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All the United States Washington, D.C. Secret Entrance to the White House

Secret Entrance to the White House

The winding route passes through an enclosed alleyway, two tunnels, and leads to the White House basement.

Washington, D.C.

Added By
Elliot Carter
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A discreet entrance to the White House.   Elliot Carter
A discreet entrance to the White House.   Elliot Carter
Yellow dots mark the alley, dashes are basements and subterranean tunnels.   Map Data Google 2017
Looking back through the alley.   Elliot Carter
  notoriousFIG / Atlas Obscura User
Hipstamatic   iandeppmann / Atlas Obscura User
Back of the Treasury Annex.   Elliot Carter
The barred entrance to the Treasury Annex.   Elliot Carter
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About

Presidents, secret visitors, and shadow confidants have had a back door in and out of the White House since the 1940s through a little-known passage opening on H Street. The circuitous route passes through one closed-off alleyway, two subterranean tunnels and finally spills out in the White House basement. This account is based on archival newspaper reports from the early 20th century, when the tunnels were a matter of public architectural interest, long before security paranoia cut off the flow of juicy information.

Two blocks away from the executive residence on H Street, there’s one alley unlike the others, with a ram-proof vehicle gate and a bulletproof Secret Service kiosk discreetly set into the wall. The narrow enclosed alley leads down the block, past the towering brick Federal Claims Courthouse, before ending in an unassuming doorway at the rear of the Treasury Department’s annex on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Treasury Annex (officially known as the Freedman’s Bank since 2016) was built in 1919 to house the Internal Revenue Bureau, and local builders Irwin & Leighton won the contract to dig a tunnel to connect with Department headquarters across the street. The sources are unclear on the purpose of the underground passage, but it was likely to protect cash-carrying Treasury employees from armed robbery. Or perhaps it was a byproduct of Washington’s dismal weather, as was the case with the Capitol Hill pedestrian tunnels, we can’t say for sure.

The final segment of the White House secret entrance came to be as a side effect of World War II security enhancements. Fearing that an aerial attack on the creaky old White House would leave FDR dead beneath a pile of rubble, an inclined tunnel was hurriedly excavated in 1941 leading from the East Wing over to Treasury Department headquarters. Here, a sturdy granite vault was carpeted, equipped with furniture, and converted into the first Presidential bomb shelter. FDR visited only once and hated the place. (This tunnel was considered a wartime secret by the press until Republican Congressman Clare E. Hoffman complained about its expense in open House debate, after which it was considered fair game.)

Secret tunnels leading to the White House are a common narrative trope but generally lack in specificity or credibility. With the H Street entrance, as with many things in Washington, the truth is generally more mundane than sinister.  It is the coincidental byproduct of an old pedestrian tunnel and underground wheelchair ramp. The Federal Government’s default modes of bureaucratic inertia and historical preservation usually conspire to abandon this kind of thing in place, rather than demolish it. Chances are that the passageways are still down there to this day. 

Related Tags

Secret Passages Government Tunnels Hidden Secrets Presidents History Roadside Attractions Alleyways Subterranean Sites

Know Before You Go

The alley entrance is located on the south side of H Street NW, between 15th Street NW and Vermont Avenue NW, next to BAU International University at house number 1510. Field update: despite the vehicle barrier you are free to walk down the alley and take a look at the armored back door to the Treasury Annex. Local retail employees regularly hang out on smoke breaks.

Community Contributors

Added By

Elliot Carter

Edited By

Rhapsodic Bohemian, notoriousFIG, iandeppmann, Runawaydc

  • Rhapsodic Bohemian
  • notoriousFIG
  • iandeppmann
  • Runawaydc

Published

September 18, 2017

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Sources
  • https://www.whitehousehistory.org/secret-spaces-at-the-white-house
  • http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1941/12/20/page/3/article/bomb-shelter-is-being-built-for-roosevelts
  • https://www.newspapers.com/image/197268630/?terms=%22treasury%2Bannex%22%2Btunnel
  • https://www.newspapers.com/image/169002599/?terms=%22treasury%2Bannex%22%2Btunnel
Secret Entrance to the White House
H Street NW
Washington, District of Columbia
United States
38.900095, -77.034636
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