White House The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States , located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington , D . C . It has been the residence of every U . S . president since John Adams in 1800 , and the term is often used by journalists as a metonym to refer to the acts of the President and his top advisors . The house was designed by Irish - born James Hoban and built between 1792 and 1800 of white - painted Aquia Creek sandstone in the Neoclassical style . When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801 , he ( with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe ) expanded the building outward , creating two colonnade s that were meant to conceal stables and storage . In 1814 , during the War of 1812 , the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington , destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior . Reconstruction began almost immediately , and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817 . Construction continued with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829 . Because of crowding within the executive mansion itself , President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901 . Eight years later , President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office which was eventually moved as the section was expanded . The third - floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers . A newly constructed East Wing was used as a reception area for social events ; Jefferson ' s colonnades connected the new wings . East Wing alterations were completed in 1946 , creating additional office space . By 1948 , the house ' s load - bearing exterior walls and internal wood beams were found to be close to failure . Under Harry S . Truman , the interior rooms were completely dismantled and a new internal load - bearing steel frame constructed inside the walls . Once this work was completed , the interior rooms were rebuilt . Today , the White House Complex includes the Executive Residence , West Wing , East Wing , the Eisenhower Executive Office Building — the former State Department , which now houses offices for the President ' s staff and the Vice President — and Blair House , a guest residence . The Executive Residence is made up of six stories — the Ground Floor , State Floor , Second Floor , and Third Floor , as well as a two - story basement . The term " White House " is often used as a metonym for the Executive Office of the President of the United States and for the president ' s administration and advisers in general , as in " " The White House has decided that . . . " " . The property is a National Heritage Site owned by the National Park Service and is part of the President ' s Park . In 2007 , it was ranked second on the American Institute of Architects list of " America ' s Favorite Architecture " . History . 1789 – 1800 . Following his April 1789 inauguration , President George Washington occupied two executive mansions in New York City : the Samuel Osgood House at 3 Cherry Street ( April 1789 – February 1790 ) , and the Alexander Macomb House at 39 – 41 Broadway ( February – August 1790 ) . New York then built the Government House for his official residence , but he never occupied it . The capital had moved to Philadelphia . The July 1790 Residence Act named Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , the temporary national capital for a 10 - year period while the Federal City was under construction . The City of Philadelphia rented Robert Morris ' s city house at 190 High Street ( now 524 - 30 Market Street ) for Washington ' s presidential residence . The first president occupied the Market Street mansion from November 1790 to March 1797 , and altered it in ways that may have influenced the design of the White House . As part of a futile effort to have Philadelphia named the permanent national capital , Pennsylvania built a presidential palace several blocks away , but Washington declined to move there . President John Adams also occupied the Market Street mansion from March 1797 to May 1800 . In November 1800 , he became the first president to occupy the White House . The President ' s House in Philadelphia became a hotel and was demolished in 1832 while the unused presidential palace became home to the University of Pennsylvania . Architectural competition . The President ' s House was a major feature of Pierre ( Peter ) Charles L ' Enfant ' s ' s plan for the newly established federal city , Washington , D . C . The architect of the White House was chosen in a design competition which received nine proposals , including one submitted anonymously by Thomas Jefferson . President Washington visited Charleston , South Carolina in May 1791 on his " Southern Tour " , and saw the under - construction Charleston County Courthouse designed by Irish architect James Hoban . He is reputed to have met with Hoban then , and summoned the architect to Philadelphia and met with him there in June 1792 . On July 16 , 1792 , the President met with the commissioners of the federal city to make his judgment in the architectural competition . His review is recorded as being brief , and he quickly selected Hoban ' s submission . Washington was not entirely pleased with the original submission , however ; he found it too small , lacking ornament , and not monumental enough to house the nation ' s president . On his recommendation , the house was changed from three stories to two , and was widened from a nine - bay facade to an 11 - bay facade . Hoban ' s competition drawings do not survive . Design influences . The building Hoban designed is verifiably influenced by the upper floors of Leinster House , in Dublin , Republic of Ireland , which later became the seat of the Oireachtas ( the Irish parliament ) . Several other Georgian - era Irish country houses have been suggested as sources of inspiration for the overall floor plan , details like the bow - fronted south front , and interior details like the former niches in the present Blue Room . These influences , though undocumented , are cited in the official White House guide , and in White House Historical Association publications . The first official White House guide , published in 1962 , suggested a link between Hoban ' s design for the South Portico and Château de Rastignac , a neoclassical country house located in La Bachellerie in the Dordogne region of France and designed by Mathurin Salat . Construction on the French house was initially started before 1789 , interrupted by the French Revolution for twenty years and then finally built 1812 – 1817 ( based on Salat ' s pre - 1789 design ) . The theoretical link between the two houses has been criticized because Hoban did not visit France . Supporters of a connection posit that Thomas Jefferson , during his tour of Bordeaux in 1789 , viewed Salat ' s architectural drawings ( which were on - file at the College ) at the " École Spéciale d ' Architecture " ( Bordeaux Architectural College ) . On his return to the U . S . he then shared the influence with Washington , Hoban , Monroe , and Benjamin Henry Latrobe . Construction . Construction of the White House began with the laying of the cornerstone on October 13 , 1792 , although there was no formal ceremony . The main residence , as well as foundations of the house , were built largely by enslaved and free African - American laborers , as well as employed Europeans . Much of the other work on the house was performed by immigrants , many not yet with citizenship . The sandstone walls were erected by Scottish immigrants , employed by Hoban , as were the high - relief rose and garland decorations above the north entrance and the " fish scale " pattern beneath the pediments of the window hoods . The initial construction took place over a period of eight years , at a reported cost of $ 232 , 371 . 83 ( equal to $ today ) . Although not yet completed , the White House was ready for occupancy on or circa November 1 , 1800 . Shortages , including material and labor , forced alterations to the earlier plan developed by French engineer Pierre Charles L ' Enfant for a " palace " that was five times larger than the house that was eventually built . The finished structure contained only two main floors instead of the planned three , and a less costly brick served as a lining for the stone façades . When construction was finished , the porous sandstone walls were whitewash ed with a mixture of lime , rice glue , casein , and lead , giving the house its familiar color and name . As it is a famed structure in America , several replicas of the White House have been constructed . Architectural description . The principal façade of the White House , the north front , is of three floors and eleven bays . The ground floor is hidden by a raised carriage ramp and parapet , thus the façade appears to be of two floors . The central three bays are behind a prostyle portico ( this was a later addition to the house , built circa 1830 ) serving , thanks to the carriage ramp , as a porte cochere . The windows of the four bays flanking the portico , at first - floor level , have alternating pointed and segmented pediment s , while at second - floor level the pediments are flat . The principal entrance at the centre of the portico is surmounted by a lunette fanlight . Above the entrance is a sculpted floral festoon . The roofline is hidden by a balustraded parapet . The mansion ' s southern façade is a combination of the Palladian and neoclassical styles of architecture . It is of three floors , all visible . The ground floor is rusticated in the Palladian fashion . At the centre of the façade is a neoclassical projecting bow of three bays . The bow is flanked by 5 bays , the windows of which , as on the north façade , have alternating segmented and pointed pediments at first - floor level . The bow has a ground floor double staircase leading to an Ionic colonnade d loggia ( with the Truman Balcony at second - floor level ) , known as the south portico . The more modern third floor is hidden by a balustraded parapet and plays no part in the composition of the façade . Naming conventions . The building was originally referred to variously as the " President ' s Palace " , " Presidential Mansion " , or " President ' s House " . The earliest evidence of the public calling it the " White House " was recorded in 1811 . A myth emerged that during the rebuilding of the structure after the Burning of Washington , white paint was applied to mask the burn damage it had suffered , giving the building its namesake hue . The name " Executive Mansion " was used in official contexts until President Theodore Roosevelt established the formal name by having " White House – Washington " engraved on the stationery in 1901 . The current letterhead wording and arrangement " The White House " with the word " Washington " centered beneath goes back to the administration of Franklin D . Roosevelt . Although it was not completed until some years after the presidency of George Washington , it is also speculated that the name of the traditional residence of the President of the United States may have derived from Martha Washington ' s home , White House Plantation in Virginia , where the nation ' s first President had courted the First Lady in the mid - 18th century . Evolution of the White House . Early use , the 1814 fire , and rebuilding . On Saturday , November 1 , 1800 , John Adams became the first president to take residence in the building . During Adams ' second day in the house , he wrote a letter to his wife Abigail , containing a prayer for the house . Adams wrote : Adams lived in the house only briefly before Thomas Jefferson moved into the " pleasant country residence " in 1801 . Despite his complaints that the house was too big ( " big enough for two emperors , one pope , and the grand lama in the bargain " ) , Jefferson considered how the White House might be added to . With Benjamin Henry Latrobe , he helped lay out the design for the East and West Colonnades , small wings that help conceal the domestic operations of laundry , a stable and storage . Today , Jefferson ' s colonnades link the residence with the East and West Wings . In 1814 , during the War of 1812 , the White House was set ablaze by British troops during the Burning of Washington , in retaliation for burning Upper Canada ' s Parliament Buildings in the Battle of York ; much of Washington was affected by these fires as well . Only the exterior walls remained , and they had to be torn down and mostly reconstructed because of weakening from the fire and subsequent exposure to the elements , except for portions of the south wall . Of the numerous objects taken from the White House when it was ransacked by British troops , only two have been recovered . Employees and slaves rescued a painting of George Washington , and in 1939 , a Canadian man returned a jewelry box to President Franklin D . Roosevelt , claiming that his grandfather had taken it from Washington . Some observers allege that most of these spoils were lost when a convoy of British ships led by HMS " Fantome " sank en route to Halifax off Prospect during a storm on the night of November 24 , 1814 , even though " Fantome " had no involvement in that action . After the fire , President James Madison resided in The Octagon House from 1814 to 1815 , and then the Seven Buildings from 1815 to the end of his term . Meanwhile , both architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe and Hoban contributed to the design and oversight of the reconstruction , which lasted from 1815 until 1817 . The south portico was constructed in 1824 during the James Monroe administration ; the north portico was built six years later . Though Latrobe proposed similar porticos before the fire in 1814 , both porticos were built as designed by Hoban . An elliptical portico at Château de Rastignac in La Bachellerie , France with nearly identical curved stairs is speculated as the source of inspiration due to its similarity with the South Portico , although this matter is one of great debate . Italian artisans , brought to Washington to help in constructing the U . S . Capitol , carved the decorative stonework on both porticos . Contrary to speculation , the North Portico was not modeled on a similar portico on another Dublin building , the Viceregal Lodge ( now " Áras an Uachtaráin " , residence of the President of Ireland ) , for its portico postdates the White House porticos ' design . For the North Portico , a variation on the Ionic Order was devised incorporating a swag of roses between the volutes . This was done to link the new portico with the earlier carved roses above the entrance . Overcrowding and building the West Wing . By the time of the American Civil War , the White House had become overcrowded . The location of the White House was questioned , just north of a canal and swampy lands , which provided conditions ripe for malaria and other unhealthy conditions . Brigadier General Nathaniel Michler was tasked to propose solutions to address these concerns . He proposed abandoning the use of the White House as a residence and designed a new estate for the first family at Meridian Hill in Washington , D . C . , but Congress rejected the plan . The Panic of 1873 had led to an economic depression that persisted through much of the decade . The Statue of Liberty project was not the only undertaking that had difficulty raising money : construction of the obelisk later known as the Washington Monument sometimes stalled for years . When Chester Arthur took office in 1881 , he ordered renovations to the White House to take place as soon as the recently widowed Lucretia Garfield moved out . Arthur inspected the work almost nightly and made several suggestions . Louis Comfort Tiffany was asked to send selected designers to assist . Over twenty wagons of furniture and household items were removed from the building and sold at a public auction . All that was saved were bust portraits of John Adams and Martin Van Buren . A proposal was made to build a new residence south of the White House , but it failed to gain support . In the fall of 1882 work was done on the main corridor , including tinting the walls pale olive and adding squares of gold leaf , and decorating the ceiling in gold and silver , and colorful traceries woven to spell " USA " . The Red Room was painted a dull Pomeranian red , and its ceiling was decorated with gold , silver , and copper stars and stripes of red , white , and blue . A fifty - foot jeweled Tiffany glass screen , supported by imitation marble columns , replaced the glass doors that separated the main corridor from the north vestibule . In 1891 , First Lady Caroline Harrison proposed major extensions to the White House , including a National Wing on the east for an historical art gallery , and a wing on the west for official functions . A plan was devised by Colonel Theodore A . Bingham , which reflected the Harrison proposal . These plans were ultimately rejected . However , in 1901 Theodore Roosevelt