Summary
- President
Truman discovered piano leg broke through sitting room floor. - Building
found unsafe; floor beams rotted and ceilings sunk. - Family
relocated within White House before full evacuation started.
In a letter to his daughter, the president quipped that if
he had gone through the ceiling in his marble bathtub, it would have shocked
his wife and the Daughters of the American Revolution when they gathered.
“Would have gotten a headline to say the least don’t you
think?” Truman wrote.
Between 1948 to 1952, Truman relocated across Pennsylvania
Avenue to the Blair House, presently used for visiting dignitaries, while the
elderly presidential mansion was being gutted and renovated by construction
workers. The old wood-and-brick structure was strengthened by contemporary
elements like concrete and steel.
More than a destructive fire during the War of 1812 or
President Donald Trump’s demolition of the East Wing, the historic building was
altered by the Truman-era refurbishment. In the more than two centuries since
the original building was finished in 1800, controversy has accompanied every
significant and even minor makeover.
During his two terms as the first president of the new
country, George Washington spent the most of his time in Philadelphia.
Washington, a native of Virginia, selected the site for the intended
“President’s House” but never moved in.
According to the White House Historical Association,
Irish-born James Hoban won a $500 prize in an architectural competition that
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson held in 1792 to build the residence.
According to the White House Historical Association,
Jefferson collaborated with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe to create
colonnades, which are covered walkways held up by ancient Ionic columns.
The colonnades appeared aristocratic, according to congressional
adversaries of Federalism. Editorials in the National Intelligence journal
questioned whether such adornments were necessary for a government facility.
The destruction of the East Wing contradicted Trump’s July
assurance that the new structure could be “near it but not touching it.”
The project led to a public outcry, including former first lady Hillary Clinton
saying “he’s destroying it” on social media Oct. 21.
But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, who described
himself as an “amateur historian,” defended the project as the latest
improvement to the White House.
“President Trump is going to add the greatest improvement to
the White House in the history of the building, since it was originally
constructed in 1800,” Johnson told reporters Oct. 22. “The ballroom is going to
be glorious. It’s going to be used for everybody. By the way, hey Democrats, if
you win the White House back, you get to use it too. This is for the American
people and he’s using private funds to do it. How in the world could they
oppose that?”
What changes were made to White House layout during the
rebuild?
Complete Junking and reconditioning of the interior
structure with new steel and concrete support, and the addition of two new
basement situations under the ground bottom. Expansion of the third floor and
relief of the rooftop sunporch.
The state bottom apartments were largely rebuilt as ahead
but with some notable changes similar as the relocation of the Grand
Stair’s discharge to the east into the Entrance Hall, creating a more
conventional procession route. The alternate bottom was acclimated for fresh
bathrooms and erected- in closets, and apartments above the East Room were
lowered due to a thinner steel bottom.
ultramodern additions were made on the ground floor
including enhanced service elevators, a bowling alley, expanded kitchen,
broadcast plant, hairstylist shop, medical and dental conventions, carpentry
and upholstery shops, and large outfit spaces.
