-1952 reconstruction of the White House, additional White House workspace was excavated under the North Lawn. Storage space had first been excavated here in the 1930s, but was greatly expanded and enhanced during the Truman renovation. The Trumans included a bowling alley in this space as well. President Dwight Eisenhower had the bowling alley moved to the Executive Office Building west of the White House, but President Richard Nixon had it restored to its original spot in 1969. As of 2010, this space continues to house the bowling alley, as well as the White House chocolatier, the office and workspace of the White House chief floral designer, a cold storage room for flowers and other perishable items, a carpentry shop, and general workrooms.State floor
The state floor was unfinished when President John Adams moved into the White House on November 1, 1800. Work continued through the four remaining months of his presidency and into the first term of Thomas Jefferson to make the Executive Residence habitable. There were no floors in the East Room, the Blue Room, or the western third of the Cross Hall. There was also no grand staircase east of the Entrance Hall, and the only way to access the second floor was via temporary stairs on the exterior of the building which led up to the top of the South Portico.Entrance Hall and Grand Staircase
Until the North Portico was completed in 1829, providing access from the North Lawn and carriageway, the Entrance Hall was used as space to exhibit items brought back by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. A glass screen was placed between the columns along the Entrance Hall's south side in 1837 to reduce the hall's draftiness, effectively reducing its apparent size. A more elaborate iron frame was added to the partition in 1853. The ordinary glass and frame were replaced by a red, white, and blue colored glass screen designed by Tiffany & Co. in 1882. The Tiffany screen was removed in the 1902 renovation.The area that now contains the Grand Staircase originally contained a much smaller, unadorned staircase to the second floor. The Grand Staircase was moved into this area during the 1902 renovation.
East Room
Although architect James Hoban included space for the East Room in his 1792 plans for the White House, it was unclear what purpose the room should fulfill. The room's floor was finished after President John Adams moved in, but the walls remained bare brick and First Lady Abigail Adams famously hung her laundry to dry in it.Thomas Jefferson furnished the room with some chairs during his administration, and had the room partitioned and the southern end used for a bedroom and office for Meriwether Lewis and Lewis Harvie. But it wasn't until 1807 that architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe gave the East Room its function as a site for public audiences and large social events.
Rebuilt after the burning of the White House in 1814, its walls remained bare brick and it was used as storage space. President James Monroe's daughter was married in the East Room, at which time it was temporarily furnished, but it was not until the administration of John Quincy Adams that its walls were plastered and painted. The East Room was finally completed in 1829 under President Andrew Jackson. Major redecorations have occurred, but the room continues to serve its function as a site for large social events.