White House West Wing

The White House West Wing is at the bottom of this picture with the White House in the center.

The Oval Office and the Presidential staff work in the West Wing.

President Theodore Roosevelt had a "temporary" office building constructed in 1902 to separate his office from the living quarters, where his wife and six children lived. Until then, what is now the Treaty Room on the second floor of the White House was at various times the Cabinet Room or the President's Office.

Following a Christmas Eve fire in 1929, renovations and restoration displaced Herbert Hoover for several months while new and improved facilities were built. In 1934 the Oval Office was moved to its current location on the southeast corner, over-looking the Rose Garden. In the 1940's, the building became known as the "West Wing."