Need To Save A Picture? Scan It, Like This White House Photo, For Memories
History Lives On Thanks to Digital Photos
Is there any building more recognizable than the White House?
You studied it in school, constantly see it on television and read about it in the newspaper. It’s an image you and the rest of the world know well.
But have you seen the first photograph ever taken of this amazing building? The image dates back to 1846, and the credit goes to Welsh daguerreotypist John Plumbe, Jr. (In case you were wondering – and you wouldn’t be the first! – a daguerreotypist produces photos on silver or silver-covered copper plates.)
It’s a rich piece of history, and we’re lucky to have the picture. Scan historical photos like it so the past can live on. So people years from now can look at it and think, So this is what the White House looked in the mid 1800s. The president in 1846 was James K. Polk, our nation’s 11th commander-in-chief and a North Carolina native.
The White House, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, has been called the President’s Palace and the Executive Mansion. George Washington first named it the President’s House. Architect James Hoban drew up the design, which took about eight years to complete. Despite Washington’s efforts to construct the White House, John Adams was actually the first president to live in it.
The White House has been rebuilt, renovated and expanded multiple times, in part because of damaging fires. (But a picture? Scan it and it lasts indefinitely, serving as a memory that can be built upon.) In its current state, the storied, six-level building has 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms. (President Theodore Roosevelt is responsible for the famous West Wing.) In total, the president’s home and office run about 55,000 square feet in size, and the fence around it encloses 18 acres.
Running water was introduced in 1833, central heating in 1837 and running hot water in 1853. Today, the vast, historic building is teeming with Blackberries and Bluetooth.
