This seems to have been taken from a tall building on 17th Street that is no longer there. Anybody knowledgeable about that?

[The photo would have been taken from the old State, War and Navy building, 134 feet tall, which is still very much there. - Dave]

Those look like window screens. Maybe taken off for window cleaning?

A very unique view of the White House grounds. I love the skyline with the towers, steeples, water tanks and smoke stacks.

I enjoy the image in the following articles of President Wilson rising from his outdoor desk to stroll the garden grounds and pick flowers.

President Works In Tent

Performs Executive Duties in Rear of White House

The President spent most of the morning yesterday under an open tent which has been put up in the rear of the White House grounds. The tent is of regular army pattern of brown canvas. A white bench and table has been placed beneath the covering, and at this table the President worked. Representative Underwood was the first visitor to be shown to the open-air office. For an hour he and the President sat in the summery shade and considered a legislative program that would permit Congress to adjourn by July 1. ...

Mrs. Wilson a Rose Culturist of Decided Ability

Skilled in Landscape Art

The bewildering mass of roses, shading from the deepest crimson to the palest pink, now blooming in the White House gardens gives evidence of Mrs. Wilson's skill as landscape gardener and rose culturist.
...
Mrs. Wilson's garden lies directly opposite the garden of roses Mrs. Roosevelt planted when she remodeled the gardens ten years ago. Occupying the sheltered space between the executive offices and the south entrance to the White House, the path which the President travels to and from bisects the blossoming plat.

Possibly no one takes greater pleasure in the roses than the President whose out-door office or tent is pitched at the far end of the garden.
...
The President's delight in the roses is evidenced in many ways and callers, whose love of flowers prompts them to discuss the array of roses not infrequently, come away either with a rose bud buttonniere or a cluster of flowers, the President himself in the leisure hours of the day going out among the bushes and plucking them.

Notice the windows stacked against the wall. Looks like replacements or storm or extras. Would they be leaving things around like this today?

I am not sure why, however White House looks so small back in 1914. In nowadays, in all pictures, or movies - white house looks so enormously huge. And in this picture it looks cozy and nice. Love the picture.

Adam