White House Virtual Tours

White House Virtual Tour

Hey there! Thanks for coming back to join us on another virtual tour! This week’s virtual tour location is extremely exciting; given the fact you would normally need special top level security clearance to get inside access.

Welcome to the White House Virtual Tour! Located in our nation’s capital, Washington, DC is one of the most prestigious homes in the country – The White House. It is not only the home to the President of the United States, but it is also their office and where they would have to make some very important decisions.

Needless to say, the place is huge! The White House is split up into three sections, The East Wing, The Residence, and The West Wing. That is how we are going to split up this virtual tour of the White House. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s jump right into it!

The East Wing

As we enter the Visitor’s Entrance of the East Wing we walk into the Lobby. The rooms on this floor are mainly for visitors and aren’t too exciting in my opinion – but if you go up the stairs you will see the offices for the First Lady and her staff. If she’s not too busy, maybe she might pop out of her office and say hey!

Ahead of the Lobby we have the Garden Room, which goes into the East Colonnade. The East Colonnade is pretty much the hallway connecting the East Wing to the Residence. But don’t go too fast!

Check out that door around the corner on your right-hand side. That is the Family Theater where the President and his family come to watch movies and unwind, but it also serves as a nice private area where the President practices speeches for upcoming events.

Wait outside the Family Theater in the visitor’s foyer before we step into our next stop of the White House Virtual Tour, the Residence.

The Residence

From the East Wing, we enter right into the Center Hall on the ground floor of the Residence. Right now, there are two floors below us that make up of storage rooms and mechanical rooms (boring if you ask me) and there are three floors above us, which we will get to.

On our left, the first two rooms, the Vermeil Room and the China Room are storage rooms, but for some very, very fancy items. Across the hall from here is the library. It would be cool to see what our President is reading these days and what’s around from past presidents. I’m sure there are some awesome reads in there.

The next room on the left I think is really cool. This is the Diplomatic Reception Room. This is where foreign ambassadors enter the White House. Were the massive paintings on the wall the first thing you noticed too? I think that is what makes this room stand out compared to other rooms in the White House.

The door at the end of this room goes outside to the South Portico. Ahead of that is the South Lawn, which serves as a landing pad for Marine One, the President’s helicopter. I’d bet that Presidents enter the White House from the South Portico way more than they enter from the North Portico using the driveway. I can’t imagine how mad the landscapers get when they see the helicopter mess up their lawn! Okay, back inside we go.

Back in the Center Hall, if we keep going straight, we will go right into the West Wing, but before we do that, let’s see some more of the Residence.

Before we go upstairs, take a quick look at the end of the hall on the right to see the kitchen where all of the President’s meals are made by some of the best chefs in the world! The State Dining Room is right above us for the chef’s convenience. Now, let’s head upstairs.

At the top of the staircase, we enter the Cross Hall. The Entrance Hall is that area right in front of us behind those big columns, and that is the front door to the White House! If we were to go out there, we would walk into the North Portico where the front driveway is located (driveway in front, landing pad in back, the President has it all!).

First, let’s look into the East Room. This room is the largest room in the house and is used to host large events and gatherings. As you can see the three beautiful chandeliers hung from the 22 feet high ceiling makes the room look so elegant. Back in the hallway to our left are the Green Room, Blue Room, and Red Room which are all formal gathering and receiving rooms. As you can tell, the rooms are colored that way as well. The Blue Room is one of the four oval shaped rooms in the White House, the others being the Diplomatic Reception Room, the Yellow Oval Room, and the Oval Office.

At the end of the Cross Hall, we have the State Dining Room where only fancy dinners are served. As you can see it looks similar to the East Room, but it’s a little bit smaller and only has one chandelier hanging. The President and family normally eat in the smaller Family Dining Room which is to our left.

Now as we walk back to the Entrance Hall you will see the Grand Staircase which goes up to the second and third floors. Those floors are where the President and the First Family actually live. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get security clearance to show you guys his living quarters, I guess the President would like a little bit of privacy! Let’s go back down to the ground floor and we will head on over to the West Wing.

The West Wing

From the ground floor of the Residence, we head into the Palm Room of the West Wing. From here we can go two ways, either through the Press Corps Offices and Press Briefing Room, or we can stay outside and take the West Colonnade. The West Colonnade is the prettier way to go as we can see the Rose Garden on our left. The Rose Garden is a beautiful area right outside the Oval Office where the President will host press conferences and other events when the weather is nice.

We could keep going around the corner, but we will enter inside straight ahead so we can stop by the Cabinet Room. This room is where the President meets with his advisors (Anyone know the name of these advisors? Hint: It’s in the name of the room) and talk about some pretty important topics. Anyone notice how one of the brown leather chairs is a little bit taller than the rest? That’s the President’s seat and you better bet it’s off limits to anyone else. From the Cabinet Room let’s go out the south door and sneak past the President’s Secretary.

We are about to enter the Oval Office. Do you think we should knock first? As we enter one of the four doors to the Oval Office, it is cool to think about the people that have also been in here and the meetings that have taken place here. Some of the most influential people in the world have met with our President in this room.

Let’s exit the Oval Office and finish up this White House Virtual Tour at the bottom floor of the West Wing. There’s one room I’ve always wanted to see, the Situation Room. I always see it in action movies when the President has to make military decisions. Notice how this room is similar to the Cabinet Room, but it has televisions on all of the walls so the President can connect with others that are far away. From the Situation Room, the President can command the military and talk to other leaders anywhere in the world.

Closing Time

Now that was a fantastic virtual tour! I hope you enjoyed getting a peak into the White House as much as I did. It is so fascinating to me that there is so much history in this iconic house. The greatest leaders of the United States and some of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen have lived here. It is cool to think about!

Join us next time as we go one another awesome virtual tour! If you didn’t get enough, check out our other virtual tours right now!