The Grounds

Table Of Content

• George H.W. Bush's Additions
• The Vice President’s Residence & Office
• The First Second Family
• Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Roundtable Discussion on Nursing Home Care
• The History
• The Vice President's official residence is Number One Observatory Circle
• National Security Council member[change change source]

She always fights for the people – from her barrier-breaking time as District Attorney of San Francisco and Attorney General of California, to proudly serving as a United States Senator and the Vice President. The house was officially opened in September 1975 but was first occupied by then-Vice President Walter Mondale in January of 1977. It was originally brick red it got a feather grey coat in 1960, and later in 1963, it was painted white with black shutters. The design of the house was done by an architect by the name Leon E. Dessez in the year 1893 for a total budget of $20,000. The house was intended for occupation by the Superintendent of the Nasal Observatory.

George H.W. Bush's Additions

Window frames and mullions were painted the same gray, and shutters were painted olive green. The interior was furnished mostly with the personal furnishings of the Naval Observatory superintendent and later those of the chief of naval operations. Period photographs of the interior show middle-class nineteenth-century furnishings in various styles, including Eastlake. Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. was the last Navy official to live in the house, which was designated as the home for vice presidents in 1974. The 9,000-square-foot Queen Anne-style house, with a library, basement kitchen and several bedrooms, was designed by the Washington architect Leon E. Dessez. It was built in 1893 and was originally intended for the superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory, a scientific agency that moved to the site the same year from its original home in Washington’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood.

The Vice President’s Residence & Office

Mondale's daughter, Eleanor, has said the vice president's house is haunted and claimed she had to call the Secret Service into her room after she reportedly saw a ghost in her bedroom. Numerous renovations have been made on the house starting with the first renovation after formalization in 1976 which cost $ 276,000 for the replacement of window units. When the Bush family moved in, in 1981, they spent $187,000 on carpeting, upholstery and furniture. Another $34,000 was spent the next year by the Navy fixing the porch roof. Walls destroyed by water seepage were fixed using $225,000 while a master bedroom was built with $8,000. Children’s bedrooms were added on the third floor, a wheel chair accessible entrance was made, and the master bathroom was upgraded.

The First Second Family

Forming a bipartisan coalition, they enacted a $1 trillion investment in the country’s infrastructure to remove every lead pipe in America and make the most significant investment in public transit, repairing bridges, and high-speed Internet in history. This was done to replace or renovate the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, ventilation and electric systems. The porch and the family rooms were also upgraded on the second floor.

Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Roundtable Discussion on Nursing Home Care

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In 2012, Joe and Jill Biden created the Family Heritage Garden of the Vice President, located just off the front lawn. Stone pavers surrounding a fountain commemorate all of the vice-presidential family members (including kids and pets!) that have ever called Number One Observatory Circle home. Prior to 1974, vice presidents lived in their own homes, and those who did not own properties in or around Washington were put up in hotels, according to the New York Times.

Vice President Gerald Ford acceded to the Presidency before he could use the home, and his Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller, only used it for entertaining. It has since been home to the families of Vice Presidents Bush, Quayle, Gore, Cheney and Biden. Eventually, Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff will move in after repairs have been made.

The Office of the Vice President includes personnel staff who directly support or advise the vice president of the United States. It is primarily office is in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building with offices for the vice president also in the West Wing of the White House, the United States Capitol, and in the vice president's official residence. Before 1974, Vice Presidents and their families lived in their own home, but the cost of securing these private homes had grown substantially over the years. After years of debate, Congress agreed to refurbish the house at the Naval Observatory as a home for the Vice President.

George H.W. Bush had a horseshoe pit added during his time as vice president under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s so he could enjoy one of his favorite pastimes. He also loved jogging the grounds so much that he continued to do so even after being elected president in 1988. Congress actually first designated Number One Observatory Circle as the vice president's residence in 1974, but no one moved in for three years. According to the White House, this is because "Vice President Gerald Ford acceded to the Presidency before he could use the home, and his Vice President, Nelson Rockefeller, only used it for entertaining."

National Security Council member[change change source]

As the president of the Senate, the vice president may preside over impeachment trials, although the Constitution does not specifically require it. When the president is on trial, the constitution requires that the chief justice of the United States must preside.[6] No vice president has ever been impeached. Article I, Section 3, Clause 4, gives the vice president the title President of the Senate, authorizing the vice president to preside over the Senate. The vice president is responsible for maintaining order, allowing members to speak, and explain the Senate's rules and practices. Three years passed before any Vice President actually lived at Number One Observatory Circle.

Since the mid-1970s, the vice president has had a mansion of his (now her) own as well, and though it's not as well known as the White House, it's pretty fancy and historic in its own right. Most people probably know that the U.S. president lives and works in the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., in Washington, D.C., one of the most famous homes on the planet, and a symbol of the power and prestige of the presidency. From 1921 until 1947, General John Pershing occupied the room as Army Chief of Staff and Chairman of the Battle Monuments Commission. Pershing’s occupancy of the office was interrupted only once during these 26 years, when President Hoover was forced to relocate his offices following a Christmas Eve fire in the West Wing in 1929.

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It was removed from the Spanish Cruiser Christabal Colom by the crew of the USS Montgomery after the battle of Santiago in July 1898. The second floor has two bedrooms, an office and a den, and the third floor has four additional bedrooms. It is also rumored to have a bunker, according to the book “Number One Observatory Circle” by Charles Denyer.

Well, we need to thank them every day, not just during the height of a crisis, because the work they do is that essential. Kamala Harris is the 49th and current vice president of the United States. She is the first African American, first Asian American, and first female occupant of the office. The vice president-elect of the United States is the candidate who has won the United States presidential election along with the presidential candidate and is awaiting inauguration to become the vice president.

Neighbours complained of noise from construction and digging coming from the property in 2002, just after 9/11 and as America went to war. The exact details of the property’s security are classified, but it has been suspected that an underground bunker exists that can withstand nuclear warfare. Each Vice-President has added their own touches, with Dan Quayle adding a pool and George H. W. Bush adding a jogging track. There is a dining room, garden room, living room, lounges, pantry kitchen, reception hall, sitting room, and outside terrace. It is located around two-and-a-half miles from the White House on the grounds of the US Naval Observatory (USNO) in Washington D.C.

The Gores oversaw a complete redecoration, the addition of a new dining-room table, new furniture for the library, and a substantial renovation of the grounds and porches to make them more suitable for outdoor entertaining. Immediately before the Cheneys moved in, some needed work on the air conditioning and heating was performed and the interiors were repainted. The Cheneys brought several pieces of contemporary art into the house. In addition to the Vice President’s Office in the West Wing, the Vice President and his or her staff maintain a set of offices in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB), located next to the West Wing on the White House premises. And, again, for residents, this will mean more staff, which means fewer ER visits potentially, more independence for families.