East Wing in the context of "First Lady of the United States"

The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800 when the national capital was moved from Philadelphia. The White House is also a metonym for the Executive Office of the President.

The residence was designed by the Irish-born architect James Hoban in the Neoclassical style. Hoban modeled the building on Leinster House in Dublin, a building which today houses the Oireachtas, the Irish legislature. Constructed between 1792 and 1800, its exterior walls are Aquia Creek sandstone painted white. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he and his architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe added low colonnades on each wing to conceal what then were stables and storage. In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by British forces in the burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Exterior construction continued with the addition of the semicircular South Portico in 1824 and the North Portico in 1829.

The White House Office is an entity within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The White House Office is headed by the White House chief of staff, who is also the head of the Executive Office of the President. The staff work for and report directly to the president, including West Wing staff and the president's senior advisers. Almost all of the White House Office staff are political appointees of the president, do not require Senate confirmation and can be dismissed at the discretion of the president.

The staff of the various offices are based in the West Wing and East Wing of the White House, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and the New Executive Office Building. Senior staff, with high level, close contact with the president, have the title Assistant to the President. Second-level staff have the title Deputy Assistant to the President, and third-level staff have the title Special Assistant to the President. These aides oversee the political and policy interests of the president.

The Office of the First Lady (OFL) is the staff accountable to the first lady of the United States. The office and its responsibilities, while not constitutionally mandated, have grown as the role of the first lady has grown and formalized through the history of the United States. The Office of the First Lady is an entity of the White House Office, part of the Executive Office of the President. The physical offices were located in the White House's East Wing, prior to its demolition in October 2025. They have been temporarily relocated to other parts of the White House complex until the completion of the White House State Ballroom. The current first lady is Melania Trump, assuming office on January 20, 2025. However, she would cease living in Washington D.C. by October 2025.

The White House State Ballroom is part of a planned expansion of the White House which is meant to replace the demolished East Wing, torn down in October 2025. The site, in Washington, D.C., has been under construction since September 2025. Announced in July 2025, the purpose of the 90,000-square-foot (8,360 m) expansion is to add a venue with a higher seating capacity than the East Room for formal events such as state dinners. The project has been criticized for its funding, design, and permitting process.

The Graphics and Calligraphy Office (GCO) is a unit of the Social Office at the White House, the official residence of the president of the United States. Formerly located in the East Wing, the Graphics and Calligraphy Office coordinates and produces all non-political social invitations, place cards, presidential proclamations, letters patent, military commissions, and official greetings.