The property is centrally located just two blocks from the country's most important residential address and is also in close proximity to many noteworthy business and arts institutions including the World Bank, the Treasury Department, the International Monetary Fund, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, known for its extensive collection of 18th, 19th, and 20th century American art. From the property, it is a picturesque walk through leafy Lafayette Square, named in 1804 in honor of General Lafayette of France, and then farther to the South, the National Mall, where the spectacular Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial are truly awe-inspiring sights.

The White House is the official home and principal workplace of the President of the United States of America. Like the English and Irish country houses it was modeled on, the White House was, from the start, open to the public until the early part of the twentieth century. President Thomas Jefferson held an open house for his second inaugural in 1805, and many of the people at his swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol followed him home, where he greeted them in the Blue Room.