# White House - Out House? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 3, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972 "2003-07-03T06:57:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Upham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Upham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Upham)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/1 "2003-07-03T06:57:34Z")
Did the White House have an out house? That is, before we found our selves in the golden age of flushing and sewage lines, where did Madison do his Presidential business? Was it white too? ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/2 "2003-07-03T07:52:22Z")
I’d imagine his was brown, like everyone else’s. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/3 "2003-07-03T08:08:38Z")
Okay, I was talking out of my ass there (hah hah) but I googled for “white house” and “indoor plumbing” and [found this:](http://www.theplumber.com/white.html) It describes > [@](#): > > … a $500,000 project in 1902 during the Theodore Roosevelt administration. The principal innovation was the construction of the West Wing … plumbing was a central part of the plan, as bathrooms were installed and pipes and electrical wiring replaced as part of the first floor refurbishment. … The ensuing report explained, “In the house proper, more than one half of the lower floors is given up to dressing rooms, with toilet rooms attached, conveniences heretofore entirely lacking.” Because this site is “[theplumber.com](http://theplumber.com),” I’m assuming they mean “toilet rooms” in the sense we’d used them today, though they might mean the old-fashion sense of dressing room. And [this site:](http://www.trumanlibrary.org/abierowe/whitehse.htm) > [@](#): > > Burned to the exterior walls in 1814, further compromised by the successive additions of indoor plumbing, gas lighting, electric wiring, heating ducts, and major modifications in 1902 and 1927, some said the White House was standing only from the force of habit. So there must, indeed, have been some sort of “outbuilding” there. Maybe Cecil could enlighten us to its location. If you visit Abraham Lincoln’s home in Springfield, Illinois, you can enter the very same outhouse his family used. A three-seater, if memory serves. As a side note – the sewage system of Washington is so old and shoddy that whenever there are heavy rains, raw sewage is dumped into the Anacostia River. As this system includes the White House lines, it’s certain that President Shit winds up floating down the river there. There’s a metaphor here for those who want to don some heavy gloves and muck around for it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/4 "2003-07-03T08:14:00Z")
Grover Cleveland, IIRC, was quite fond of relieving himself through his office window. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/5 "2003-07-03T11:55:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dutchboy208 \* > \*\*Grover Cleveland, IIRC, was quite fond of relieving himself through his office window. \*\* If you remember correctly? Funny, you don’t sound that old from your posts. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/6 "2003-07-03T13:13:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Satisfying Andy Licious \* > \*\*I’d imagine his was brown, like everyone else’s. \*\* 😃 I drank 64 oz of blue\* PowerAde™ and had blue-green-ish waste for the whole next day. \*wtf flavour _is_ blue, anyways? ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/7 "2003-07-03T16:34:24Z")
How about bright green? A few days before Halloween one year, I ate a bagel that had been dyed orange and black. It turned out that they got the black color by saturating half the bagel with green food dye. I found this out the next day, when I saw that my solid waste had turned a bright kelly green. The effect lasted a good three days before things got back to normal. ---
**Author:** ![Upham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Upham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Upham)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/8 "2003-07-04T04:05:14Z")
Ok, as much as the color variations of the solid waste of several people i’ve never met fascinate me (be sure, i’m impressed) I’ve got a real question here - perhaps not a great one, but a question none the less. Was there a White House out house, and where was it? Is it on the tour? Before the burning of the White House during the war of 1812, where did Jefferson and Adams excrete their business? ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/9 "2003-07-04T04:35:20Z")
Now you’ve got me wondering about this, too. I imagined various presidents demanding new outhouses be dug when administrations changed, so they wouldn’t have to put up with the aroma of their predecessors. I pictured Thomas Jefferson designing an outhouse with a stately and classical dome. Andrew Jackson would have an old hickory one with the crescent moon cutout, etc. I imagine archeologists digging through the debris to find which presidents used corn cobs, who was the first to tear a page out of the Sear’s catalog, and so on. I sure wish Cecil would step in and clarify matters. But I did some digging around and [on this site,](http://prop1.org/park/pave/9504cdp.htm) it says: > [@](#): > > The White House was first envisioned as an integral part of a great federal city. The architecture was to be monumental, with a Greek theme symbolizing democracy and large public parks providing the appropriate setting. … President George Washington chose the site for the city and Pierre L’Enfant drew the plan. … > A lively debate soon ensued over the design of the structure itself - whether it should be palatial or more practical. The ultimate decision establisded a strong precedent: the President would live in a house, not a palace, recognizing in the true spirit of democracy that the property belonging ultimately to the citizens. Balancing dignity with practicality and public access became a recurring issue at the White House. Abigail Adams decided that the First Family’s laundry should be hung in the East Room, rather than airing it in public.\*\* President Thomas Jefferson decided that an outhouse was inappropriate. \*\*Striking a balance between functional needs and an appropriate image for the White House remains a challenge to this day. So at least in Jefferson’s time, there apparently was not an outhouse on the White House grounds. Which means the commander in chief would have to march to some nearby building – perhaps the War Department next door – to relieve himself. Man, the job is stressful enough as it is, and then you at _that_ kind of pressure. Where’s Cecil? I really want to know where our heads of state conducted their business. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/10 "2003-07-04T04:47:58Z")
Of course, another possibility is that they all used chamber pots. (Man, I’m spending _way_ too much time on this crap.) That means someone would be in charges of emptying the executive excrement. That would make for a great resignation line: I’m not taking any more shit from the president! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/11 "2003-07-05T18:17:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Early Out \* > \*\*If you remember correctly? Funny, you don’t sound that old from your posts. 😉 \*\* You have correctly identified me as a whippersnapper… but I’m not sure if you’re saying I wouldn’t remember Cleveland, or that I’m not old enough for memory loss to have set in… 😉 I read it in a book a while back, but I wasn’t sure it was Cleveland (that pissed out of his window). ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/12 "2003-07-06T03:51:29Z")
I doubt Cecil will take up the matter of a White House outhouse anytime soon, now that he’s addressed the matter of “built like a brick shithouse.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-out-house/185972/13 "2003-07-06T04:00:50Z")
Andrew Jackson may be the only US President who was crazy as a White House shit house rat, and that he was built like a brick White House shithouse.