Submitted by jrjacobs on Wed, 2013-03-20 15:08. The National
Journal posted a story about the renovation of the White House
in the years after WWII. See the photos from the National
Archives via the Truman Library. Experts called the third floor
of the White House "an outstanding example of a firetrap." The
result of a federally commissioned report found the mansion's
plumbing "makeshift and unsanitary," while "the structural
deterioration [was] in 'appalling degree,' and threatening
complete collapse." The congressional commission on the matter
was considering the option of abandoning the structure
altogether in favor of a built-from-scratch mansion, but
President Truman lobbied for the restoration. "It perhaps would
be more economical from a purely financial standpoint to raze
the building and to rebuild completely," he testified to
Congress in February 1949. "In doing so, however, there would be
destroyed a building of tremendous historical significance in
the growth of the nation." So it had to be gutted.