North Lawn

The President's Front Yard

The north lawn is the president's front yard. It has many old trees and other plantings, some of which date back nearly the full two hundred years of the White House's existence.

James Polk added a statue of Thomas Jefferson to the north lawn. This statue was later moved to the Capitol Building.

In the time of President Tyler, the acclaimed author Charles Dickens wrote of his visit:

The President's mansion is more like an English clubhouse, both within and without, than any other kind of establishment with which I can compare it. The ornamental ground about it has been laid out in garden walks; they are pretty, and agreeable to the eye; though they have that uncomfortable air of having been made yesterday, which is far from favorable to the display of such beauties.

...

I went, with my wife, at about ten. There was a pretty dense crowd of carriages and people in the courtyard, and so far as I could make out, there were no very clear regulations for the taking up or setting down of company. There were certainly no policemen to soothe startled horses, either by sawing at their bridles or flourishing truncheons in their eyes. But there was no confusion or disorder. Our carriage reached the porch in its turn, without any blustering, shouting, backing or other disturbance; and we dismounted with as much ease and comfort as though we had been escorted by the whole Metropolitan force.