<P> The president usually travels to and from the White House grounds via official motorcade or helicopter . The journey by helicopter was inaugurated in the 1950s, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower began traveling on Marine One to and from his official residence . </P> <P> Today the group of buildings housing the presidency is known as the White House Complex . It includes the central Executive Residence flanked by the East Wing and West Wing . The Chief Usher coordinates day to day household operations . The White House includes: six stories and 55,000 ft (5,100 m) of floor space, 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms, 412 doors, 147 windows, twenty - eight fireplaces, eight staircases, three elevators, five full - time chefs, a tennis court, a (single - lane) bowling alley (officially called the Harry S. Truman Bowling Alley), a movie theater (officially called the White House Family Theater), a jogging track, a swimming pool, and a putting green . It receives up to 30,000 visitors each week . </P> <P> The original residence is in the center . Two colonnades--one on the east and one on the west--designed by Jefferson, now serve to connect the East and West Wings, added later . The Executive Residence houses the president's dwelling, as well as rooms for ceremonies and official entertaining . The State Floor of the residence building includes the East Room, Green Room, Blue Room, Red Room, State Dining Room, Family Dining Room, Cross Hall, Entrance Hall, and Grand Staircase . The Ground Floor is made up of the Diplomatic Reception Room, Map Room, China Room, Vermeil Room, Library, the main kitchen, and other offices . The second floor family residence includes the Yellow Oval Room, East and West Sitting Halls, the White House Master Bedroom, President's Dining Room, the Treaty Room, Lincoln Bedroom and Queens' Bedroom, as well as two additional bedrooms, a smaller kitchen, and a private dressing room . The third floor consists of the White House Solarium, Game Room, Linen Room, a Diet Kitchen, and another sitting room (previously used as President George W. Bush's workout room). </P> <P> The West Wing houses the President's office (the Oval Office) and offices of his senior staff, with room for about 50 employees . It also includes the Cabinet Room, where the president conducts business meetings and where the Cabinet meets, as well as the White House Situation Room, James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, and Roosevelt Room . In 2007, work was completed on renovations of the press briefing room, adding fiber optic cables and LCD screens for the display of charts and graphs . The makeover took 11 months and cost $8 million, of which news outlets paid $2 million . In September 2010, a two - year project began on the West Wing, creating a multistory underground structure; this will be followed with additional renovation of the wing . </P>

The office of president of the us was first established in the