Running Head: WHITE HOUSE ARCHITECTURE PAGE 6 WHITE HOUSE ARCHITECTURE White House Architecture: Washington DC Dr. Moreno/Modern Art III November 13, 2014 White House: Washington, D.C Introduction White House acts as the official residence of U.S. president. It is found in Pennsylvania Avenue Washington D.C. White House was designed using Neoclassical style by James Hoban from Ireland, and building started from 1792 to 1800. However, the architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe started planning for the outward expansion of the building to create two colonnades after Thomas Jefferson moved-in in 1801. The construction of the executive mansion was approved when Congress established the District of Columbia the capital of the United States in 1790. The architect was chosen through a competition of proposals which was won by James Hoban. Since then, the building has undergone the series of renovations (History of White House, 2012). Architectural description George Washington laid the first cornerstone of the building in a cornerstone ceremony in 1792. It is a grand mansion in the Neo-Classical Federal style , with details that echo classical Greek ionic architecture. Scottish masons were brought to DC to do the stone work. . The mansion would be covered in sandstone which created a slight problem. The masons were able to troubleshoot the issue by sealing the porous sandstone with a thick whitewash, this is where the white house first adopted it’s name. This would remain the largest residence in the United states until the 1860’s. The major White House façade which is at the north front consists of eleven bays and three floors. Ground floor is obstructed by parapet and raised carriage. This makes the façade be perceived to have two floors (Timelines-Architecture, 2007). Figure 1.0: Floor Plan Behind the prostyle portico are the three central bays added in 1830 circa and it serves as a Porte cochere. The four bays have windows that flank the portico. The first floor consists of alternating segmented and pointed pediments. The second floor has flat pediments. A lunette fanlight surmounts the center of the portico at the principal entrance. The sculpted floral festoon is found above the entrance. A balustrade parapet obstructs the roofline (William, 2008). The façade at the southern comprises of both the neoclassical and Palladian architectural styles. The Palladian fashion has been used to rusticate the ground floor, while the center façade is designed in neoclassical style that projects a three-bay bow. Five bays flank the bow, with the windows at the north façade consisting of alternating pointed and segmented pediments at the first floor. The bow is made up of the double staircase at the ground floor that leads to the Ionic Colonnaded Logia referred to as the south portico. The second floor of the bow is made up of Truman Balcony. The modernized third floor obstructed by the balustrade parapet and is insignificant a.