#172 White House Historian - William Seale

The Not Old - Better Show

Paul Vogelzang

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5 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2018

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Most Famous Address in the World

White House Historian - William Seale

The President's House was a major feature of Pierre Charles L'Enfant's 1791 plan for the city of Washington. He envisioned a vast palace for the nation's leader, a building five times the size of the residence that would eventually be planned and constructed under the watchful eye of President George Washington.

Since then, the White House has been burned, reconstructed, renovated, designed, and redesigned, and it remains the home of the presidents of the United States.

In this series, four noted experts explore aspects of every corner of the famous building at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where every decision, no matter how seemingly insignificant, has political ramifications.

Our guest today, one of those experts, is William Seale, White House Historian, and someone who's written prodigiously on the subject of historic buildings and their restoration.

For more information and ticket details, please click HERE:

https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/subscriptions/series/?id=175381

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Not Old Better Show. I'm your host Paul Wocal Zang.
0:07.0	As part of our Smithsonian Associates Art of Living series,
0:11.0	our guest today on the Not old better show is author and
0:13.7	historian William Seal. William Seal has authored many many volumes on the
0:19.0	subject of historic renovation including the book The President's House,
0:22.4	the White House as History on an American
0:24.8	idea. William Seal is also editor of the award-winning journal White House History of the White House
0:30.9	Historical Association.
0:32.1	Well I think it's ironic really and interesting that when the White House was being planned by George Washington, a house five times the size and 20 feet taller than the President White House was envisioned
0:45.1	and it was called the palace by some people kind of generally. Well that was
0:49.2	whittled down to a house, just a house, small by comparison and yet today it's the most important house in the
0:55.9	world it's achieved in a sense being the palace but it's still the house George
1:00.7	Washington built that of course is our guest today, William Seal, part of a four-cession evening course on the most famous address in Washington.
1:10.0	Perspective on White House history.
1:12.0	You can find out more about the series at our website, but please
1:15.7	join me in welcoming to the Not Old Better Show via Skype, William Seal.
1:20.4	William Seal, thanks so much for joining us today.
1:23.0	I'm glad to be here.
1:25.0	Well, I have a question.
1:26.0	First off, let's start kind of at the start with you.
1:29.0	How did you become interested in historic homes, including the White House? Well, I was interested in historic homes including the White House.
1:34.0	Well I was interested in restoring historic houses and I was a historian and they wrote a book about
	...

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