Inauguration day

On this auspicious occasion, I happily announce that Peter Sharkey has completed the new colorful, 3D Residence floor plans, which I've added to the main site as well as the mirror. The main site is very slow, however, owing to a big rise in visitorship. (Welcome!)

I can't get over how beautiful the new plans look. Many thanks again to Pete for all his hard work—which, remember, you can always see over at Wingnut's Workings. More is coming, including some details and fixes. Let us know if you notice any goofs.

By the way, if you check out Wingnut's Workings, let me know what you think of the white wall tops rather than the black wall tops.

Michael S Smith named as decorator

Visitor Halcyon notes in the comments on another post that Michael S Smith has been named as the Obama's decorator. Keep your fingers crossed that he passes confirmation by the Senate.* Halcyon says:

To me, this is good news.
Smith announced today his first project is having a very old burled Maple four poster converted from a full to a king size bed. (this last part not in the article, but a buzz from a Rhode Island Designer I know)

* I may have that wrong.

UPDATE: The Bed. AP via PinkPillbox.

More miscellany

I've posted more miscellaneous photos (check the What's New page) and some changes to the China Collection page to reflect the new acquisitions.

The Lincoln White House

This diagram of the Lincoln second floor appears in Seale's two-volume WH book. It shows the old west stair as a dual initial rise and a central rise to the second floor. But we know from photographs of the grand stair that by the 1890s it was a single initial rise at the right, a left turn, then a single rise to the second floor.

However, I don't recall ever reading about that stair being renovated from dual to single. The question is, are we sure the dual rise stair was ever built? And when was it renovated to the single stair we see in the photos?

Upstairs at the White House

Going back thru JB West's memoir, I decided to add some of the photos found in there. Several of them I haven't seen from any other source and depicted rooms at times that I don't have covered otherwise. They aren't very good quality images—screened and printed in low quality. Does anybody have the hard back version and are those photos reproduced at higher quality?

UPDATE: The hardback does have better quality photos, and I found a copy for less than $5, including shipping.

Bowling alley renovation?

The bowling industry has offered a proposal to renovate the bowling lane in the basement of the White House, the Wall Street Journal reports. Apparently, they hope to ensure the new president won't make good on his jocular claim to replace the lane with an indoor basketball court, which met with serious offers from the NBA. This artist's conception is a little garish, for my taste.

Sub-Basements

You asked for it (or sat quietly with an expectant look on your face)—you got it: the inimitable Peter Sharkey has provided us with the Residence sub-basement and basement mezzanine plans from photos of the original plans (I am trying to get the source to send me scans or copies).

I have inserted them into the overall blue print and posted them on their own page. And I've created separate pages for the Dressing Room, Laundry, and AC Control Room. I'll take some time this week looking back over the Truman-era photos for more images of basement rooms.

President's offices and servants' stair

I've added a few new photos of the President's Secretary's Office and Private Study. I've also removed the pictures of Rose Mary Woods and put them on a hidden page for reference, since I'm sure the room is not the President's Private Study, Dining Room, or Secretary's Office.

Also, I've added a couple of pics from the recent History Channel special sent by Stephen of the staircase between the Butler's Pantry and the Pastry Kitchen.

More Life

I've added a dozen more photos from Life, mostly on the ground floor, mostly from the Eisenhower era, and some in great color (once I heavily processed them).

Also, I've added all the recent photos to the mirror site also.

White Gold and Jackie

Here is an awesome music video commercial for milk. Warning: if you watch for too long, you'll accidentally see the hour-long 1962 Jackie Kennedy White House tour.

Election day celebration

Visit the What's New page for an election day extravaganza sourced from Architectural Digest and documenting Bush 2, Reagan, and Kennedy rooms. Some of these images were already posted in inferior form; the AD scans are top quality and just beautiful.

Also: don't forget to vote!

The new first family

Interesting article on the Obama and McCain families and how each might use the Residence. The "small room with a balcony" must be the Clinton Music Room, but I'd never heard of the Johnson girls using it to put on plays.

UPDATE: Added a couple of beautiful, color 1958 photos of the First Lady's Bedroom (Master) and Monroe Room (Treaty), showing what the Eisenhowers did with the residence.

1902 floor plans

Patrick sent me some really fantastic images of White House floor plans from the 1902 Report of the Architects created by McKim, Mead, and White. They nicely fill in some holes and are so detailed that the original versions (click the hi-def links in the caption credits) could be used to build your very own vintage White House mansion, complete with giant steam boiler. Decorate to taste.

Semi-secret museum semi-secrets

The addition of pictures to the Sub-Basement page brought up the subject of "semi-secret" WHM pages. These are pages—or even just individual pictures—that you might not be aware of even if your are a fairly thoro visitor to this site. They aren't semi-secret because of any inherent security concern, but merely because they are labeled or are otherwise unexpected.