and his family moved into the White House and hired McKim , Mead & White to carry out renovations and expansion , including the addition of a West Wing . ( McKim designed and managed the project . ) President William Howard Taft enlisted the help of architect Nathan C . Wyeth to add additional space to the West Wing , which included the addition of the Oval Office . The West Wing was damaged by fire in 1929 , but rebuilt during the remaining years of the Herbert Hoover presidency . In the 1930s , a second story was added , as well as a larger basement for White House staff , and President Franklin Roosevelt had the Oval Office moved to its present location : adjacent to the Rose Garden . The Truman reconstruction . Decades of poor maintenance , the construction of a fourth story attic during the Coolidge administration , and the addition of a second - floor balcony over the south portico for Harry S . Truman took a great toll on the brick and sandstone structure built around a timber frame . By 1948 , the house was declared to be in imminent danger of collapse , forcing President Truman to commission a reconstruction and move across the street to Blair House from 1949 to 1951 . The work , done by the firm of Philadelphia contractor John McShain , required the complete dismantling of the interior spaces , construction of a new load - bearing internal steel frame and the reconstruction of the original rooms within the new structure . The total cost of the renovations was about $ 5 . 7 million . Some modifications to the floor plan were made , the largest being the repositioning of the grand staircase to open into the Entrance Hall , rather than the Cross Hall . Central air conditioning was added , as well as two additional sub - basements providing space for workrooms , storage , and a bomb shelter . The Trumans moved back into the White House on March 27 , 1952 . While the house ' s structure was kept intact by the Truman reconstruction , much of the new interior finishes were generic , and of little historic value . Much of the original plasterwork , some dating back to the 1814 – 1816 rebuilding , was too damaged to reinstall , as was the original robust Beaux Arts paneling in the East Room . President Truman had the original timber frame sawed into paneling ; the walls of the Vermeil Room , Library , China Room , and Map Room on the ground floor of the main residence were paneled in wood from the timbers . The Kennedy restoration . Jacqueline Kennedy , wife of President John F . Kennedy ( 1961 – 63 ) , directed a very extensive and historic redecoration of the house . She enlisted the help of Henry Francis du Pont of the Winterthur Museum to assist in collecting artifacts for the mansion , many of which had once been housed there . Other antiques , fine paintings , and improvements of the Kennedy period were donated to the White House by wealthy philanthropists , including the Crowninshield family , Jane Engelhard , Jayne Wrightsman , and the Oppenheimer family . Stéphane Boudin of the House of Jansen , a Paris interior - design firm that had been recognized worldwide , was employed by Mrs . Kennedy to assist with the decoration . Different periods of the early republic and world history were selected as a theme for each room : the Federal style for the Green Room , French Empire for the Blue Room , American Empire for the Red Room , Louis XVI for the Yellow Oval Room , and Victorian for the president ' s study , renamed the Treaty Room . Antique furniture was acquired , and decorative fabric and trim based on period documents was produced and installed . The Kennedy restoration resulted in a more authentic White House of grander stature , which recalled the French taste of Madison and Monroe . In the Diplomatic Reception Room Mrs . Kennedy installed an antique " Vue de l ' Amérique Nord " wall paper which Zuber & Cie had designed in 1834 . The wallpaper had hung previously on the walls of another mansion until 1961 when that house was demolished for a grocery store . Just before the demolition , the wallpaper was salvaged and sold to the White House . The first White House guidebook was produced under the direction of curator Lorraine Waxman Pearce with direct supervision from Mrs . Kennedy . Sale of the guidebook helped finance the restoration . The White House since the Kennedy restoration . Out of respect for the historic character of the White House , no substantive architectural changes have been made to the house since the Truman renovation . Since the Kennedy restoration , every presidential family has made some changes to the private quarters of the White House , but the Committee for the Preservation of the White House must approve any modifications to the State Rooms . Charged with maintaining the historical integrity of the White House , the congressionally authorized committee works with each First Family — usually represented by the First Lady , the White House Curator , and the Chief Usher — to implement the family ' s proposals for altering the house . During the Nixon administration ( 1969 – 74 ) , First Lady Pat Nixon refurbished the Green Room , Blue Room , and Red Room , working with Clement Conger , the curator appointed by President Richard Nixon . Mrs . Nixon ' s efforts brought more than 600 artifacts to the house , the largest acquisition by any administration . Her husband created the modern press briefing room over Franklin Roosevelt ' s old swimming pool . Nixon also added a single - lane bowling alley to the White House basement . Computers and the first laser printer were added during the Carter administration , and the use of computer technology was expanded during the Reagan administration . A Carter - era innovation , a set of solar water heating panels that were mounted on the roof of the White House , was removed during Reagan ' s presidency . Redecorations were made to the private family quarters and maintenance was made to public areas during the Reagan years . The house was accredited as a museum in 1988 . In the 1990s , Bill and Hillary Clinton refurbished some rooms with the assistance of Arkansas decorator Kaki Hockersmith , including the Oval Office , the East Room , Blue Room , State Dining Room , Lincoln Bedroom , and Lincoln Sitting Room . During the administration of George W . Bush , first lady Laura Bush refurbished the Lincoln Bedroom in a style contemporary to the Lincoln era ; the Green Room , Cabinet Room , and theater were also refurbished . The White House became one of the first wheelchair - accessible government buildings in Washington when modifications were made during the presidency of Franklin D . Roosevelt , who used a wheelchair because of his paralytic illness . In the 1990s , Hillary Rodham Clinton — at the suggestion of Visitors Office Director Melinda N . Bates — approved the addition of a ramp in the East Wing corridor . It allowed easy wheelchair access for the public tours and special events that enter through the secure entrance building on the east side . In 2013 President Barack Obama re - installed a set of solar panels on the roof of the white house , making it the first time in history solar power would be used for a president ' s living quarters . The president usually travels to and from the White House grounds via official motorcade or helicopter . In the 1950s , President Dwight D . Eisenhower was the first president to travel by helicopter to and from the White House grounds . Layout and amenities . Today the group of buildings housing the presidency is known as the White House Complex . It includes the central Executive Residence flanked by the East Wing and West Wing . The Chief Usher coordinates day to day household operations . The White House includes : six stories and 55 , 000 ft² ( 5 , 100 m² ) of floor space , 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms , 412 doors , 147 windows , twenty - eight fireplaces , eight staircases , three elevators , five full - time chefs , a tennis court , a ( single - lane ) bowling alley ( officially called the Harry S . Truman Bowling Alley ) , a movie theater ( officially called the White House Family Theater ) , a jogging track , a swimming pool , and a putting green . It receives up to 30 , 000 visitors each week . Executive Residence . The original residence is in the center . Two colonnade s — one on the east and one on the west — designed by Jefferson , now serve to connect the East and West Wings , added later . The Executive Residence houses the president ' s dwelling , as well as rooms for ceremonies and official entertaining . The State Floor of the residence building includes the East Room , Green Room , Blue Room , Red Room , State Dining Room , Family Dining Room , Cross Hall , Entrance Hall , and Grand Staircase . The Ground Floor is made up of the Diplomatic Reception Room , Map Room , China Room , Vermeil Room , Library , the main kitchen , and other offices . The second floor family residence includes the Yellow Oval Room , East and West Sitting Hall s , the White House Master Bedroom , President ' s Dining Room , the Treaty Room , Lincoln Bedroom and Queens ' Bedroom , as well as two additional bedrooms , a smaller kitchen , and a private dressing room . The third floor consists of the White House Solarium , Game Room , Linen Room , a Diet Kitchen , and another sitting room ( previously used as President George W . Bush ' s workout room ) . West Wing . The West Wing houses the President ' s office ( the Oval Office ) and offices of his senior staff , with room for about 50 employees . It also includes the Cabinet Room , where the president conducts business meetings and where the Cabinet meets , as well as the White House Situation Room , James S . Brady Press Briefing Room , and Roosevelt Room . In 2007 , work was completed on renovations of the press briefing room , adding fiber optic cables and LCD screens for the display of charts and graphs . The makeover took 11 months and cost $ 8 million , of which news outlets paid $ 2 million . In September 2010 , a two - year project began on the West Wing , creating a multistory underground structure ; this will be followed with additional renovation of the wing . Some members of the President ' s staff are located in the adjacent Old Executive Office Building , formerly the State War and Navy building , and sometimes known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building . This portion of the building was used as the setting for the popular television show " The West Wing " . East Wing . The East Wing , which contains additional office space , was added to the White House in 1942 . Among its uses , the East Wing has intermittently housed the offices and staff of the First Lady , and the White House Social Office . Rosalynn Carter , in 1977 , was the first to place her personal office in the East Wing and to formally call it the " Office of the First Lady " . The East Wing was built during World War II in order to hide the construction of an underground bunker to be used in emergencies . The bunker has come to be known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center . Grounds . The White House and grounds cover just over 18 acres ( about 7 . 