The Irish-born architect James Hoban designed the White House, and George Washington chose his entry from nine competition proposals on July 16, 1792. The cornerstone was laid that October, and John Adams became the first president to live there on November 1, 1800.
Hoban's Neoclassical design was modeled on Dublin's Leinster House and draws on ideas from Vitruvius and Palladio. The walls are Aquia Creek sandstone, whitewashed after construction, over a lining of brick. The semicircular South Portico was completed in 1824, and the North Portico followed around 1829. The West Wing, home of the Oval Office, was expanded in 1909.
British forces burned the house on August 24, 1814, leaving only the walls, and it was rebuilt by 1817. From 1948 to 1952 the interior was taken apart and given a steel frame. Today the house has six stories and 132 rooms.
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