East Wing

[3] Visitors touring the White House enter through the wood-paneled lobby, where portraits of presidents and first ladies hang.

[4] President Thomas Jefferson added colonnaded terraces to the east and west sides of the White House, but no actual wings.

[3] The first small East Wing was built during the Theodore Roosevelt renovations, as an entrance for formal and public visitors.

[3][5] The East Wing as it exists today was added to the White House in 1942 primarily to cover the construction of an underground bunker, now known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC).

[6] Today, the social secretary prepares all of the invitations and written correspondence for every event held at the White House.