How Presidents Change the White House Reveals a Lot About Them

The press chastises President Trump’s White House renovation as though he were offending John Adams and James Hoban themselves. But in fact, many presidents have edited Hoban’s structure—with mixed results. 

And thereby hangs an engineering tale.

Start with President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1902, Roosevelt worked with the architect Charles McKim, of the most admired firm of the era, McKim, Mead & White. McKim undertook a massive renovation. In July, he reported that the White House was “torn to pieces,” adding that “bedlam let loose does not compare with it.” The workplace became a chaos, with the public and even workers walking off with “souvenirs” and selling them.

But in typical Roosevelt fashion, the president hurried his contractor. He set off for his summer home in Oyster Bay, Long Island, saying he wanted the work completed by the time he returned three months later.