White House Restoration: A Look at Our Nation’s Most Famous House

White House Restoration: A Look at Our Nation’s Most Famous House

Great White Hope

With President’s Day coming up this month and a new administration that has just moved in, we wanted to take a closer look at the White House, the beginning construction and the White House restoration in the 50s.

White House Beginnings Timeline

• 1792: James Hoban wins the design competition to build the White House
• 1800: President John Adams moves in
• 1814: Burned during the British invasion
• 1817: Hoban completed rebuilding and restoring the White House
• 1824: Hoban built the portico on the south for President James Monroe
• 1829: He then added the portico on the north for President Andrew Jackson
Today we’ve grown accustomed to seeing images of both sides of the White House (the north and south porticos). The White House has the finest architectural stone carving and is made out of white-painted Aquia Creek sandstone. It’s no wonder the iconic building is seen by countless tourists every day.
Aquia Creek sandstone is what we call a “freestone.” A freestone is a stone that can be freely cut in any direction, it is fine-grained, uniform, and soft enough to be cut easily without splitting or shattering. Aquia Creek sandstone is brown to light-gray. According to White House History, the White House was painted white with a lime-based whitewash, simply as a means of protecting the porous stone from freezing. The building was finally painted with white lead paint in 1818.

1950’s Interior White House Reconstruction

We know what it’s like to restore the interior of someone’s home by adding beautiful stone or tile floors, backsplashes, countertops, etc. So we can only imagine what a task it was to have the interior of such an iconic home reconstructed. Unfortunately, years of wear and tear caused President Harry Truman to look into having the White House interior restructured to safe and livable standards. A reconstruction of this magnitude (completely gutting the interior) took them three years to complete (from 1949 to 1952).

At JC Marble Restoration we know what it’s like to work with beautiful stones like marble, granite, limestone, and travertine. Your house may not be as big as the White House, but we can handle any job and the size of any home or business. Consider us for the job when you want to have your place restored! Give us a call to obtain your quote.

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