On this day 225 years ago: The first time a president of the United States moved into the White House

One of the most prominent symbols of the United States, the White House, got its first occupant on 1 November 1800. On that day John Adams, who was the second US president, moved into what was then called the President’s House.

Construction had begun just over eight years prior and workers were still putting the finishing touches on the building when Adams brought his belongings over from a temporary residence he’d been staying at in the new US capital since June. He along with the rest of the federal government had moved to the District of Columbia from Philadelphia, which had served as a temporary national capital since 1790.

Washington never lived in the White House but was fundamental to the building we see today

Although he never lived in the President’s House, the nation’s first president, George Washington, selected the site at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1791. Likewise, he played a role in the choosing what the building would look like, favoring the neoclassical design submitted by Irish-American architect James Hoban.

A history of presidential residents at the White House

Adams and his wife Abigail only resided in the house for a matter of months as he lost his reelection bid to Thomas Jefferson just days after moving into the presidential residence. Jefferson took up residence in what we now call the White House in March 1801.

Stince the, for over two hundred years, the White House has been the home of every subsequent US president while in office with two brief periods of exception.

While James Madison was president, the British set fire to the building in 1814 leaving it uninhabitable. James Monroe, who succeeded Madison, took up residence when repairs were completed in 1817.

President Harry Truman moved into Blair House, which is across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, between 1948 and 1952 while the building underwent a complete renovation to reinforce the structure to keep it from collapsing.

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