The White House That Wasn’t: Unrealized History

The new issue of the White House History Quarterly magazine, titled “The White House That Wasn’t,” this seventy-ninth issue, explores alternative histories and unrealised plans related to the White House, beginning with the much larger design proposed by city planner Pierre Charles L’Enfant in 1791. The release outlines several articles, which discuss topics ranging from an artist’s vision of L’Enfant’s original plan and the President’s temporary house in Germantown, Pennsylvania, during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic, to objects like a Steinway piano that was declined and presidential myths that were proven false. The publication is produced by the White House Historical Association, a non-profit organisation founded in 1961 by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy to preserve and educate the public on the history of the Executive Mansion.