7 things you (probably) didn’t know about the white house

6 min read

Presidential historian Dr Lindsay M Chervinsky reveals some of the most surprising facts about the world-famous US residence

SURPRISING FACTS

1 THE WHITE HOUSE WAS PARTIALLY BUILT BY ENSLAVED WORKERS

A group of enslaved people depicted near the unfinished Capitol building, which was constructed at the same time as the White House

GETTY IMAGES X3, ALAMY X6

Construction on the White House began in 1792 on a site in Washington DC selected by the first US president, George Washington. Over the next eight years, a mix of free African-American and white wage labourers, enslaved workers and skilled craftsmen toiled on the project, undertaking duties such as carpentry, stonemasonry and bricklaying.
Some of the enslaved workers were owned by the city commissioners charged with overseeing the project, as well as the building’s architect, James Hoban. The vast majority, however, were hired from their owners in Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland, who then pocketed the enslaved people’s wages.
Interestingly, many of the construction crews were shuttled back and forth between the White House and the nearby United States Capitol (built between 1793 and 1800), depending on which building site needed labour or had the most available materials at the time.

2 THE BUILDING WAS SET ON FIRE BY BRITISH FORCES

Washington DC was set ablaze by British soldiers in August 1814

In August 1814, two years into the War of 1812, British forces marched into Washington DC and torched nearly all of the city’s public buildings in retaliation for the damage that they had inflicted on York (now Toronto), Canada, the previous year.

Urban legend suggests that a rainstorm arrived and saved the White House from complete destruction. The truth, however, is that the rain actually made the damage worse. While the wet weather saved the surrounding buildings from catching fire, it nearly destroyed the walls of the White House altogether. The stone walls were incredibly hot from the fire and the cold rain caused them to shrink and crack.

Congress swiftly appointed a commission to inspect the damage, but the investigators found that almost everything inside had been destroyed, save for a few pots and pans in the basement kitchens. However, the resulting report concealed the true extent of the destruction in order to get the rebuilding process started immediately.

Some officials wanted to use the opportunity to move the capital to a more developed city – like Philadelphia, N

This article is from...

History Revealed Magazine

23 November 2023

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