1. WHY IS THE WHITE HOUSE WHITE?

Simply because people in the 18th Century had a passion for everything Grecian and they mistakenly believed that Greek marble sculptures and buildings were white. They therefore faithfully reproduced what they thought was the style and preferred colour of the Ancients. Many years later when techniques were found to analyse the composition of surfaces, it was discovered the Ancient Greeks were fans of garish colour, and painted everything in bright hues.