Shortly after the White House was built, its first occupant, the democratically inclined Jefferson, opened the mansion to the public in 1800.
Charles, a Ph.D. level tour guide, naturally knew a great deal about this later tourist attraction.
The modern White House covers an area of over 73,000 square meters and consists of three parts: the main building and the East and West Wings.
However, the West Wing of the White House was built in 1902 under the supervision of President Theodore Roosevelt, and the East Wing was built in 1941 under the supervision of President Franklin Roosevelt.
The parts open to visitors are mainly the East Wing of the White House, including the Diplomatic Reception Room, the Tableware Room, the Vermeil Room, and the Library on the ground floor, and the State Dining Room, the Red Room, the Blue Room, the Green Room, and the East Room on the first floor.
When Charles wanted to build a stone castle in the style of the White House, it was, of course, impossible to copy the modern White House exactly, nor could he perfectly recreate the 1792 version.
So, he ultimately chose a combination of the main architectural elements from 1792 and the exterior design of the 21st century.
However, concerned about not having enough rooms, he designed separate office and residential buildings for workers, servants, and slaves, but these, along with other ancillary structures, were kept far from the main residence, essentially forming completely independent buildings.
What Charles was determined to build, and what most people are familiar with, is the south side of the modern White House.
There is a wide portico supported by thick, milky-white stone columns, with four columns at the front and two on each side.
Directly in front of the portico is the famous South Lawn, where the President's helicopter can land and take off.
Since the White House faces north, the South Lawn became the White House's backyard, commonly known as the President's Park.
Within the park, shrubs form hedges, green trees provide shade, and a pond with a fountain spouting pearls and jade, reaching several stories high, sits in the middle of the vast lawn.
The flowerbeds around the pond are ablaze with colorful blooms.
Eight lush, vibrant magnolia trees, 150 years old, stand on either side of the South Gate.
When foreign dignitaries visit, a formal welcoming ceremony is held on the South Lawn.
Every spring, during Easter, the President and his wife host the traditional Easter Egg Roll here.
In his previous life, Charles had longed to visit that garden for a very long time; since there was no chance now, he might as well build a new one for himself to enjoy.
Satisfied, Charles handed the rough design drawings to Jonathan and massaged his aching arms.
"Have the craftsmen draw up the architectural blueprints according to this design, then bring them to me.
Although we are building a new house, I am not in a hurry to move in.
The house must be built well; quality and taste absolutely cannot be compromised."
In fact, this building only referenced the exterior of the White House; as for the interior, it was completely redesigned according to Charles' concept.
When he was a travel agency manager, he often had to contact various luxury goods stores and hypermarkets, and over time, he became quite knowledgeable about many classic luxury items.
Many famous and historical luxury items actually originated in the 18th and 19th centuries.
While their products might not have been exceptionally good at that time, the quality of a brand still showed some promise.
So, he took this opportunity to order from well-known brands.
Most of the items would have to be shipped from Europe, and it was estimated that the procurement and shipping costs alone would not be less than a thousand pounds.
"Is this a castle?" Jonathan's brow furrowed so deeply it could trap a mosquito.
"Why does it look like a country nobleman's private chapel?"
"Uh!" Charles rolled his eyes.
Is this the aesthetic of Americans at this time, to actually consider the classic White House design a family chapel?
Perhaps Jonathan was not a typical American, and his views contained many traditional concepts from British high society, which is why he found this architectural style difficult to accept.
In fact, aside from its elegance, the White House isn't really a magnificent building, but since it's for living, being elegant and comfortable is enough.
"Don't worry about what it looks like; just have the architect build it for me according to this design.
Especially for some of the interior decoration materials, if I haven't specified them, use the best materials from America; if I have specified them, even if they are from Europe, you must procure them for me."
Once this building is completed, it will definitely become one of the most luxurious residences in America.
The interior decoration materials might only be comparable to most luxury homes, but it's not just about luxurious decor.
In fact, what Charles was most proud of were some of the improvements he made in advance, or the adoption of the latest inventions of this era, such as the construction of specialized running water, sewage pipes, flush toilets (invented in 1595, not improved to be similar to modern toilets until 1778), radiant heating, small swimming pools, and so on.
Many of these were just emerging and not yet widely accepted.
"Yes, My lord.
Coincidentally, there are designers and construction workers among the indentured servants.
I will arrange it immediately." Jonathan reluctantly accepted the order.
He was truly frightened by his young master.