3 hectares ) . Before the construction of the North Portico , most public events were entered from the South Lawn , which was graded and planted by Thomas Jefferson . Jefferson also drafted a planting plan for the North Lawn that included large trees that would have mostly obscured the house from Pennsylvania Avenue . During the mid - to - late 19th century a series of ever larger green houses were built on the west side of the house , where the current West Wing is located . During this period , the North Lawn was planted with ornate carpet - style flowerbeds . Although the White House grounds have had many gardeners through their history , the general design , still largely used as master plan today , was designed in 1935 by Frederick Law Olmsted , Jr . of the Olmsted Brothers firm , under commission from President Franklin D . Roosevelt . During the Kennedy administration , the White House Rose Garden was redesigned by Rachel Lambert Mellon . The Rose garden borders the West Colonnade . Bordering the East Colonnade is the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden , which was begun by Jacqueline Kennedy but completed after her husband ' s assassination . On the weekend of June 23 , 2006 , a century - old American Elm ( " Ulmus americana " L . ) tree on the north side of the building , came down during one of the many storms amid intense flooding . Among the oldest trees on the grounds are several magnolias ( " Magnolia grandiflora " ) planted by Andrew Jackson . Michelle Obama planted the White Houses ' first organic garden and installed beehives on the South Lawn of the White House , which will supply organic produce and honey to the First Family and for state dinners and other official gatherings . Public access and security . Like the English and Irish country houses it was modeled on , the White House was , from the start , open to the public until the early part of the 20th century . President Thomas Jefferson held an open house for his second inaugural in 1805 , and many of the people at his swearing - in ceremony at the Capitol followed him home , where he greeted them in the Blue Room . Those open houses sometimes became rowdy : in 1829 , President Andrew Jackson had to leave for a hotel when roughly 20 , 000 citizens celebrated his inauguration inside the White House . His aides ultimately had to lure the mob outside with washtubs filled with a potent cocktail of orange juice and whiskey . Even so , the practice continued until 1885 , when newly elected Grover Cleveland arranged for a presidential review of the troops from a grandstand in front of the White House instead of the traditional open house . Jefferson also permitted public tours of his house , which have continued ever since , except during wartime , and began the tradition of annual receptions on New Year ' s Day and on the Fourth of July . Those receptions ended in the early 1930s , although President Bill Clinton would briefly revive the New Year ' s Day open house in his first term . The White House remained accessible in other ways ; President Abraham Lincoln complained that he was constantly beleaguered by job seekers waiting to ask him for political appointments or other favors , or eccentric dispensers of advice like " General " Daniel Pratt , as he began the business day . Lincoln put up with the annoyance rather than risk alienating some associate or friend of a powerful politician or opinion maker . In 1974 , a stolen Army helicopter landed without authorization on the White House grounds . Twenty years later , in 1994 , a light plane crashed on the White House grounds , and the pilot died instantly . As a result of increased security regarding air traffic in the capital , the White House was evacuated in 2005 before an unauthorized aircraft could approach the grounds . On May 20 , 1995 , primarily as a response to the Oklahoma City bombing of April 19 , 1995 , the United States Secret Service closed off Pennsylvania Avenue to vehicular traffic in front of the White House from the eastern edge of Lafayette Park to 17th Street . Later , the closure was extended an additional block to the east to 15th Street , and East Executive Avenue , a small street between the White House and the Treasury Building . During the Boston Marathon Bombings , the road was closed to the public in its entirety for a period of two days . The Pennsylvania Avenue closing has been opposed by organized civic groups in Washington , D . C . They argue that the closing impedes traffic flow unnecessarily and is inconsistent with the well - conceived historic plan for the city . As for security considerations , they note that the White House is set much farther back from the street than numerous other sensitive federal buildings are . Prior to its inclusion within the fenced compound that now includes the Old Executive Office Building to the west and the Treasury Building to the east , this sidewalk served as a queuing area for the daily public tours of the White House . These tours were suspended in the wake of the September 11 attacks . In September 2003 , they resumed on a limited basis for groups making prior arrangements through their Congressional representatives or embassies in Washington for foreign nationals and submitting to background checks , but the White House remained closed to the public . However , as of March 9 , 2013 , White House tours have been suspended due to budget constraints after sequestration . The White House Complex is protected by the United States Secret Service and the United States Park Police . NASAMS ( Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System ) were used to guard air space over Washington , D . C . during the 2005 presidential inauguration . The same NASAMS units have since been used to protect the president and all air space around the White House , which is strictly prohibited to aircraft .