How Did the White House Get Its Name?
How Did the White House Get Its Name? The home of the president of the United States gets its name from its white walls. But the White House wasn’t always white, and it wasn’t always called the White House. Its original color was gray, and its first name was the President’s Palace.
But because its gray sandstone walls looked white next to the red brick walls of the other public buildings, the mansion became known as the White House. When the War of 1812 started, the British troops stormed the city and took it over with plans to burn it down.
One of the buildings they set on fire was the President’s home. Fortunately, the house did not burn completely down, but the exterior got damaged due to the fire and it turned black from the smoke.
The building was painted white in 1814 to cover the scars of a fire. It has been white ever since. The president’s home was officially named the White House in 1901 by the then President Teddy Roosevelt.