Who designed the White House?

Who designed the White House? James Hoban designed the White House. The Irish-born architect won the competition for the presidential residence in 1792, after George Washington had encountered his work in Charleston, South Carolina.

Construction began on October 13, 1792, and the main residence was completed in 1800. Hoban’s Neoclassical design was modeled partly on Leinster House in Dublin, now the seat of Ireland’s parliament. The building’s sandstone walls were whitewashed, giving the residence its familiar color and eventually its name.

Thomas Jefferson and architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe later altered parts of the complex, including the low colonnades that concealed service areas. The building was badly damaged when British forces burned Washington in 1814, but Hoban returned to supervise its reconstruction. He also oversaw later additions, including the South Portico in 1824 and the North Portico in 1829. Thus, other architects influenced later features, but Hoban is the accepted designer of the original White House.