The White House, one of the most recognizable buildings in Washington, DC, was designed by James Hoban, an Irish born and trained architect who won a competition organized by President George Washington and then Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson in 1792 for design of the building.
Although President Washington oversaw the construction, he never lived in the house. President John Adams, elected in 1796 as the second President, was the first resident of the White House. Abigail Adams, President Adams' wife, was known to have complained about the largely unfinished new residence. President Thomas Jefferson, the third President, upon moving into the house in 1801, was not impressed, and dismissed the house as being too big.
When James Madison, the fourth President was in office, during the War of 1812, the British set fire to the White House and much of Washington in August 1814. Although the fire was eventually extinguished by a large summer thunderstorm, all that remanied of the White House were the outside, charred walls and the interior brick walls.
Though the name White House had been used informally for much of its first one hundred years it was President Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty sixth President, who in 1901 gave the White House its official name.