The horseshoe pitch is right next to the pool (very clear on Pete's 3D rendering). There is a link to it on the main Grounds page, but that part of the map is not colored, so you might not have found it. Same goes for the Andrew Jackson milk trough on the south lawn.

First Lady's Office hall. Just a dude in the hallway outside the First Lady's Offices, available from the EW second floor page. The East Wing Entrance, altho labeled on the EW first floor page, is easy to miss.

A back staircase photo is available from each of the Residence floor pages by clicking on the staircase next to the Family Elevator.

The Pastry Kitchen is on the first floor mezzanine level and available by a link on the oblique diagram.

The arched hall on the third floor is available from an unlabeled link on the third floor page. The mysterious Bathroom 315, near the Family Elevator, is likewise available, marked only with a "B". And the third floor storage rooms under the roof have a page of their own as well, with an unlabeled link.

The West Wing Navy Mess reception desk is represented by an unlabeled photo link in the middle of the hall on the WW ground floor. Not far away is an unlabeled link to the Situation Room entrance, altho this is probably different since the area was remodeled.

The West Wing stair corridor and east entry corridor are available from unlabeled links on the WW first floor page. A little lavatory off the Oval Office Corridor is on its page.

Then there's the Front Page Gallery page, available only from the Site Map page. The Truman Reconstruction page includes a thumbnail of the 1945 WW expansion plan and tiny links to large images of the ground, first, second floor plans, side view and cross section, and a smaller second try at coaxing Congress into paying for it.

Sub-Basement

Pete sent me a note about a great gallery of pics taken by a singers at the White House (thanks, Bob and Cherrie!) in, apparently, April. They show not only the state rooms where they performed but the sub-basement dressing room! I've added a couple to the semi-secret Sub-Basement page.

There's one where people are seated under a coat rack, which you can also see in the 1992 HABS photo under the stairs. That suggests that there's actually very little space down there.

Also, I've widened the blog. I've learned a lot about blog templates and CSS since starting yet another website awhile ago.

New photos

I added a number of new photos from a White House visitor named Daniel (go forward from here in his gallery) and a couple from older archives that I had a hard time placing. Most are in the residence.

Also, I've received quite a number of photos by e-mail lately. Be assured that I'm looking at them, but I don't always have time to respond or place them yet.

White House Historical Association tidbits

Mike B notes:

The White House Historical Association has a supplement to the Historic Guide 22ND edition [PDF]. Some great photos here, especially one of the Lincoln Sitting Room I've never seen before!

The Lincoln Sitting Room looks great, and the President's Dining Room is beautiful, altho I'm not crazy about the O'Keefe. There are also some nice photos of the West Wing rooms.

The WHHA site has been somewhat redone. While I was there I ordered a couple of the WHH journals I didn't have yet.

Lincoln Sitting Room

Steven B has come up with a nice pic of the Lincoln Sitting Room from around 2006. Hurray!

South Portico sun room?

Along with the better image of the 1911 lights picture, Robert Martin sent along a good one of Cortelyou in his bay-windowed office in the old West Wing and an interesting one of Coolidge with bankers outside the South Portico, where there appears to be a glassed-in room built between the columns. (LOC page for a higher-res look.)

TR Oval

Just added a great image of the Yellow Oval Room in 1909, sent by Stephen Martin. However, this makes the circa 1910 date of another image a little suspect. Did Taft put moulding on the walls and then someone remove it by 1930?

Chuck and Diane

The visits of Charles and Diana (the Waleses, don't you know) must have been a big deal in the Reagan White House. More photos keep popping up from time to time. The one I've just added is of the second floor dining room set up for a little dinner party.

The one of Diana dancing with John Travolta in the Entrance Hall is famous. There is a nice one of them sitting in the West Sitting Hall. And the State Dining Room has one taken from a high corner, that must have been tricky to rig. Next I suppose we'll see one of them lounging by the pool or perhaps bowling. Better still, we'd see one of Charles reacting to being served a cup of tea with a tea bag in it.

Also just added, the Reagan Green Room.

Third floor

As promised, I added three photos to the Solarium, or Sun Room, and—since I now have more than one photo of it—created a page for the Linenarium, or Linen Room.

Also, the marvelous vice-presidential ceremonial office in the EEOB suffered a fire the other day. Please try to restrain your impulse to joke about Dick Cheney's smoldering good looks.

Solarium and more

Christina has sent along even more terrific photos dug out of Getty Images. I'll post some of the Solarium and others in the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, the WH has pics of the first lady entertaining in her office.

Getty image trove

Christina has passed along a passel of photos from the Getty archive that I neglected in my searches (I was focused on the new Situation Room at the time). It's a dizzying collection of candid moments thruout the Residence mainly from the Johnson and Ford years. I'll be posting them over the weekend.

