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Commission on Renovation of the Executive Mansion:
In February of 1949, the committee sent a detailed summary of their findings and a general plan for reconstruction at an estimated cost of $5,412,000. On April 14, 1949, Public Law 40 was enacted to establish the six-member Commission on Renovation of the Executive Mansion. The Commission was charged with recommending a plan for the preservation of historical material and the sale, donation, destruction, or other disposition of the remainder. They were also to decide what type of operation was to be undertaken - partial demolition, full demolition reusing old materials, or full demolition using new materials.
The committee came up with five plans, all involving the same approximate cost (within about 10 percent) and about the same amount of time:
After much deliberation and after seeking expert advice, the Commission decided to recommend plan one above: preserving in place the outer walls and reconstructing the building within, following the general historical plan for the interior spaces.
- To retain the exterior walls in place and to reconstruct the interior within these walls
- To demolish and reuse the exterior stones and to reconstruct the entire building
- To demolish the building without reusing any existing materials and to rebuild in marble
- To demolish the building without reusing any existing materials and to rebuild in granite
- To demolish the building without reusing any existing materials and to rebuild in limestone
Not everyone agreed that this was the best plan. Letters were sent, political cartoons were drawn, and newspaper editorials were written by people expressing their viewpoints.
Letter 1 (Part 1)
Letter 1 (Part 2)
ResponseLetter 2
Response
Workmen took the White House apart piece by piece in order to save and reuse everything they could. Then bulldozers completely gutted the inside and dug a new two-story basement. Only the four walls were left standing. A new steel framework was put up. Two floors were built to look much as they had before. The total cost to remodel the White House was $5,761,000.
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