He was the first president to live in the White House

Every U.S. President since John Adams has resided at the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW building in Washington, D.C., which was constructed between 1792 and 1800 from white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style. James Hoban, an Irishman, created the design. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he enlarged it outward with the help of architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, constructing two colonnades that were intended to hide stables and stores. John Adams moved into the residence for the first time on Saturday, November 1, 1800. Adams penned a letter to his wife Abigail on his second day in the residence that included a prayer for the property.

On June 3, 1800, President Adams traveled from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., where the new nation's capital was still very much under construction. Adams was compelled to live in temporary quarters at Tunnicliffe's City Hotel since the President's House, eventually known as the White House, was still far from being finished. The White House still smelled of wet plaster and paint fumes when the president eventually moved there on November 1, 1800. Every room had a roaring fireplace to keep warm and dry, and the first lady hung the president's washing in the East Room's unplastered walls. Adams only occupied the White House for a little over four months after losing the 1800 election.