Gardens & Grounds
Featured Collection
White House in Bloom
The White House Grounds began as approximately 85 acres of land chosen by George Washington and were cultivated by garden-loving President Thomas Jefferson. These shifting grounds around the Executive Mansion have seen retaining walls, green houses, vegetable gardens, and beautiful flowers. Changes to the landscape came in long intervals and evolved to fit the era and the needs of the residents.
Scholarship
Architecture: 1900s-1940s
1900sOne of Theodore Roosevelts earliest acts as President was to issue an order establishing the "White House" as the buildings official name. Previously, it had been called the "Presidents House" or the "Executive Mansion." This decision portended more serious discussion regarding the status of the house. In 1902, Mrs. Roosevelt asked the distinguished architect Charles McKim for his advice. His recommendations
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Architecture: 1850s-1890s
1850sJames Buchanan, at the urging of his niece and White House hostess Harriet Lane, added a wooden greenhouse on the roof of the west terrace in 1857, adjacent to the State Dining Room. One could enter a private world of plants and flowers grown for decorating the house. This simple structure burned in 1867 and was replaced by iron and wood structure