In the past, I've scraped the brutally ugly watermark off the handful of Getty images I've used, leaving a blurry smudge that isn't necessarily better (the process involves using parts of the tiny thumbnail version). But I'll post most of these as they are, with links to Getty for proper credit. Hopefully, publishers who can actually afford to pay for images for commercial projects will find them here and jump to the Getty site to buy them and thereby make up for my (credited, noncommercial, educational, public service, fair use) appropriation.

UPDATE: Added several photos from Johnson to Bush 1. I'm not 100% confident about the Ford Beauty Salon photo and I'm baffled by one that I initially thought was the Living Room (formerly president's bedroom). It doesn't seem to match the one I already have from that era and the space under the window is missing the characteristic pattered vent.

To Christina, I award the Jackie Kennedy There's-Got-Be-Some-Decent-Antiques-Here-Somewhere Award. Thanks, Christina!

UPDATE: The votes are in on the Ford sitting room photo; it is surely the Presidential Suite of the Bethesda Naval Hospital after Mrs. Ford's surgery.

Girl power

Visitor Christina pointed out that the Ford Library has posted some additional photos of the Fords, including a great one of the first lady in her dressing room with an ERA banner.

Jackson's White House

Got a question about Jackson's White House from a fiction author, so, in addition to replying with details, I added an 1829 diagram to the Residence second floor page.

Magnolia

The Park Service is planting a magnolia tree in front of the Residence. It seems rather... centered. I hope they aren't obscuring the view of the house from the street. Security is one thing, but Lincoln didn't hide behind any foliage. What next—a presidential ghillie suit?

WH Visitors Center rarities

I added a couple of photos that I shot in the WH Visitors Center in DC. They were 19th century images of the executive offices that I hadn't seen before. After some clean-up, they turned out quite nice.

Inside the White House

Added several photos I got from Inside the White House by Betty Boyd Caroli.

Big storm knocked out access to the series of tubes that is the Internets. Just got access back after about 28 hours. What did I do in the meantime? Law & Order marathon on USA. And bailing water out of my basement.

Miscellany

Added a few various photos, including a couple sent by Stephen B that include the Carter bedroom. Anybody know what issue that came from?

Chocolate mystery

During the trip home, I read most of the kitchens issue of WH History (issue 20). In it, former pastry chef Roland Mesnier mentions that, on the morning of September 11, 2001, he was in "what we call the Chocolate Room, which is located near to the exit door on the Ground Floor." A PVC Chocolates page mentions it also, saying it's a "recent addition... the size of a large closet." I'm guessing that this is the space referred to in the HABS photos as the Refrigerator Room, but the picture of Mesnier in the "Chocolate Shop" (p 41) doesn't look like the HABS picture of the Refrigerator Room.

Kitchen day

It's kitchen day! Get your kitchen photos. And read all about the kitchens, courtesy of the WH Historical Association.

Jefferson's White House and ours

Finally got a chance to read thru WH History #17, which explores Jefferson's White House and includes a few terrific recent photos, which I've added. The part on Jefferson is rather thin on details about the house itself and deals more with servants and dining, but it did provide some interesting tidbits that I added to the 1803 first floor plan. I've also added a separate page for Jefferson's enhancements to the house.

UPDATE: New Green Room from Time.

Green Room makeover

The Green Room has gotten new carpet and some reupholstered chairs, according to the Wa Po.

Coolidge

Added a few Coolidge-era photos from the WH History collection, including state rooms and West Wing.

Kennedy revisit

Added several images from the Kennedy era showing some of the renovation. Also included the layout of the West Wing at the time.

Sofas

Joe asks:

Any reason the Monroe era sofa in the Blue Room has been replaced by the McKim, Mead, and White sofa? And if so what happened to the earlier sofa?

I don't know of a reason, so we might put it down to taste. And sometimes furniture is switched so it can be repaired or reupholstered. I don't think the Monroe sofa would be put anywhere else.

1970s again

Added more of the 1970s photos and one from 2001. The Carter West Sitting Hall was a real mish-mash of pattern and color. Ugh.

1970s and others

Added several great photos from the Nixon renovation and a few others, sent by Christopher S. Several more coming.

1952 and 1962 second floor

I cleaned up the 1952 and 1962 second floor plans. The 1952 plans came from the Report of the CREM and had every single door numbered and several other extraneous markings. The 1962 plans are a reconstruction based on the 1952 plans. The result is much cleaner and still accurate.

Miscellany

Added a few more images that were left over.

UPDATE: Fixed a couple of mistakes and added a couple of extras that I had gotten from the LOC and never added.

Intereriors

Finally got thru the last of the interiors from the NYPL and the remainder of the good plates from Singleton's Story.... Singleton's book came out shortly after the turn of the century, so there was a good selection of 1890s as well as 1900s photos, which is just what was missing from the NYPL selection.

Etchings

Several new additions of the mid-1800s, mostly sent by Christopher S.

Now that I have so many great images from that era, I'm breaking out a new page or two in the history to provide more detail.

