What Presidents and First Ladies Have Added to the White House: Photos

Buchanan’s niece, Harriet Lane, acted as White House hostess and first lady during the lifelong bachelor’s presidency. The greenhouse burned down in 1867 and was replaced with a larger one made of iron and wood, according to the White House Historical Association.

The White House conservatories included rose houses, a camellia house, orchid houses, and a palm court for tropical plants.

President Theodore Roosevelt removed the conservatories in 1902 to make room for the West Wing and built a small greenhouse that is now the site of the Smithsonian American History Museum.

The tennis court eventually became the site of the White House’s outdoor swimming pool, and a different tennis court was built. President George H.W. Bush expanded the tennis court in 1989, and Melania Trump refurbished it in 2020.

The Rose Garden was designed by George E. Burnap and Beatrix Farrand as a formal flower garden before the space was used for events and press conferences. The garden was organized in rows with a lawn in the center.

Taft originally built a “sleeping porch” while in office as a place to cool off in the summertime. When the third floor of the White House was expanded in 1927, Grace Coolidge dubbed the cozy, sunny room the “Sky Parlor,” according to the White House Historical Association. It was remodeled again in 1952 under President Harry Truman, who added a kitchenette.

Many presidents and their families have used the solarium recreationally — President Dwight Eisenhower enjoyed grilling on the Promenade outside, and President Lyndon Johnson’s teenage daughters Luci and Lynda used it as a hangout.

The pool, built between the White House and the West Wing in the west terrace, was covered up when the press briefing room was built in 1970 during President Richard Nixon’s tenure.

The theater’s decor has changed over the years — it went from green chairs and mustard curtains to white chairs and floral drapes, and then to its current all-red design.

The bowling alley was originally built on the ground floor of the West Wing, which is now the Situation Room. It moved to the Executive Office Building in 1955. The Nixons then had a one-lane bowling alley built under the North Portico in 1969.

In 1995, President Bill Clinton had the putting green moved outside the Oval Office, where it remains today.

Ford also added a cabana with changing areas and showers, as well as a tunnel from the cabana to the West Wing ground floor so that he could move between the two without going outside.

The game room, outfitted with pool and ping-pong tables, is located on the third floor of the White House.

Pool tables at the White House date back to John Quincy Adams, and many presidents have made use of them through the years. Abraham Lincoln described himself as a “billiards addict,” Eisenhower added four pool tables to Camp David, and Reagan was known for being a talented player.

The court is mostly used by presidents, their staff, and families.

Clinton used to jog around Washington, DC, but his heavy Secret Service protection disrupted traffic. A quarter-mile track along the South Lawn was built for him to use instead, at a cost of $30,000 — although, sometimes he still opted to run along the National Mall, according to reports at the time.

The Music Room provided a soundproof space on the third floor where Clinton could practice his saxophone and display music-related memorabilia. It had previously been a sitting room, John Kennedy Jr.’s preschool room, and Jack Ford’s bedroom.

Obama often played basketball with members of his staff. He and his body man, Reggie Love, even helped coach his daughter Sasha’s fourth-grade basketball team, the Vipers. President Joe Biden’s granddaughter, Maisy, was also a member of the team.

“When the Vipers won the league championships in an 18-16 nail-biter, Reggie and I celebrated like it was the NCAA finals,” Obama wrote in his memoir, “A Promised Land.”

The 2,800-square-foot garden grows a variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs, and provides around 2,000 pounds of food for the White House each year, according to the National Park Service. First lady Melania Trump has continued tending to the vegetable garden and inviting local schoolchildren to help harvest its food.

The tennis pavilion’s design was inspired by the East and West Wings of the White House, with a colonnade, parapet wall, and fanlight windows.

“I am pleased to announce the completion of the Tennis Pavilion on the White House grounds. Thank you to all of the talented craftsmen who made this project possible and to the generous supporters of the White House,” Melania Trump said in a statement released by the White House. “It is my hope that this private space will function as both a place of leisure and gathering for future First Families.”

In March, Trump told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that the lawn in the Rose Garden “just doesn’t work” for large events because the grass gets wet and women’s high heels sink into the ground. In June, workers began installing concrete and stone tile over the lawn to turn it into a patio.