section_path: History, 1789–1909/Washington's bow window
section_name: Washington's bow window
paragraph_text: Washington's bow window
  
  The White House was not ready for occupancy until 1800. George Washington never occupied the White House. He spent most of his presidency in Philadelphia, which served as the temporary national capital for 10 years, from 1790 to 1800, while Washington, D.C., a new city, was under construction.
  
  In 1790, Washington built a large, two-story, semi-circular addition to the rear of the President's House in Philadelphia, creating a ceremonial space in which the public would meet the president. Standing before the three windows of this bow window, he formally received guests for his Tuesday afternoon audiences, delegations from Congress and foreign dignitaries, and the general public at open houses on New Year's Day, the Fourth of July, and his birthday.
  
  Washington received his guests, standing between the windows in his back drawing-room. The company, entering a front room and passing through an unfolding door, made their salutations to the President, and turning off, stood on one side.
  
  President John Adams occupied the Philadelphia mansion from March 1797, and used the bow window in the same manner as had his predecessor.
  
  Curved foundations of Washington's bow window were uncovered during archaeological excavation of the site of the President's House in 2007. They are exhibited under glass at the President's House Commemoration, next to the Liberty Bell Center.