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Executive Makeover:
As she made her way from one shabby room to another, Mary Todd Lincoln was appalled by the torn draperies and peeling wallpaper, rickety furniture, and sagging floors of her new house. The White House might have been the largest private residence in the country, but in appearance it resembled nothing so much as third-rate hotel.
She resolved to make the place into something every American could be proud of.
The White House had undergone several changes since its original design and construction in 1792. This 1817 design drawing by architect Benjamin Latrobe shows a proposed portico, which was later constructed. |