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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat the White House Looks Like Completely Gutted
Harry S Truman inherited a White House that was in horrendous shape. After the British nearly burnt it to the ground in 1814, the construction of 20th-century innovationsindoor plumbing, electricity, and heating ductshad also taken its toll on the structure. The building was nearly 150 years old, and it showed its age. In November 1948, the building was in a near-condemnable state, as The New York Times reported:
The ceiling of the East Room, elaborately done in the frescoes of fruits and reclining women and weighing seventy pounds to the square foot, was found to be sagging six inches on Oct. 26, and now is being held in place by scaffolding and supports.... But it took the $50,000 survey authorized by Congress to disclose the fact that the marble grand staircase is in imminent danger. Supporting bricks, bought second hand in 1880, are disintegrating.
The social events of the 1948 holiday season had to be canceled. And with good reason: Experts called the third floor of the White House an outstanding example of a firetrap. The result of a federally commissioned report found the mansions plumbing makeshift and unsanitary, while the structural deterioration [was] in appalling degree, and threatening complete collapse. The congressional commission on the matter was considering the option of abandoning the structure altogether in favor of a built-from-scratch mansion, but President Truman lobbied for the restoration.
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https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/02/what-the-white-house-looks-like-completely-gutted/453999/?utm_source=digg
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What the White House Looks Like Completely Gutted (Original Post)
LiberalArkie
Jan 2021
OP
denbot
(9,898 posts)1. Way to go Harry!
K&R
Demovictory9
(32,423 posts)2. Interesting
dalton99a
(81,404 posts)3. Outstanding job.
Squinch
(50,916 posts)4. I never knew!
brer cat
(24,524 posts)5. I knew Truman had it restored, but not that it was gutted.
Dump trucks in the WH before trump even arrived! We may need them again next week.