By Holly Kozelsky
In honor of significant changes going on now at the White House, let’s take a look back through the White House’s architecture through time:
1791-1800: Design Plans Commence
Our first president, George Washington, selected the site for the White House in 1791. … After eight years of construction, President John Adams and his wife Abigail moved into the still-unfinished residence.
1814–1824: Rebuilding after War of 1812
During the War of 1812, British forces burned the White House in August 1814. Architect James Hoban led its reconstruction, restoring the original design with minor enhancements for durability ….
1824: Addition of South Portico
In 1817, President James Monroe took residence in the newly reconstructed White House, following its destruction by British forces in 1814. During his administration, the iconic South Portico was completed by 1824 ….
1829-1830: Addition of North Portico
In 1829, Andrew Jackson oversaw the addition of the North Portico.
1902: Addition of the West Wing
In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt built the West Wing, replacing 19th-century greenhouses, and added a colonial garden and East Terrace, later part of the East Wing.
1909: Addition of the Oval Office
In 1909, President William Howard Taft remodeled and expanded the West Wing, which included construction of the first Oval Office.
1913: Addition of Rose Garden
In 1913, under President Woodrow Wilson’s administration, First Lady Ellen Wilson oversaw the transformation of the colonial garden into the modern Rose Garden …
1934-1942: Addition of the East Wing
Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded the West Wing in 1934, adding a second floor, basement, swimming pool, and relocating the Oval Office. In 1942, he constructed the East Wing for additional staff and wartime security, including a bomb shelter.
1948-1952: Total Reconstruction
In 1948, President Harry Truman undertook a “total reconstruction” of the White House’s interior, expanding its foundation and footprint — preserving only its exterior walls. …
1970-1973: Addition of Briefing Room
In 1970, President Nixon converted the swimming pool into the press briefing room and added a bowling alley in the basement.
1998: Bill Clinton Scandal
President Bill Clinton’s affair with intern Monica Lewinsky was exposed, leading to White House perjury investigations …
2012: Muslim Brotherhood Visit
Obama hosts members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that promotes Islamist extremism and has ties to Hamas …
2020: Tennis Pavilion
In 2020, First Lady Melania Trump oversaw the privately funded construction of a 1,200-square-foot tennis pavilion on the South Lawn, featuring a neo-classical design with a copper roof and limestone cladding …
2023: Cocaine Discovered
During Biden’s administration, a U.S. Secret Service agent discovered a small, zippered plastic bag containing cocaine in the West Wing entrance lobby. Speculation has pointed to Hunter Biden, an admitted drug user. Additional evidence includes a laptop …
2023-2024: Trans Day of Visibility
The Biden/Harris administration hosts transexuals at the White House in 2023, and goes on to establish the “The Transgender Day of Visibility” on the same day as Easter Sunday in 2024.
2025: North and South Flagpoles
In June 2025, President Donald Trump personally funded the installation of two 88-foot flagpoles on the North and South Lawns of the White House, a project he described as a personal gift to the nation …
2025: Rose Garden Renovations
In August 2025, President Trump completed a $2 million Rose Garden renovation, funded through the generosity of private citizens, replacing the lawn with beautiful lime stone tiles inspired by Mar-a-Lago. The design enhances event functionality by preventing soggy ground and preserves historic rose bushes. …
2025: Oval Office Renovations
In March 2025, President Donald Trump initiated a privately funded renovation of the Oval Office, incorporating gold filigree, historic portraits, and custom carvings inspired by his Mar-a-Lago estate …
2025: East Wing Renovations
The East Wing renovations, started in September 2025, will add a 90,000-square-foot ballroom for 1,000 guests, enhancing state visit capabilities, funded once again through the generosity of private citizens, corporations, and donors including President Trump himself. The $250 million project includes modernized offices and bulletproof glass …
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Friends, this is the shortest column I’ve ever written – a total of eight sentences. Although it looks like a columnist’s satire, I did not write any of that stuff between the first sentence and here – it comes straight from the official White House website, on the About the White House Page, the fourth topic down, “Major Events Timelines.” I did not change a single word, but I removed some phrases in the early part, as indicated by ellipses (…) to shorten it.
This national, official website page is about the evolving architecture – the actual buildings — of the White House. The non-architecture posts thrown in there read like a seventh-grade mean girl sneaking snark about her perceived rivals into a class PowerPoint presentation.
What I did not include were some of the salacious photos toward the end, such as an assumed trans woman holding her bare breasts, and a clip art photo of a high man in a bathtub.
We are now living in a world where truth is stranger than fiction, and columnists cannot come up with anything crazier than what is actually happening.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/the-white-house/.
