Monrovia's own White House

Walking around yesterday, I found the building that everyone says was modeled on the White House. It lies at nearly the highest point in Monrovia. There's a big metal globe thing on top, like a smaller, rustier version of that globe at Flushing Meadows, the one that's inside the gatefold on Licensed to Ill. Someone with official looking flags on his car started hissing at me when I brought out the camera, so I only got one pic. The place is covered with Masonic symbols. A local guy walking by didn't know what the place is called, but he said they used to have lots of government functions there, and that it became an IDP camp during the war. Given the shape it's in now, I'm suprised nobody's squatting it now. There are few doors and windows left, and one of the statues was leaned against a wall, having fallen off its base. All stone construction, really neat and decayed. The day I was there, the sweeping staircase inside was decorated with balloons as if there'd been a wedding.