<P> The building was originally variously referred to as the "President's Palace", "Presidential Mansion", or "President's House". The earliest evidence of the public calling it the "White House" was recorded in 1811 . A myth emerged that during the rebuilding of the structure after the Burning of Washington, white paint was applied to mask the burn damage it had suffered, giving the building its namesake hue . The name "Executive Mansion" was used in official contexts until President Theodore Roosevelt established the formal name by having "White House--Washington" engraved on the stationery in 1901 . The current letterhead wording and arrangement "The White House" with the word "Washington" centered beneath goes back to the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt . </P> <P> Although the structure was not completed until some years after the presidency of George Washington, there is speculation that the name of the traditional residence of the President of the United States may have derived from Martha Washington's home, White House Plantation in Virginia, where the nation's first President had courted the First Lady in the mid-18th century . </P> <P> On Saturday, November 1, 1800, John Adams became the first president to take residence in the building . During Adams' second day in the house, he wrote a letter to his wife Abigail, containing a prayer for the house . Adams wrote: </P> <P> I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this House, and all that shall hereafter inhabit it . May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof . </P>

Who was president when the white house was built