It occurs to me that the Bush renovations may warrant a page of their own. The list of rooms they have renovated is substantial: the Family Theater, Press Briefing Room, pool cabana, Sit Room.... And they've redecorated several family rooms and West Wing rooms.

Red Room and more

Added several photos to the Red Room page, as well as a couple of strays elsewhere, including a great one of the FDR West Sitting Room from Christopher S.

Green Room and more

Added some pictures of the Green Room room and one stray pic of the old main staircase with the Clevelands leaving for their honeymoon, at least as it was imagined by a Harper's Weekly illustrator. Not as much change in the Green Room as in others. The the chandelier globes and ceiling decor are about the only clues in 1880s and 90s. It's possible that I just haven't found a real 1893-1902 photo yet.

State Dining Room

Added some photos to the State Dining Room page showing the same kind of changes—chandeliers, Johnson's geometric walls being repainted—thru the 1870s and 1880s that are apparent in other rooms.

It's too bad that Johnson didn't have the whole mansion properly photographed before his daughter made it over, so that we'd have a better historical record of the house in Lincoln's time. After all, they knew they were living in an extraordinary time and that Lincoln was destined to be a major historical figure.

UPDATE: Holy crap, I rushed my birthday. When I wrote this post late last night, I post-dated it and skipped a day. Hurray! I'm still only 39! In your face, Jack Benny!

Family rooms

Now available: old photos of the Family Dining Room, Master Bedroom, and Living Room in the 19th century. These were tricky to date, and I might not have them right yet.

UPDATE: I went back in and found a few pictures that offered zoom functionality. This allowed me to get more detailed captures of parts of the image, which was helpful in the case of the stereographs. Still working on the Red and Green, State Dining, Yellow Oval, and north and south face pictures.

East Room

Added several images to the East Room page showing the fascinating changes from the 1860s thru the 1890s and even one of JBK's "portable" theater.

UPDATE: I've made several changes based on an improved understanding of the changes made by Grant/Patterson in 1873 and Arthur/Tiffany in 1882. I think I need to expand my renovations pages.

Junk and stuff

Added some more pictures from the LOC, NYPL, John in NOLA, and other acronyms.

I've been sequencing the NYPL pics of the East, Green, and Red rooms, scanning for all the little details that indicate the date (since almost none of them are dated) and I'm getting a little dizzy. I think it's all the 3D effects from looking at the stereographs.

UPDATE: Link to WHHA PDF where I got the 1918 China Room pic, also containing the pic of Gugler's Oval Office design with different 1934 window treatment.

Blue Room, you saw me standing alone...

Added several images from the NYPL stereographs of the Blue Room from the 1860s, 1870s, and 1890s. You can see the changes in chandelier, sconces, and wall coverings over the decades.

More from the LOC

More from the LOC, including four spectacular color etchings from around 1887.

UPDATE: Had to remove the links to the JBK video, since they had been removed from YouTube.

Early etchings

Added some mid-1800s etchings to various rooms in the Residence, most of these from Seale's ...Idea. It's funny how etchings are pretty common in this pre-photography period but not earlier, in the 1800-1840 era.

Something... amazing

Christopher S sent a link to the New York Public Lib'ary site where there is something... amazing. This will require some time to digest. If you're peeking at this post early; do not follow that link.

UPDATE: Great collection of mostly-stereograph, mostly-late 1800s photos. Unfortunately, the New York public lib'arians aren't providing very high-res scans (at least considering what is left when you crop the frame and one 'graph from a stereograph).

The ghost of White House past

Christina R sent a link to Google's scan of Esther Singleton's The Story of the White House, a 1907 two-volume examination of the history of the executive mansion (the link goes to volume 2). The image scans aren't good enough to make use of here, but most are well-known LOC images. Still, it would be nice to get hold of a copy by honest means.

She also mentioned how nice it would be to get color photos of Mamie Eisenhower's bedroom. And it occured to me that, as proud a woman as she was, photos probably do exists. With the release of the new photos on the Eisenhower Library site, maybe we'll eventually see ones of the bedrooms too. Then it occured to me that it would really be something if the WHHA worked with the Ike Library to create a "retro" An Historic Guide, seeing as how the Eisenhowers just missed having one. There are apparently enough good color photos after all. They might even be able to do Truman and FDR eras.

UPDATE: Found a cheap copy on Alibris.

The "lavish" Mr. Van Buren

I added a quote from Rep. Charles Ogle (W-PA) to the Blue Room from his "Gold Spoon" speech decrying President Van Buren's living habits. It's a notoriously unfair tirade (which I tried to make clear) but points out some interesting things and is nicely indicative of the haranguing that many presidents take over ordinary expenditures. Seale has an article on it in PDF format.

His speech also covered the East Room and State Dining Room and mentions the Green and (at the time) Yellow Parlors. The dining room bit is especially nasty, in that Ogle implies that Van Buren--and not Ogle's fellow Whig, Monroe--bought the great gold "plateau."

