Our President's Home
July 9, 2005
The White House is one of the oldest buildings in Washington. It appears on the original plan of Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant from 1791. There is a mark for the Capitol, the President’s “palace”, and for some monument dedicated to Washington.. as yet undesigned. In 1800 John and Abigail Adams took up residence here.. That first house was burned by the British in 1814, but it was reconstructed shortly afterwards according to the same plan.
The south facade, facing the Washington Monument, provides what could be called the “official” view. It is the side with which I am most familiar from news broadcasts and other official pictures.. which is curious because in my 1937 WPA guide to Washington, it is the north facade that is assumed to be best known: “Every American school child knows the north facade...” Somewhere along the way the preferred side switched. On this south side stands a round fountain surrounded by flowers, and a formal lawn slopes up toward the house. The wings of the house are obscured by trees, but the semi-circular middle, ringed by columns, stands stately in the center.
The green ellipse that stands in the block between the Washington Monument and the White House is now fenced off.. various construction vehicles stood idle as I walked past, and as with so many “approaches” to important national buildings, it was being redesigned or re-something or othered. Presumably security concerns were the cause. As matters stand, after the visitor passes the fences, he or she is cordoned into a narrow area the width of a generous sidewalk, given definition in the rear by chains hanging from short black posts. The road has long been closed to auto traffic, and behind the crowd stands a watchful police officer.
This is the narrow space from which thousands of photos are taken each day. I stood in this area for ten or fifteen minutes watching people stare and then inevitably gather for a photo. I listened also.. and although I overheard one man explaining to a friend about how the balcony on the facade was built by Truman, for the most part people were not so interested in architecture and history as they were in the pure logistics of getting their family or friends together for a photo.
Since this is the site from which millions of photos go out to millions of friends and relatives all over the world, I was glad to see that the watchful and well-armed guard had been removed from the rooftop. I cannot tell if that is general policy, or just that my guard was just on a bathroom break, but it was nice to think that all those photos would not feature a reminder of our current bristling defensive posture. I prefer more subtle defensive measures, such as the brilliant way that trees blocked and blunted indirect views of the White House. One of my pictures on the left shows how indirect angles are checked by their green presence.
This southern view of the White House, narrowed and limited as it is, is nothing to sneeze at.. It not too common around the world. If you think you can go to an Arab country.. even a relatively peaceful one like Morocco or Egypt, and get a glimpse of the personal residence of the ruler.. you will certainly be disappointed. The best you will get is a wall.. and it will be a wall that says “NO PHOTOGRPAHY” quite boldly. My fear is that eventually the White House will be too much of a security hazard, and the president will retreat to some private home.. while the White House becomes merely a popular relic. The president would then be holed up in a place such as Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.. which I can assure you (from personal experience) does not afford any public views whatsoever. So by all means, re-design, re-dig, re-tree, re-wall, re-secure.. but please, preserve a public view of the house where our president lives.
