Existing comment:
President James Monroe, Albemarle County, Va., to James Hoban, architect.
James Monroe, September 26, 1817
After the British burned the White House in 1814, President James Madison was forced to find other accommodations. When James Monroe was elected president in 1816, the White House remained unfinished. In this letter, Monroe asks architect James Hoban to finish rebuilding the White House as quickly as possible. Monroe moved in the following month when it was still unfinished. |