White House Construction Project - 1949-1952

The White House was finished in 1800 when John Adams became the first president to move in. It was burned by the British in 1814. In 1902, Theodore Roosevelt did major construction work followed by Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s. But it was left to Harry Truman to keep the White House from falling in upon itself. He ordered the interior of the building be gutted and built fresh with steel infrastructure. What lessons can we learn from perhaps the most significant public construction project of the 20th century?