East Wing

The East Wing is a part of the White House Complex. It is a two-story structure east of the White House Executive Residence, the home of the President of the United States. While the West Wing generally serves the president's executive office staff, the East Wing serves as office space for the First Lady and her staff, including the White House Social Secretary, White House Graphics and Calligraphy Office and correspondence staff. The East Wing also includes the visitors' entrance, and the East Colonnade, a corridor connecting the body of the East Wing to the residence. Along the corridor is also the White House theater, also called the Family theater. Social visitors to the White House usually enter through the East Wing.Visitors touring the White House enter through the wood-paneled lobby, where portraits of presidents and first ladies hang. They go through the Garden Room and along the East Colonnade, which has a view of the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, past the theater to the Visitors' Foyer. They enter the residence at the ground floor.HistoryPresident Jefferson added colonnaded terraces to the east and west sides of the White House, but no actual wings. Under Jackson in 1834, running water was piped in from a spring and pumped up into the east terrace in metal tubes. These ran through the walls and protruded into the rooms, controlled by spigots. Initially, the water was for washing items, but soon the first bathing rooms were created, in the ground-level east colonnade. Van Buren had shower baths installed here. The East Terrace was removed in 1866. For many years, a greenhouse occupied the east grounds of the White House.