The White House: A historical look inside America’s most iconic residence

The White House has served as the primary residence of the President of the United States since 1800, when it was built by a diverse workforce of local artisans, immigrants, and slaves. A building that has housed many key events in America’s rich history, the White House has evolved over the years on both the inside and outside, with new rooms, features, and uses being added with each passing administration.  (DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite being the second president of the United States, John Adams, whose portrait hangs in the White House's Blue Room, was the first president to live in the executive residence. In November 1800, Adams arrived to a largely unfinished presidential residence in the final months of his administration, with much of Washington, D.C., still under construction after the federal government’s relocation from Philadelphia. (Pete Souza/White House via Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images)

Originally used by John and Abigail Adams to air out laundry, the East Room is now a large room used for events and receptions, such as this multinational summit seen being held by President Joe Biden. Banquets, dances, galas, and performing arts shows have also been historically commonplace. The East Room is also home to the Lansdowne Portrait, an iconic oil-on-canvas of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, which then-First Lady Dolley Madison personally saved from the White House (then called the President’s House) when the British set fire to it during the War of 1812. Little was left of the original building, and it wasn’t fully rebuilt until 1817.  (Photo by Pool/Getty Images)

The State Dining Room is the larger of the two dining rooms in the White House’s Executive Residence. Once used as a private office by Thomas Jefferson, the room was converted into a dining area during the Madison administration and can now seat up to 140 people at a time. The State Dining Room was also the original home of the Lansdowne portrait prior to its relocation to the East Room after the White House was rebuilt. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

An exterior view of the 54,900-square-foot White House from its South Lawn during an annual Easter Egg Roll, a tradition started by Lucy Hayes, wife of then-President Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1878, when the president opened the South Lawn to visitors despite growing federal restrictions on how Capitol grounds could be used. The Egg Roll continues to be a yearly hit, with egg rolling "races" popularized under the Nixon administration quickly gaining steam among visiting youth. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

The Rose Garden is a common site for formal announcements – such as this COVID briefing by Donald Trump – thanks to its proximity to the West Wing and Oval Office. Used throughout the 19th century to shelter horses and coaches, the Rose Garden has undergone numerous renovations since it was first plotted out under the Theodore Roosevelt administration, with notable renovations made under Kennedy and Trump. The garden is home to numerous unique flora, including the Pope John Paul II rose, created in honor of the first visit by a Catholic pope to the White House. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Green Room is a state parlor on the White House’s lower level, Its uses have varied wildly since it was first constructed in 1801, with the first president to live in the White House, John Adams, using it as a bedroom, and James Monroe – the first president to drape the room in green – used it as a card room. It wasn’t until the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt that the room was renovated to take on the iconic green velvet color scheme it boasts today. The Green Room took on another major change under Harry S. Truman, when its walls were adorned in green silk and the White House’s interior was completely redesigned and reconstructed as the aging building’s structure – especially flooring on its upper levels – began to give out. This was the most drastic change made to the White House since its 1817 reconstruction. (Photo by Charles Ommanney/Getty Images)

Theodore Roosevelt oversaw the addition of numerous rooms and outdoor spaces to the White House, including the Roosevelt Room, seen here during a cabinet meeting in 2021, is located near the center of the West Wing and is commonly used for staff meetings and announcements of presidential appointments. Roosevelt played a key role in the room’s design and construction. Prior to the construction of the Oval Office, the Roosevelt Room served as the president’s primary workspace. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The White House Situation Room, seen here occupied by then-President Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, and numerous other intelligence officials, is formally referred to as the John F. Kennedy Conference Room. Created by the former president following the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, this intelligence hub located in the basement of the West Wing is commonly used to provide the president and his staff with real-time information and conduct secure communication during high-pressure crises, such as the orchestrated killing of Osama bin Laden during the Obama administration in 2011. (Photo by Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images)

The Oval Office is often renovated to accommodate each incoming president. Richard Nixon’s Oval Office, for example, included a desk that he mistakenly believed once belonged to Woodrow Wilson, and a rug designed by then-First Lady Pat Nixon. In 1993, a Little Rock-based designer was tasked with redoing the Oval Office’s décor for the Clinton administration, which included the addition of a large, dark blue rug depicting the presidential seal. Clinton’s Oval Office also gained notoriety during his 1998 impeachment, where it was revealed that he had relations with an intern, Monica Lewinsky, in the iconic presidential workspace.  (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

While the first White House Christmas celebration took place in 1800, it wasn’t until 1889 that the White House got its first Christmas tree, modestly adorned with candles for the grandchildren of then-President Benjamin Harrison. The tree didn’t make its way into its usual dwelling, the Blue Room, until the Eisenhower administration. More recent Christmas traditions include calls to children and parents from the president and First Lady, high-profile guests, and elaborate decorations with yearly themes, such as 2021’s "Gifts of the Heart" and 2022’s "We the People." (Photo by: HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)