Like Columbus stumbling onto the New World, we continue to discover new AWC's. Today is 222 years since the cornerstone was laid for the White House, or the Executive Mansion as they called it at the time, on October 13, 1792. Construction finished in 1800, and John Adams was the first president to occupy the building, relocating from the temporary capital at Philadelphia for the last few months of his presidency.

The building was burned by the British in 1814 during the War of 1812. Dolly Madison is credited for personally saving a portrait of George Washington during the chaos. When the building was reconstructed after the war, white paint was supposedly applied to cover the burn marks, giving the mansion its distinctive hue.

The White House has undergone extensive renovations throughout its history. Theodore Roosevelt needed more space for his rambunctious brood of six children, and relocated all work spaces into the new West Wing in 1901. (Roosevelt also officially named the building the White House, although it had been informally referred to by that name for decades.) The first Oval Office was added during the William Howard Taft administration in 1909, and was relocated to its current spot in 1934. The White House became one of Washington's first wheelchair-accessible buildings during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, who was partially paralyzed. By Harry Truman's presidency, the building was in danger of collapse due to poor maintenance. Truman spent two years of his presidency living across the street while the building underwent a complete structural overhaul from 1949-1951, the last major architectural changes made to the building.

While the architecture has been preserved since Truman, the interior of the White House has continued to evolve. Jacqueline Kennedy undertook a major restoration and interior decorating project during her husband's presidency in the 1960s, bringing many artifacts and antiques into the building, while Pat Nixon brought over 600 artifacts into the White House. Richard Nixon had a single-lane bowling alley installed in the basement in 1970, while Jimmy Carter's administration was the first to bring computers and laser printing into the building later in the decade. The most notable change made during the Barack Obama presidency might be the solar panels on the roof, which were installed to provide power to the first family's living quarters.

Security has changed a bit since the 19th century, when it was said Thomas Jefferson was just as likely to open the door when you knocked as anyone else. The section of Pennsylvania Avenue around the building is completely closed to vehicle traffic, and the occasional fence-jumper aside, visitors are thoroughly screened. Still, the building is open for tours five days out of seven, and 30,000 people drop by for a visit every week.

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