Even at the end of the day, University President B. Joseph White will not leave the campus – it is not only his workplace, but also where his home is.

President White and his family moved into their new home at the President’s House, 711 W. Florida Ave., Jan. 21. On Monday, he sent an e-mail to the University community, expressing his eagerness in welcoming them to his new residence.

“I love the house,” said Mary White, the president’s wife. “I think it is so light. The sun just comes streaming in.”

The red brick residence was built in 1931 for more than $150,000, according to a 1933 Board of Trustees report. The house sits on a six-acre landscaped plot bordered by the Miles C. Hartley Selection Garden and a 20-acre horticulture field laboratory.

University architect James M. White and New York architect Charles A. Platt designed the Georgian-style house, according to an article written by the 2004 Board of Trustees on the University Web site.

White graciously opened her new home for a tour of the first two floors on her husband’s second day of work. A trip inside the house reveals high ceilings and tall windows that allow natural light to fill the rooms.

Elegant furnishings decorate the first floor, many of which are original to the house. A sunroom looks out over a brick patio and into the tree-lined backyard. The Whites have already held lunches there because it is “less formal than the dining room,” Mary White said.

The formal dining room can accommodate up to 40 people. During the Stanley O. Ikenberry administration (1979-1995), alumni donated seat covers for the dining room chairs to the University. Alumni individually needlepointed each chair seat, adorning it with the design of a bird, flower or insect native to Illinois.

On the first floor is a private dining room, catering kitchen, a private kitchen, library, two maid’s rooms, and a reception room that Mary White plans to use as her study. The fireplace in the library is one of seven in the entire house, but that one is her favorite.

“Joe and I love the library,” said Mary White. “When summer comes, we’ll go outside more, but right now, in this time of the year, it’s wonderful just to be in the library.”

The second floor has three guestrooms, each with their own private bath. The president’s office, Mary White’s office, the master bedroom and an office for the Whites’ events manager are also on the second floor.

Throughout the tour, Mary White continually expressed her joy with her new accommodations and said she has no major changes in mind for the house, other than general maintenance and some decoration.

“It’s so beautiful in its own right,” she said. “I want to keep it in as wonderful shape as it is now.”

The President’s House was built to facilitate and welcome the many prominent guests and community members that routinely visit the University.

“For many years it has been felt … that there should be provided a house which would serve, not alone as a personal residence for the president, but as the official headquarters of the University for various public affairs,” said Board of Trustees President Edward E. Barrett and Secretary H.E. Cunningham in the report on the house.

It will be one of the new president’s jobs to make sure he and his wife use the house as it was intended.

“We have legislators in, foundation people, guests of the institute,” said Lex Tate, associate director of the office for University relations. “It is assumed that the president has an obligation to build friendships on behalf of the University.”

The President’s House is also a campus landmark and belongs to the state of Illinois.

Tate said she thinks it’s a beautiful house, adding that she “adores it.”

“It’s called the President’s House but in fact it is like any other building on campus,” Tate said. “He (the President) is an important user of the building.”

Throughout the years, presidents have used the house to different extents- some entertained frequently, while others kept a lower profile.

President Harry Woodburn Chase (1930-1933) was the first president to move into the President’s House and did so just as America was falling into economic hard times.

“He moved into the house and the Depression hit,” said Winton Solberg, professor emeritus of history and author of two volumes on the University.

The public became upset when they found out there was “extravagance of the worst sort” in the President’s House, during a time when most of the nation was impoverished, Solberg said.

When President George Stoddard (1946-1953) took office, he felt the University was a “sleeping giant” and woke it up by inviting musicians, faculty and many guests to the University.

“The President’s House became a great center of activity,” Solberg said.

President David Dodds Henry (1955-1971) and President John E. Corbally (1971-1979) did not entertain much, but President Ikenberry “used it as I think it was intended when it was built,” Solberg said.

Outgoing President James Stukel (1995-2005) also made good use of the President’s House. During his almost 10 years on campus he and his wife hosted approximately 2,500 events and welcomed almost 90,000 guests to their home, Tate said in an e-mail.

“There are some nice places at the University, but nothing is quite as special as the President’s House for entertaining purposes,” Tate said. “It’s a place people love to go.”