National Geographic 1961

Got my hands on a January 1961 National Geographic with the tour of the Eisenhower White House. It has a number of beautiful photographs (candy-coated Kodachrome), so I added some of the Kitchen and Library, a pair of wonderful pics of the Vermeil Room that were badly needed to document the era, and one great one of the Treaty Room as Monroe Room. But—alas!—no look inside Mamie's pink bedroom....

Also added a couple more strays from the Truman library.

Update: Thanks to John in NOLA for tipping me off to the Nat'l Geo issue. I think we should do a list of all the magazines issues with big WH pictorials. I think there's a '93 Arc Dig I need to add to my collection.

Creme de la CREM

Delved back into the Report of the Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion from 1952 and added floor plans from there. I'm not sure why I hadn't done this before, because I photographed some of the plans months ago so I could draw the modern second and third floor plans.

As a part of this, I saw a diagram I hadn't noticed before. It shows a cross-section of the East Sitting Hall looking west, and shows clearly how the hidden staircase to the third floor is structured.

U of U collection

I posted a few new photos: one of the Palm Room entrance from Time's WH blog and a couple from the University of Utah's Marriott Library collection of Truman photos. These are the same Abbie Rowe photos but larger. However, I can't figure out how to get the full-size source pic; the link to the TIFs are all broken.

Both Truman photos are a little shaky. I'm pretty sure I've put them in the right rooms (today's Beauty Salon and Visitors Foyer), but I'm not certain.

Steven and Stephen

Added several terrific pictures send by Steven B and Stephen M, including some of the early Blue Room and Oval Office and some of the family quarters in the Reagan and Kennedy eras. Thanks guys!

UPDATE: I hereby award John in NOLA and Dennis the JB West Attention to Detail Award.

More from the Truman Library

Looking over the Truman renovation report again, I noticed that the west side of the third floor, aside from being labeled "pent house," is described in the New Furnishings section as "Servants' Rooms #315-#322."

That led me to search the Truman Library collection again and add a few more pictures, including a new separate page for Bathroom 315 and the Master Bathroom.

New front page: Ike Oval Office

I changed the front page to one of the great new color photos of Eisenhower's Oval Office.

Also: stumbled upon a great photo of Executive Pastry Chef Yosses in the Pastry Kitchen on the ABC News blog.

East Room pre-Lincoln?

Stephen B sent this scan of an etching of the East Room that looks to him and to me to be pre-Lincoln. I'm not sure of where it came from (original had a frame that made it look like probably a postcard) and Stephen didn't give a hint as to its origin or age. Any takers?

I've tentatively added it to the page (with a circa 1858 date) for easy comparison.

Ike-o-rama

Andy send a note tipping me off to some Eisenhower WH photos now available on the Ike Library site. Great mansion interiors and exteriors and color Oval Office snaps! Wow! More here...

Thanks Andy! I'll get right to work on these. The WHM has been light on Ike all along.

UPDATE: Stuck in ORD for three hours, I added 16 Ike-era images, which nicely filled in holes on a dozen pages. Check out the porthole TV in the West Sitting Hall!

Andy's link to the Kennedy before-and-after photos. These are already included in the WHM.

New front page: Bush 2 Lincoln Bedroom

I changed the front page to one of the new Lincoln Bedroom. The WHHA seems to be holding off on a new An Historic Guide until the Bush renovations are complete, but that may be January 2009....

Interesting shot of the gold chairs in, I think, the East Room.

Also: congratulations to Mimlog on a, uh, Minilog.

Mrs. Madison's Oval Saloon

Posted an interesting artist's conception of Mrs. Madison taking down the red curtains in the oval drawing room to spririt them to safety before the British regulars arrived and made coats out of them, or whatever she imagined would happen. I'd love to see more reconstructions of this sort of thing. Heck, they do it for dinosaurs.

...Not that I want to see Dolley Madison with a reptilian snout and feathered arms....

Also, I've switched the second floor layout back to show the spiral stair in place of Margaret Truman's bathroom. I've tried to figure out how to wedge a lavatory in there, but it doesn't seem possible without making the kitchen considerably smaller. Maybe that's correct, but I won't bother without more evidence.

AND, I redid the 1880 second floor layout and added an 1880 first floor layout.

Picture day!

Picture day at the White House! The staff apparently organized several college groups in different rooms around the Residence, and the president ran from one to the next to pose with them. Putting the Berkeley group in the bathroom seems partisan to me, but maybe they requested it.... ;-)

Note: A quick check reveals no flip flops! That's probably a WH photo op rule now, but you gotta know that some showed up in them anyway and had to borrow Laura's pumps.

Kennedy kitchen remodel

Stephen M sent a note about the history of Margaret Truman's bathroom and the kitchen elevator that convinces me that the bathroom still exists in place of the spiral stairs. The basic gist is that, "according to Carl Sferrazza Anthony's book, The Kennedy White House (see page 66) the bathroom was retained." I've changed the floor plan accordingly.

