New York
Washington is still an open-air construction site, this November 1, 1800, when John Adams arrives there in a horse-drawn carriage, after an interminable journey from his land in Quincy, Massachusetts.
The spectacle offered to the Second President of the United States fills him with pleasure: this
"executive mansion"
that he is about to invest for the first time, barely a year after the death of the father of the nation, George Washington, impresses with his majesty and his imposing dimensions.
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The Irish architect James Hoban designed it to attract the attention of residents as well as that of foreign dignitaries, a bit disdainful still vis-à-vis this stammering Republic.
Adams, soon joined by his wife, Abigail, who appreciates the "
romantic, although a little wild
"
surroundings
, quickly becomes disillusioned.
The unfinished building is traversed by icy drafts, forcing the courageous Abigail to dry the laundry of the "
first family
" in the brand new east living room, a single room by little.
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