VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE WHITE HOUSE HOTEL 1997
HOSTED BY THE D.A.M.C.

The Dominoes After-Midnight Club first lurked the White House hotel in August, 1996. Early in 1997 we began to explore in the daytime so we could enhance our research efforts with suitable photography. Our tour features the Hotel early in 1998, one of the last lurks before the area was closed off and restoration began. Way of entry without use of vandalism was found and our research on this historical location was still incomplete, two conditions which prompted these final explorations. The safest way to get around the fence and approach the buildings during daylight hours was through the back of the complex. Above, we see the back service courtyard, most notably the collapsed roof of the service wing. In the extreme left of the photo is the side of the service building behind the hotel, a two story structure that has completely decayed within. Its wooden floors rotted through, it was the most challenging building yet explored by the DAMC. Only a few noteworthy relics remained, the building being full mostly of wooden debris. Understandably, it was the first structure to be demolished when the renovation crews showed up in 1999. The roof collapse on the front wing visible in the picture must be noted, since Club explorers using the current entrance had to navigate through this mess on the inside. Our entry into the complex is made through a doorway in the back wall of the West Wing, out of view but to the immediate right of the scene in the photo.

Today we are entering through the doorway in the old West Wing, facing the inner service courtyard behind the buildings. An old, heavy wrought-iron locked gate used to protect this entrance but you can see that it has already been knocked over by vandals. Later in 1998 a groundskeeper employed by Mr. Love told me that he had to come out here routinely to restore the gate. The wing is gutted down to its wooden support structure. A pleasant smell from the all that wood breezes through the place, but it is entirely hazardous to try to access the upper floors in this wing (Here's a current photo of the attic, preserved above the I-beam infrastructure in 1999). Examination of the 1999 Renovation photos reveal how hap-hazard this old building was built. Behind us in this view is the pass into the next wing and the climb through the cave-in debris in the adjoining wing.

The White House Hotel, 1997
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