JBK videos on YouTube

Pete sent a link to the Kennedy tour videos on YouTube, so I added them to the appropriate pages on the first floor and second floor. The two videos start with the State Dining Room and the Lincoln Bedroom. If would be nice if the videos were pieced out to separate each room, but I've given the time code for the start where appropriate.

Lady Bird's gilded cage

Pete dug up a great image of LBJ, Mrs., in what appears to be her dressing room off the Master Bedroom in 1968, via NARA. It has wallpaper and furniture I've never seen before, but she appears to have kept Jackie's curtains.

The 19th century White House in oil

Peter Waddell is an artist commissioned by the WH Historical Association to recreate rooms from the 19th century. Wow!

Thanks to Steven B for the link!

Entrance Hall

Time's WH Photo Blog had a nice image of PM Blair departing thru the Entrance Hall, which for some reason, I haven't found many good recent pictures. There is also an interesting one of the new Sit Room, but it seemed redundant with other new ones (ooh, how spoiled I am now!).

Laura Bush's secret shame

No, it's not eating flowers; that's Homer Simpson's secret shame. Dr. Sanjay Gupta got Laura Bush to claim that she has stopped smoking. Reluctant in the past to reveal the first lady's sordid habit, WH correspondents may take the claim as a challenge and get a few photos of the more obscure corners of the WH exterior where Laura might be sneaking a smoke.

New old floor plans

As I promised previously, I've now added floor plans for the Residence second floor around 1863 and around 1880. However, comparing them side by side suggests that the 1863 diagram (a modern drawing from Seale's 2-volume The White House) has the old west stair wrong. It looks like the artist drew in the original west stair to me.

Also, I improved the 1901 second floor plan and added it to the second floor page. And I added all the floor plans to the appropriate renovation pages.

Historical floor plans

I recently added an 1803 state floor plan to complement the 1853 plans I had added a short while ago. I wish I had a matching 1803 second floor, but the first floor shows, I believe, one of the prime differences between the 1800 mansion and the 1817 mansion: the strange and awkward original grand stair at the west end of the Cross Hall. (Oh, what I would give for a contemporary etching of Jefferson on that stair...).

I also have a plan from around 1880, and I thought I had one from 1864 or so, which would have shown the house as Lincoln knew it, with the private passage thru today's Treaty Room to his office. Look for these soon.

Open post: State Dining Room chairs

There are two sets of chairs in common use in the State Dining Room: a large set of gilt chairs with unusual spindle backs and a smaller set of upholstered mahogany Queen Anne-style chairs. I believe the Queen Anne chairs date from the 1902 renovation and the gilt chairs from the Kennedy administration, purchased after one of the old bent-wood chairs broke under JFK during a dinner, but I'm not sure.

Fishin' in the LOC

I went looking thru the Library of Congress collection again and came up with several more photos of a little bit of everything to add to the site. A few are rather unfortunately poor quality (which is why I didn't get them when I first scoured the digital collection last year), but just having them is nice. Maybe the LOC will eventually add high-resolution versions, and it will be easy to go back and get those to replace the crummy ones. Particularly of interest are the floor plans from 1853, which—I realized once I collected them all—document the entire White House at the time. However, the images are too low resolution to read the room labels, unfortunately.

UPDATE: I found the same ground and second floor plans in Seale's WH: Idea, where they are clear enough to read the labels, so I've added them.

More Johnson and a little more Truman

Visitor Todd S sent a note about a mysterious picture in the Truman archives that turned out to be a mislabeled pic of the Vermeil Room in 1952 1948. While I was nosing around, I also found a pic of the Library in 1948, something else I didn't have. Now if I could only find some ground floor pics from the 1902 renovation....

Also, I added a several more images from the Johnson archives, and a pic that John in NOLA sent a while ago of the Nellie Custis (Washington) sofa.

Bowling alley

I added a couple of pictures to the Bowling Alley page and, based on some new info, I put labels on the ground floor map to show where (I think) the Bowling Alley and Flower Shop are.

The porticoes

I added a 1906 pic of the North Portico and a terrific 1858 pic of the South Portico that I found in the Library of Congress. These go nicely with the text I added in the wee hours last night.

This just made me notice that the North Portico was redesigned as part of the Truman renovation. The steps on the sides where changed to be more expansive, something that had escaped me before. So I added a couple of other pics to illustrate that better.

Charles Dickens goes to the White House

I pulled a few quotes from an account of Charles Dickens's visits to the White House quoted in the 1908 Inside History of the White House. They color the pages on the North Lawn, North Portico, Entrance Hall, and East Sitting Hall.

Kennedy rooms

I've posted several photos from the 1962 Guide, including some from the West Wing and Residence. It's interesting to finally see some of the pre-makeover decor in color, looking pretty much as it looked in the Truman and Eisenhower eras.

