The White House

Short History Of...

Noiser

History

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The White House, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., is perhaps the most recognisable home in the world. Built soon after the Americans won their independence from Britain at the end of the 18th century, it has been the stage upon which various seismic moments in the history of America and across the globe have played out. So how did this iconic building come to exist? What monumental events have occurred within its walls? And how does the White House itself reflect America’s ever-changing role in the world? This is a Short History Of The White House A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Kate Andersen Brower, author of The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House. Written by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Produced by Kate Simants | Assistant Producer: Nicole Edmunds | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay, Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact Check: Sean Coleman Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Join our Family Day Out and help build the new Children's Cancer Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
0:06.0	RBC Race for the Kids, a family festival and really fun, fun run, is back in London's Hyde Park on Saturday the 11th of October.
0:15.0	Walk, run, wheel or scoot, 2K or 5K, and enjoy a day of live music, games and more, all while supporting
0:23.4	Great Ormond Street Hospital charity. Kids go free. Visit race.gosh.org.
0:30.2	I'm Julie Andrews and it is my great pleasure to bring you Jane Austen Stories, the new show
0:37.4	from the Noisiser Podcast Network.
0:40.4	I'll be reading Pride and Prejudice. We'll walk grand estates and take tea with well-dressed
0:48.2	gentlewomen, but in this tranquil corner of England, not everything is quite as it appears.
0:55.9	Listen to Jane Austen stories wherever you get your podcasts.
1:00.9	It is the 24th of August 1814, Washington, D.C.
1:05.5	The capital of the United States of America is on fire.
1:16.5	An enslaved African-American man stands at an upstairs window in the White House, the presidential mansion, looking out over the city. Born on the estate of President
1:23.6	James Madison and his wife Dolly, he has become a valued servant and now works as a valley.
1:30.3	But the house in which he serves the Madison's is almost empty.
1:34.3	The room behind him is strewn with belongings left behind by the President in his hurry to escape. Standing frozen to the spot, the young man gazes down the length of Pennsylvania Avenue
1:49.0	to where the capital building, the seat of the United States Congress, stands proudly
1:54.0	on a slight hill.
1:56.0	It is a blaze, an incandescent beacon lighting up the night sky for miles around.
2:02.6	Dark plumes of smoke spiral upwards, blotting out the moon and stars on what had promised to be a beautiful summer's night.
2:10.6	As he watches, several of the capitals' windows shatter in the heat, sending glinting shards of glass in all directions.
2:20.3	And now, those responsible for the destruction are heading towards the White House,
2:26.3	towards him.
	...

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