--- title: White House to Reopen for Tours After Push From Congress description: The White House will reopen for public tours on March 7, following an unusually long closure at the start of Donald Trump's presidency canonical: https://time.com/4670795/white-house-public-tours-melania-trump/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-14T18:05:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:19:36.729Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House to Reopen for Public Tours March 7 og:description: Lawmakers said requests for tours had been piling up. og:url: https://time.com/4670795/white-house-public-tours-melania-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3a1ab48f36ff6db/6988ba51fb4eacd58b890c65/white-house-tours.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3600 og:image:height: 2025 og:image:alt: Women's March On Washington - March og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House to Reopen for Public Tours March 7 twitter:description: Lawmakers said requests for tours had been piling up. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3a1ab48f36ff6db/6988ba51fb4eacd58b890c65/white-house-tours.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House to Reopen for Public Tours on March 7 > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 14, 2017 6:05 PM UTC  A view of the White House South Lawn on Jan. 21, 2017 in Washington, D.C. A view of the White House South Lawn on Jan. 21, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Feb 14, 2017 6:05 PM UTC The [White House](http://time.com/white-house-interviews/) will reopen for public tours on March 7, following an unusually long closure at the start of Donald Trump’s presidency. “I am excited to reopen the White House to the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come each year,” [First Lady Melania Trump](http://time.com/4641980/melania-trump-martha-washington/) said in a statement on Tuesday. “The White House is a remarkable and historic site and we are excited to share its beauty and history. I am committed to the restoration and preservation of our Nation’s most recognizable landmark.” The announcement comes after at least two dozen lawmakers—who handle constituent requests for White House tours—signed a letter urging the tour office to reopen, the [Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2017/02/13/the-white-house-still-isnt-open-for-tours-and-congress-is-getting-annoyed/?utm%5Fterm=.4792c77cc11a) on Monday. “Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama all appointed a White House Visitors Office Director before being sworn in, and had reopened the White House to the public at this point,” the letter said, according to the _Post._ Republican Sen. Charles Grassley on Sunday made a personal request about when the White House would open. “Mrs G wants to know,” he said in a [tweet](https://twitter.com/ChuckGrassley/status/830823120504225794?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw). The First Lady’s chief of staff, Lindsay Reynolds, said earlier this month that the tour office would reopen “after a traditional temporary closure during the transition period.” “In the meantime, we are using this time to tend to routine maintenance, updates and renovations along the tour route to ensure the guest experience is top notch,” Reynolds said in a Feb. 1 statement. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4670795/white-house-public-tours-melania-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4670795/white-house-public-tours-melania-trump/"},"headline":"White House to Reopen for Public Tours on March 7","datePublished":"2017-02-14T18:05:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:19:36.729Z","description":"Lawmakers said constituent requests for tours had been piling up","url":"https://time.com/4670795/white-house-public-tours-melania-trump/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","flotus","Melania Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3a1ab48f36ff6db/6988ba51fb4eacd58b890c65/white-house-tours.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3a1ab48f36ff6db/6988ba51fb4eacd58b890c65/white-house-tours.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Women's March On Washington - March","caption":"Women's March On Washington - March","creditText":"Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4670795/white-house-public-tours-melania-trump/","name":"White House to Reopen for Public Tours on March 7"}}]}] ```