1962 Guide

Arrived home to find the 1962 Guide waiting for me, a bargain from Ebay at 99¢ + $4.75 shipping. It features JFK's Oval Office with Truman decor, the Truman patterned Blue Room, and my first glimpse of JFK's Pre-Roosevelt Room "Fish Room," with mounted sailfish! Several other rooms are shown before their makeover also, including the Family Dining Room, which also includes an 1889 pic that I've never seen before. I'll post photos in a day or so.

John in NOLA, I think you mentioned some time ago how to tell if it was a first edition or second edition. Can you refresh my memory?

Truman archive spelunking

My foray into the caverns below the Truman Library yielded several more good photos of the Residence, which I have added now. Still not sure about that Barber Shop photo, tho.

Old and older

Just got the 1979 and 1991 WHHA Guides delivered via Ebay. I find it a little irritating the way that the exact same photo is sometimes used for more than a decade just because the decor doesn't change much (the 1991 Private Dining Room photo is identical to the one from 1975). It wouldn't be so bad if they at least dated the pictures.... Anyway, my thanks to John in NOLA, who sent along a 1962 1963 WHHA Guide to help complete my collection. Very cool.

I've added a few photos from these and also a couple I got from Monkman's Furnishings....

For the record, the White House Museum Library* now includes An Historic Guide from:

• 1963, 4th edition
• 1964, 5th edition
• 1968, 8th edition
• 1973, "4th" edition
• 1975, 12th edition
• 1979, 14th edition
• 1982. 15th edition
• 1991, 17th edition (hardbound)
• 1994? (hasn't arrived yet)
• 2003, 22nd edition

* Photo does not show the White House Museum Library Video Annex

UPDATE: The other books in the collection are (left to right, back to front):

• Monkman's WH... Furnishings
• Seale's WH... Idea
• The 1952 Report of the Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion
  
• WH History collection 1 and 2
• WH History #14 & 17 (very thin)
• Designing Camelot
• Architectural Digest, Dec 1981
• National Geographic, Nov 1966
• [An Historic Guide collection]
  
• Seale's The President's House (2 vol.)
• Upstairs at the WH
  
• Inside History of the WH (1908)
• 42 Years in the WH (1934)
• Anthony's America's First Families
• Anthony's The Kennedy WH
• The WH is Our House and The Last Day (Nixon) CD-ROMs [top]
  

Ike Hoover's first day

Returned home to find 42 Years in the White House waiting for me. A quick look at the photo plates showed only one that seems worth adding to the site (the early Wilson bedroom). But as I started to read, I found on page five that this is going to be interesting, as Ike describes that day in 1891 he first came to the White House to install electrical lighting and looked around the basement (today's ground floor):

The floor was covered with damp and slimy brick; dust webs were everywhere. An old wooden heating trough hung the entire length of the ceiling of the long corridor. Everything was black and dirty. Rooms that are now parlors were then used for storage of wood and coal. In the kitchen of the original house, now an engine-room [now the north hall and offices], could be seen the old open fireplaces once used for broiling the chickens and baking the hoecakes for the early Father of our country, the old cranes and spits still in place. Out the door to the rear there yet remained the old wine-vault, the meathouse, and the smokehouse.

I've already added this and some other quotes to some of the pages.

2000 Symposium pics

Nick Valenziano (Nix) kindly sent some photos from his visit to the White House Symposium in 2000, which include a couple of rare shots of restrooms as well as a nice one of the China display cases and a really, really nice one of the Family Theater. Thanks, Nick!

Simultaneously, I have begun (on the Ground Floor) adding little maps to each room page—snippets of the floor plan—to help orient the reader about where the doors and windows and fireplaces are in that room.

Turn of the (previous) century

I've posted several photos from the 1908 White House book I got on Ebay. It has some interesting insights, altho I haven't been able to read much of it yet. The photos are c1903 Master Bedroom, Yellow Oval Room, President's Office (Lincoln Bedroom), Cabinet Room (Treaty Room), Cross Hall, and West Wing. There are a number more of the state floor rooms, but I already have good ones of them. Too bad there is no pic of the West Sitting Hall. There is an interesting one of the stables, but I'm pretty sure that the stables had been moved out of President's Park well before 1903. (Anyone know which Starbucks now occupies the location?)

UPDATE: John in NOLA pointed out that the Yellow Oval Room pic had to be pre-1902 and sent a terrific c1910 photo of the room showing the fresh walls and new mantelpiece. Also, Robert M sent a juicy stereograph of the Cleveland's West Sitting Hall (first or second term, I can't tell--there's no slim, girlish Frances or chubby, matronly Frances).

Other oval rooms

I added a couple more images sent by Mimlog to the Oval Office page. One of them is Nixon's OO just after moving in and the other is Nixon talking to the Apollo astronauts. In both, we see Johnson's decor, but I noticed that the curtains changed: there is blue edging in the 1969 pic. In the 1964 guide, Johnson's OO has Boudin's original curtains with red edging, but I'm not sure who made the change.

