In collaboration with the architect E.W. Godwin, Whistler designed his own studio-house on Tite Street, known as the White House. Its construction and furnishing, however, coincided with the Ruskin libel trial in the fall of 1878. The trial’s expenses drove Whistler into bankruptcy and resulted in the forced auction of many of his possessions and the sale of the White House. The artist lived in the house for only one year.
