32 Bathrooms in One House?

By Lydia Owens and Montana Smith

That’s right! There are 32 bathrooms, 132 rooms, 147 windows, 412 doors, 12 chimneys, 3 elevators, 1 swimming pool, 1 movie theater, 1 library, 1 bowling alley, 1 horseshoe pit, and 1 putting green, for golfing, and an office shaped like an oval.  It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.  You’ve probably guessed by now that it’s the White House.

Did you know that there have been several different White Houses? When our country first began, in 1776, the White House was located in New York.  Then there was a second White House in New York, and then one in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Eventually, it was decided that the White House should be built on new land, donated by states, between the south and the north, and the new land was called the District of Columbia.  (That’s what D.C. stands for.)

It took eight years to build the White House where all of our presidents except for George Washington have lived.  The White House even had to be re-built after a fire that was set by the British soldiers in 1814.  The president at the time, Madison, and his wife and family, escaped long before the fire started, because they knew the British were coming.  Luckily, it started raining before the entire White House was burned, but there was still plenty of damage.  It wasn’t until the next presidency in 1817 that anyone lived in the White House again.

It’s pretty amazing to think that for over 200 years, our presidents, their families and their pets have lived in the same house; our White House.  
If you would like to learn more about the White House, click here. 

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