Also, while I was looking at the '64 guide, I decided to add a couple of images to the Yellow Oval Room page: the room in '64, and a bridal pic of Lynda in '67 that I had been too lazy to place and date. (I also reprocessed a Kennedy pic.)

A peek at the 1930s

Mimlog sent several photos that capture the early 1930s West Wing, Blue Room, and Kitchen. And the 1969 Cabinet Room shows the room before Nixon converted it to match the empire style of the mansion.

Open post: Truman Balcony

Dennis mentioned that William Seale dislikes the Truman Balcony—something I didn't know. I think it's eminently practical and a huge improvement over the ghastly old awnings, but in need of some dentil molding or something. Discuss.

Truman photos

Found a photo of the East Bedroom in 1952 showing the mantelpiece clearly. I think this could be the room where Ike got his mysterious picture taken. And check out the wheelchair. Madge Wallace's? It doesn't look like FDR's.

Also got an extra one of the Yellow Oval Room as Harry's study and Margaret's fireplace, which I only had in its unfinished state.

Also: For those with an interest in architecture beyond our favorite example, I spent the weekend Pittsburgh and went on a photo walkabout.

Kennedy bedrooms

The Ike's Lair discussion prompted John in NOLA to pass along two photos from the Kennedy archives that show Junior's mantel and Jackie's mantel (see What's New) but don't help solve the mystery. (But they're nice, John; really they are.) Conspiracy theorists now suggest that Ike had a room in his library made to look a lot like the White House a family residence room but not exactly like one.

Ike strikes back

With the idea that the photo of Ike was taken in the West Bedroom quashed by cruel logic, I re-examined the Private Dining Room as the scene of the crime... er... photo op. That made me re-search the Truman Library for more pics of the room in the 50s, which I found. Additional research is now making me lean toward the Treaty Room.

General Eisenhower, in the West Bedroom, with the Candlestick

I think we have a winner in the "Where's Ike?" contest. Visitor Kevin G provides this fine bit of detective work demonstrating that the photo of Ike must have been taken in the small West Bedroom upstairs.

Here is the photo about Eisenhower. These are just my conclusions, but I looked at the wainscoting panels and the only ones I find of the same length are in the West Bedroom

See what you think. I was wondering if the mantels could have been changed in the Kennedy restoration. Also note the electrical plug in the West Bedroom photo. I believe outlets would have been added.

Update: Well... perhaps not. Unless Ike temporarily changed the mantel himself, the fireplace is wrong. The original, uncaptioned photo comes from a page on Ike's post-White-House years, so it's possible that the photo was not taken in the WH and yet... he had the motive, the opportunity, and the desire....

Presidents Day miscellany

Added a few more Bush, Reagan, and Carter pics from the presidential libraries: West Sitting Hall, Press Briefing Room, Kitchen, State Dining Room, and second floor Central Hall, with the Reagans standing in front of the Chinese screen on their anniversary.

Inkin' Lincoln, I've been thinkin'

Found those Newsweek Lincoln Bedroom photos online and created an homage to them on the Lincoln Bedroom page. And wow, that room looks great. Check out the draperies and the Lincoln-era mantel.

Not shown: a "You must be this tall to sleep in this bed" poster with a life-sized Abe. Not only tacky but not even historically accurate.

White House Today and Yesterday

The blog comments about the January 1961 issue of National Geographic and its cover article "Inside the White House" brought up this little book: The White House: Today and Yesterday. John in NOLA scanned the cover for us. He notes that this book is available through Abe Books and Amazon. Only 60 cents new, in 1962, the book is still available for next to nothing, but has some really wonderful photos—some John had never seen anywhere else and many we've all seen. "Worth adding to your collection, I assure you," he says, altho he notes, "The size of the actual book is 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches," so it's quite small. I'll check it out, but I'll see if I can find the infamous "butcher" cover.

Also, visitor Chris points out that this week's Newsweek features an article on the redecoration of the Lincoln Bedroom.

Update: Link to the Newsweek article online.

Yellow Oval chandelier

Mike B writes:

While looking on the whitehouse.gov site this morning, I noticed a photo of Laura Bush entertaining in the Yellow Oval Room. The chandelier overhead looked noticeably different from the one in past photos. Am I seeing things or was the chandelier recently switched with one that looks remarkably like one from the Kennedy/Johnson era ?

You are definitely correct. That certainly looks like the chandelier used in the Kennedy era. It's beautiful and a tad less formal than the one used thru the Clinton era. It looks a lot like the one in the old Family Dining Room.

With the thoughts I'd be thinkin'...

I could be another Lincoln, if I only had a Lincoln Bedroom, with matching Lincoln bed.

Ford revisited

I got a 1975 WHHA journal the other day off Ebay and pulled several pics from it to fill out the era of the Nixon decor. It gave me my first good look at the Nixon Blue Room, for one thing, and great pics of the East Wing Garden Room, and West Wing Lobby.