# Has the White House always been 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 17, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651 "2014-05-17T19:54:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/1 "2014-05-17T19:54:12Z")
When the White House was constructed, was Pennsylvania Avenue already so named? Did the Executive Mansion always sit at 1600? If not, when did it get that address? Has it ever been thought to be at any other address? Thanks to all who reply. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/2 "2014-05-17T21:05:53Z")
Sorry, but I can’t find any reference to a prior street address. However I did find one interesting note. The official street address of the White House is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. But the street runs the length of the city and there’s also a Pennsylvania Avenue SE. At the moment, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE is a [vacant lot](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1600+Pennsylvania+Ave+SE,+Southeast+Washington,+Washington,+District+of+Columbia+20003&hl=en&ll=38.878155,-76.98104&spn=0.004727,0.010568&sll=38.878659,-76.981679&layer=c&cbp=13,70.64,,0,3.19&cbll=38.878639,-76.98167&hnear=1600+Pennsylvania+Ave+SE,+Washington,+District+of+Columbia+20003&t=m&z=17&panoid=Isek091vDuMq-CPuhxBgXw) (the closest street address in use is a McDonalds at 1539 Pennsylvania Ave). But a real estate developer is supposedly planning on buying the property and putting up an [apartment complex](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/wp/2013/07/09/an-almost-presidential-address-developers-plan-apartment-for-1600-pennsylvania-se/) at the address. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/3 "2014-05-17T21:15:41Z")
Fun fact. If you google 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, you get a link to this Zillow real estate listing [http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482\_zpid/](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482_zpid/) Apparently this single family home (The White House) has an attached garage and forced air heat. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/4 "2014-05-17T21:51:21Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Fun fact. If you google 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, you get a link to this Zillow real estate listing [http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482\_zpid/](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482_zpid/) > > Apparently this single family home (The White House) has an attached garage and forced air heat. I hear one of the previous owners put in an office, but I don’t know if they pulled a permit when they finished the basement. People think getting a permit for finishing a basement is a waste of money, but if the inspectors didn’t make sure the insulation was up to code before the walls were closed up the neighbors are going to complain about the noise every time your friends want to use the bowling alley. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/5 "2014-05-17T22:42:27Z")
“[1596](http://babysimpson.co.uk/gallery/frames/11/babf13/149.jpg)…[1598](http://babysimpson.co.uk/gallery/frames/11/babf13/150.jpg)…” ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/6 "2014-05-18T01:23:01Z")
Future Bart Simpson makes a good point. What else is on Pennsylvania Avenue? Has it always been the same kind of neighborhood? I sort of imagine that the demographics would change over two and a half centuries. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/7 "2014-05-18T01:33:38Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Future Bart Simpson makes a good point. What else is on Pennsylvania Avenue? > Has it always been the same kind of neighborhood? I sort of imagine that the demographics would change over two and a half centuries. There originally was no neighbourhood. The White House was essentially a country estate when it was built. The city grew up around it. This is a [picture](http://www.whitehousehistory.org/history/white-house-timelines/images/african-americans-1830s.jpg) of the White House in the 1830’s. The population of Washington according to the 1830 census was 18,826. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/8 "2014-05-18T02:48:35Z")
Pennsylvania Ave. was always called that, because it’s part of L’Enfant’s original plan for Washington DC, drawn up before the White House was planned, let alone built. And it was one of the first avenues constructed. The address would logically be 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW because the location is at what was the intersection of 16th St. NW and Pennsylvania Ave. NW. I’m pretty sure that the numbering of the streets was there from the beginning. L’Enfant’s design produced a grid with numbered streets north-south and lettered streets east-west, with the center being the intersection of Independence Ave. and Capitol St., the site of the Capitol Building. Diagonal boulevards, avenues named after the states, were designed to provide vistas eminating from the major buildings. AFAIK, the lettering, numbering, stating scheme was there from the beginning, at least from the beginning of the actual construction. Technically, the avenues were named by surveyor Andrew Ellicott after L’Enfant got booted off the project, but were probably intended all along. > [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Fun fact. If you google 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, you get a link to this Zillow real estate listing [http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482\_zpid/](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482_zpid/) > > Apparently this single family home (The White House) has an attached garage and forced air heat. That’s terrifically cool. ---
