25 interesting facts about the white house
Nathan Johnson
Published
07/31/2015
you probably never knew this stuff
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1.
There is a dentist's office under the White House -
2.
Actually, there is an entire strip mall underneath the White House with a flower shop and even a bowling alley (added by Nixon) -
3.
Before Theodore Roosevelt it wasn't called the White House. It was called the Executive Mansion -
4.
It was never built with a handicapped president in mind so when Franklin Roosevelt entered office the whole place had to be redone with ramps and elevators for his wheelchair. -
5.
It didn't have running water until 1833 when it was installed by Andrew Jackson -
6.
The water wasn't piped to the first family's second floor bathroom until 20 years later in 1853 -
7.
FDR installed an indoor pool in 1933 to help him with his polio stricken legs. Although successive presidents like Truman and JFK used it, Nixon ended up laying a floor on top of it and using it as a press briefing room. And that is still what it is today. -
8.
Ulysses S Grant added a billiard room in the 1870s -
9.
President Truman called it the Great White Jail and the Glamorous Prison. Apparently being the top dog can get pretty lonely -
10.
Based on the size of the State Dining Room and the chef's resources, 140 people could have dinner at the same time -
11.
The White House was the biggest home in the United States until the 1860s. -
12.
The original plans drawn up by George Washington and the DC city planner were significantly more elaborate -
13.
There are 6 floors with 3 elevators -
14.
As we said, George Washington played a role in the White House design but he never actually lived there as it wasn't completed during his presidency. -
15.
John Adams, the second president, was the first one to inhabit the mansion -
16.
When President Truman almost witnessed the tub crash through the ceiling he decided the White House needed renovation (being over 100 years old). It cost nearly $54 million but saved the White House from being condemned (it was actually declared structurally unsound before that) -
17.
You can choose from one out of 35 different bathrooms. -
18.
In 1939 the British King and Queen had a sleepover at the White House with FDR. This was the first time a British monarch had visited America. -
19.
President Bill Clinton had a jogging track installed during his publicly documented struggles with weight and health -
20.
In 1942 the White House received a movie theatre in what used to be the cloak room -
21.
It takes 560 gallons of paint to cover the exterior -
22.
The design for the White House was chosen in a contest. The winner was Irishman James Hoban -
23.
His design was influenced by the Leinster House in Dublin -
24.
Because the British burned it in 1814, very little of the original house remains
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