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For two hundred years, the White House has stood as a symbol of the Presidency, the United States government, and the American people. Its history, and the history of the nation's capital, began when President George Washington held a Congress in December of seventeen-ninety (1790) which declares that the federal government would reside in a district, which does "not exceed ten miles square on the river Potomac.\" President Washington, together with a city planner, Pierre L'Enfant, chose the site for the new President's house, which is now 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. As the preparations for the new federal city began, a competition was held to find a builder for the \"President's House.\" At last the Irish architect James Hoban built it. He also won a gold medal for his well-looking design.
The laying of the foundation stone was in October of seventeen-ninety-two (1792). Although President Washington oversaw the construction of the house, he never lived in it. It was circa eighteen-hundred (1800), when the White House was nearly completed, that its first inhabitants, President John Adams and his wife moved in. Since that time, every President made his own changes. The White House is the President's private home. It is also the only private home of a head of a state which is opened to the public, free of charge.
The White House had a unique and fascinating history. It survived an attack from the Britains in eighteen-hundred-fourteen (1814) and a fire in the West Wing in nineteen-twenty-nine (1929). During Harry S. Truman's presidency, the interior of the house was completely renovated. In this time the President lived at Blair House, across Pennsylvania Avenue. President Thomas Jefferson opened the White House for public tours and now it's still opened.
And now some facts: . There are one-hundred-thirty-two (132) rooms and thirty-five (35) bathrooms in the White House. There are also four-hundred-twelve (412) doors and one-hundred-forty-seven (147) windows; . President Theodore Roosevelt gave the White House its current name in nineteen-hundred-one (1901). . For the President, the White House has a tennis court, a jogging track, a swimming pool, a movie theater, and a bowling lane.
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