Previously, he would spend money lavishly, at most a few hundred or a thousand pounds, but now he was actually going to build a castle.
Looking at the house in this design drawing, although it was clearly not a real castle, building it would probably cost at least tens of thousands of pounds.
He truly was a spendthrift master; he had just earned tens of thousands of pounds, and before the money was even warm in his hands, he was already throwing it out again.
When Jonathan brought the designer to Charles, and after reporting that there were no problems with the design, Charles simply took the designer and Jonathan, rode horses to the land outside, and chose the building sites for the new house and the new ironworks.
At this time, it was indeed the season when grass grew and orioles flew, and birds flew from the sky, leaving a long string of overlapping calls.
The mountain wind blew across the land, stirring up waves of emerald green.
People and horses passed through this space, taking away the beauty of this season.
Charles, with his entourage behind him, rode leisurely across his territory, observing the diligent slaves, the lush crops, and the families of the militia who constantly bowed to him and greeted him.
Every sight and every sound made Charles extremely satisfied with this life, even giving him a feeling that he wanted to stay in Scarlet Manor and never leave again.
Charles knew that his petty-bourgeois mentality was acting up again.
However, he only had this thought for a moment, and before he could think about it further, he was immediately immersed in the beautiful countryside scenery.
After the designer's survey, combined with the opinions of Jonathan and others, Charles finally chose a very satisfactory location.
It was a gentle slope very close to the original Scarlet Manor.
The classic White House backyard design faced the river port, so later, standing on the portico, one could see the constant flow of boats on the great river.
The main entrance, however, faced Pittsburgh, which was the direction of the original Scarlet Manor.
Only a short section needed to be slightly repaired to connect to the original road to Pittsburgh.
Surrounded by lush trees and beautiful scenery, it was definitely the best location for building a house in the wilderness.
Along the way, besides finding a place to build a house, Charles was also very pleased to see that the development of these 100,000 acres of land was progressing very well.
Road construction had made the most progress.
Although not yet officially completed, the main roads and some critical sections across the entire land had already been addressed.
Once some hard dirt and gravel were laid, carriages would be able to travel smoothly.
Once the roads were built, the appearance of the entire land completely changed.
At first glance, it even gave a strong impression of cultivated, fertile fields in a rural countryside.
Jonathan's reclamation work was also very systematic.
He did not indiscriminately reclaim all the land into farmland, but selectively developed low-lying, sunny plains and sparse forests into farmland.
Large areas of forest and mountainous land remained, and the pasture for horses was officially fenced off with wooden fences, ready for horse rearing.
It is said that for every ten parts of land, seven are mountains, two are water, and one is field.
Generally, the area that can be cultivated into farmland will certainly not exceed one-fifth of the total area.
The Pittsburgh area is basically flat, with over 50% of the land that can be developed into farmland.
However, what Charles saw before him now was still predominantly pristine in color.
"My lord, although we have resolved the land disputes and can confidently develop this wasteland, unfortunately, there is still not enough time this year.
As of now, we have cultivated over 10,000 acres of farmland, which is less than one-third of the cultivable area." Jonathan reported on the work to Charles while pointing at the crops in the fields.
This area was no longer the barren landscape Charles had seen initially.
He stood on a small hill, and as far as his eyes could see, there were endless green wheat seedlings, with a few slaves still visible working in the fields.
Although this was not yet truly fertile land and the yield would certainly be limited, Charles believed that the wheat produced from this land alone would be enough to feed the more than 1,000 people in Pittsburgh.
"Yes, you have done very well.
After all, we only have a little over 500 slaves in total, and each enslaved person is responsible for twenty acres of land, which is already the limit.
Developing farmland to this extent is sufficient.
In the future, try to develop other areas into livestock zones such as horse farms and cattle farms.
Additionally, a portion of the mining area must be reserved for mining." Charles nodded in satisfaction.
Overall, during the days Charles was away, Jonathan's work was as excellent as Greenspan's.
He built roads, reclaimed wasteland, and even expanded the dock and the dry dock for building fishing boats.
Especially the dry dock for building fishing boats; previously, fishing boats were only six or seven meters long, typical single-person skiffs.
Now, the dry dock could begin building "large boats" of sixteen or seventeen meters.
Although these would also be large fishing boats, such vessels could serve as future paddlewheel boats for steam engine experiments.
Charles immediately told the boat builders to stop other work and quickly build one to send to Pittsburgh.