**Author:** ![randompattern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@randompattern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randompattern)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/9 "2014-05-18T03:05:14Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Fun fact. If you google 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, you get a link to this Zillow real estate listing [http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482\_zpid/](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482_zpid/) > > Apparently this single family home (The White House) has an attached garage and forced air heat. Powered by HOT air.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/10 "2014-05-18T03:10:36Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Fun fact. If you google 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, you get a link to this Zillow real estate listing [http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482\_zpid/](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482_zpid/) > > Apparently this single family home (The White House) has an attached garage and forced air heat. Meh. Too small. No “Great” room. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/11 "2014-05-18T03:48:28Z")
> [@Little\_Pig](#): > > Meh. Too small. No “Great” room. Does it have granite? Hardwood floors? Stainless steel appliances? Open concept? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/12 "2014-05-18T03:53:38Z")
> [@Pai325](#): > > Does it have granite? Hardwood floors? Stainless steel appliances? Open concept? Well, according to the link it does have hardwood floors, though they don’t say say what type of flooring the Situation Room has. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/13 "2014-05-18T03:58:50Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > Fun fact. If you google 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, you get a link to this Zillow real estate listing [http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482\_zpid/](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1600-Pennsylvania-Ave-NW-Washington-DC-20006/84074482_zpid/) > > Apparently this single family home (The White House) has an attached garage and forced air heat. Funny…aren’t they required to disclose the fire damage from 1812? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/14 "2014-05-18T04:05:13Z")
It would be interesting to find out when the streets and houses were numbered. For that matter, when did they begin custom of having only even house numbers on one side of the street, and vice versa? In L.A. researching local history can be notoriously difficult, because many pre-annexation municipalities had their own numbering systems and different street names to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/15 "2014-05-18T04:45:12Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > It would be interesting to find out when the streets and houses were numbered. For that matter, when did they begin custom of having only even house numbers on one side of the street, and vice versa? In L.A. researching local history can be notoriously difficult, because many pre-annexation municipalities had their own numbering systems and different street names to boot. I’ve read that in Tokyo, buildings are numbered in the order they’re constructed. So you could be traveling down a street and see consecutive buildings numbered 41, 5, 708, 94, 393, 77. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/16 "2014-05-18T07:52:04Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Funny…aren’t they required to disclose the fire damage from 1812? Since the building was gutted leaving just the exterior walls and roof and rebuilt during the Truman years, I’d imagine that took care of any remaining fire damage. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/17 "2014-05-18T10:31:32Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Funny…aren’t they required to disclose the fire damage from 1812? Well, you don’t have disclose anything until you accept an offer, so we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/18 "2014-05-18T13:24:41Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Funny…aren’t they required to disclose the fire damage from 1812? nitpick, the burning was in 1814 durning War of 1812 but I know what you meant so I don’t mean it to be rude ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/19 "2014-05-18T14:54:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > This is a [picture](http://www.whitehousehistory.org/history/white-house-timelines/images/african-americans-1830s.jpg) of the White House in the 1830’s. The population of Washington according to the 1830 census was 18,826. At that time, that’s all there was of it – what you saw was what you got. Various interesting [expansion plans were subsequently proposed](http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/special/renovation-1889.htm) to greatly enlarge it. The expansion that was finally done was architecturally brilliant – the east and west wings were built at a low elevation and obscured by shrubbery, so that it still looks just like the original building instead of a vast complex, but in reality the place is absolutely huge. You can see this [here](http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/overview.htm) when you scroll down a bit. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651/20 "2014-05-18T15:12:17Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > It would be interesting to find out when the streets and houses were numbered. There were street numbers of residents and businesses at least as early as an 1862 DC street directory, but the “President’s House” was simply listed as > [@](#): > > LINCOLN ABRAHAM, President United States, Executive Mansion Penn Av btw 15th and 17th West Also, in the general press, the term “1600 Pennsylvania Ave.” to refer to the White House doesn’t appear until 1906 or so. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-the-white-house-always-been-1600-pennsylvania-avenue/688651.md?page=2)