Hey, I just noticed something in The Work Out Room photos. In the 1952 photo after the Truman renovation, the room appears to have only one window in the north wall. In all of the other photos showing the north wall, there are two windows. Is that photo correctly labeled?
Why would they have gone back and added another window after the Truman renovation? There are plenty of windows in that room.
Dennis - I think the mirrors are producing an optical illusion. As I see it the North wall only has one window, the south wall (the wall it has in common with the music room) is completely mirrored and the East wall (the wall shown where the president is on the walking machine) has two windows. The picture where he is shown using the free weights reflects the one window on the south wall. The mirrors make the room much bigger than it really is.
That pic of the room during Bush 1 (or Reagan?) showing the sofa only shows one of the two windows on the East wall. It's a wide angle shot and the camera wasn't back far enough to show both windows.
The mirrors make the room look very different from what it is in reality.
I love that picture of the Green Room with the frumpy 1920's "colonial" wingchairs! There's Mc Kim's elegant architectural envelope, the Monroe mantel and those frumpy chairs! Love it! There ought to be a big Atwater-Kent Raahdio sitting close by to complete the picture! Oh well - academic decoration was still in the future then... and now in the past, apparentlty... in the Green Room...
I've removed the OO pic labeled 1910. I can't remember where that came from, and I'm somewhat more confident about the 1925 date, since it came from a WH History article on Coolidge. Very little about the room changed over 30 years (even the desk lamp is the same for decades!) so it's impossible to know strictly from the photo itself.
I checked the photo again and I was looking at the East Wall, not the North. That's where there are two windows.
I'm glad they put the exercise room on the third floor. It seems kind of strange that the Reagans used the portico west bedroom on the second floor for his gym.
the photo with this label
ReplyDeleteThe Oval Office around 1925
already exists from 1910.
Hey, I just noticed something in
ReplyDeleteThe Work Out Room photos. In the 1952 photo after the Truman renovation, the room appears to have only one window in the north wall. In all of the other photos showing the north wall, there are two windows. Is that photo correctly labeled?
Why would they have gone back and added another window after the Truman renovation? There are plenty of windows in that room.
Dennis - I think the mirrors are producing an optical illusion. As I see it the North wall only has one window, the south wall (the wall it has in common with the music room) is completely mirrored and the East wall (the wall shown where the president is on the walking machine) has two windows. The picture where he is shown using the free weights reflects the one window on the south wall. The mirrors make the room much bigger than it really is.
ReplyDeleteThat pic of the room during Bush 1 (or Reagan?) showing the sofa only shows one of the two windows on the East wall. It's a wide angle shot and the camera wasn't back far enough to show both windows.
The mirrors make the room look very different from what it is in reality.
I love that picture of the Green Room with the frumpy 1920's "colonial" wingchairs! There's Mc Kim's elegant architectural envelope, the Monroe mantel and those frumpy chairs! Love it! There ought to be a big Atwater-Kent Raahdio sitting close by to complete the picture! Oh well - academic decoration was still in the future then... and now in the past, apparentlty... in the Green Room...
ReplyDeleteI've removed the OO pic labeled 1910. I can't remember where that came from, and I'm somewhat more confident about the 1925 date, since it came from a WH History article on Coolidge. Very little about the room changed over 30 years (even the desk lamp is the same for decades!) so it's impossible to know strictly from the photo itself.
ReplyDeleteThat '20s solarium lacks only one pleasant touch: flypaper hanging from the public schoolroom light fixture.
ReplyDeleteThose "colonial" wing chairs are a hoot!
ReplyDeleteExceedingly great wierd.
Chris
Duh!!
ReplyDeleteI checked the photo again and I was looking at the East Wall, not the North. That's where there are two windows.
I'm glad they put the exercise room on the third floor. It seems kind of strange that the Reagans used the portico west bedroom on the second floor for his gym.