New front page - Ike China Room

I've changed the front page to an image from the Life collection, a pleasant 1958 picture of party guests looking over the china collection. And I've also freshened the blog again.

Happy new year!

Magazines and thanks!

I just got tipped off about old issues of magazines with good articles on the White House, and I managed to find them on Ebay and buy them for $17 each (including shipping):

• Life: January 4, 1937—The Roosevelt White House (with a diagram of the West Wing to die for)
• Life: July 5, 1968—Special Issue: The Presidency, with diagrams and photos (the primary source for my East Wing floor plan)
  
• Rolling Stone: July 29, 1976—President Ford's son Jack in the White House

Thanks to Alec and Rod....

...And many thanks to Sharon, Kathryn, and especially Lynne for their donations and happy new year to all!

By the way, feel free to suggest any other old White House magazine issues. The Internet is amazing. I'm telling you, this thing is going to be big.

West Wing history

Visitor Alec sent me photos of a tiny government publication from 1995 called Architecture of the West Wing of the White House. He made modifications to the c1911 diagram to make it a more authentic 1909 diagram, and I used the photos he sent to create a 1935 diagram from the 1945 one. Other photos confirmed Pete's current floor plan. See the First Floor of the West Wing History page.

Thanks Alec!

Merry Christmas

A Red, White, and Blue Christmas

Annual koshering of the kitchen with a twist I haven't seen before: covering the hanging pots.

The president's rather casual portrait for the National Portrait Gallery (not his official White House portrait, which will be painted later).

The White House in 3D - a mini-tour

I've finally managed to produce a high-quality version of the animation of Pete Sharkey's 3D President's Park with narration by me. If you go to YouTube, you should see a little "watch in high quality" link in the lower right for best quality.



The next step is naturally to go inside the White House, and with Pete hard at work on various rooms (have you seen Wingnut's Workings lately?) the only trick will be making the transitions seamless. And then, if I can get Pete to create them: historical versions of the White House in 3D. Imagine flying over Lincoln's or Jefferson's White House....

The elusive Dana Perino

I happened to catch part of The Situation Room on CNN that showed a short video of Dana Perino in her office. That's the first I've seen of that scenario and yes, she uses the same rounded L-shaped desk I've come to know and love.

Does Perino not do gaggles? Are photos not allowed in her office? She can't be camera-shy.... Given her rather fabulous good looks*, you would think photogs would be crawling over each other to snap her picture in every venue.

It also occurs to me that, judging by this photo, she is all of about 5 foot 2, so she'd have to do press gaggles in her office standing on a chair.

* This site is apolitical, but not blind.

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.

Busy, busy, busy

C-SPAN's White House Week seems to have gained a fair amount of attention. WHM site performance is quite slow (back up to 20,000 page views a day again).

I'll make a point of bringing the mirror up to date.

White House mansion

Fred Milani's White-House-inspired mansion is for sale. Get yours while supplies last.

UPDATE: more images via Free Republic (WARNING: politics).

Presidential archives

Can I just complain for a moment at the appalling state of our nation's presidential library online offerings? I happened to click one of the credit links to a photo from the Eisenhower Library and got a "page not found" error because they've changed the site structure once again and now the photo is nowhere to be found.

My personal website [warning: politics] is almost 5 years old and not a single incoming link made during that time would be broken today. This site is 2-and-a-half years old and only two or three of links made in that time would be broken.

Further, in order to search for photos, they all direct you to a generic ARC search page and give weak instructions on how to find material related to the president in question. The few photos that are available are awful little 256-color GIFs that have scratches and dust, and no color- or fade-correction. A great deal of the work I do to create this site is just making those kinds of images presentable.

These people are the keepers of our nation's presidential heritage and history, set up and supported by the American people. Is it too much to ask that they post clean, high-resolution images on their own sites and keep them available and link-enabled? Here is a photo of the Carter Oval Office on the National Archives site*; compare it to what I finally managed to produce that wouldn't embarrass me to post.

* This is actually a University of Maryland mirror of some National Archive resources. It actually offers high-res images and makes them linkable.

Thanks!

A number of people have contributed monetarily to WHM.org recently. With the recent leap in visitorship and associated web hosting costs (which are still pretty low, tho, to be honest), it's much appreciated.

• Rebecca
• Steven
• Robert
• Beth
• Latir

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.

White House Week on C-SPAN

Today is the beginning of White House Week, C-SPAN's answer to Shark Week.

They even have a floor plan. The "Chocolate Shop" is placed in the basement. I recall seeing a reference to this before; is it really different from the Pastry Kitchen on the first mez?

And there's video of the Living Room! So much for my separate-bedrooms theory....

UPDATE: Hey! They used my version of the floor plans...!
UPDATE: Hey! They credit WHM at the end!

White House in 3D

I've been playing with Peter Sharkey's 3D model of the White House again and trying to create a nice video from it, but I've been having poor luck. Google Sketch-Up is a little tricky to export from and Microsoft Movie Maker is even trickier to import into.

I've uploaded the raw Sketch-Up animation to YouTube, where it looks fairly terrible.



I've also uploaded the Movie Maker video to this site (it's about 35 MB). It looks better than the Flash-converted YouTube version, but Movie Maker does weird things like freezing on the frame after the frame the source video froze on, which sometimes puts a tree branch in the way of the view. But it's got titles and narration so it seems more polished.

I'll continue experimenting and perhaps try a different video software. I welcome any suggestions.

Capitol Visitor Center

The new Capitol Visitor Center opened the other day. I'm sure it's very nice, but what do the think the White House could do with $625 million in renovation funding? Add on 625 more balconies? Give the press corps a cafeteria? The mind boggles.

New front page - Reagan Green Room

I've changed the front page again, and again I've reused a previous image, this time the 1982 Green Room with holiday wreaths in the windows.

Also, I've added some source link details to the Resources page.

Roosevelt Room in 3D

Peter Sharkey has just released his terrific 3D model of the Roosevelt Room, which I have now added to the site. Typical of his painstaking work, it's got amazingly realistic leather chairs, flags standing at the side, great-looking artwork on the walls, and all. Just fantastic.

Thanks, Pete!

Help: photos of the old west stair

I have a couple of photos of the old west stair removed during the 19-2 (as JBK would say) renovation, and I have a visitor asking for the sources to use in a commercial project. Can anyone help point out the books or other sources? I don't have either of them labeled with a credit.

One (from Seale perhaps? what was his source?)
T'other

A return to normalcy

Visitorship seems to have more or less returned to normal. I'll maintain the mirror site for a while longer. I have a feeling that visitorship will spike again around January 20.

C-Span's White House Week

Don't forget about C-Span's "White House Week," starting December 14, which will include a tour. From the trailer, it looks pretty good. Already, I see it will give us good wide-angle view of the Flower Shop and Pastry Kitchen in addition to all the usual state rooms and family quarters. Still no hint of the Living Room and Master Bedroom or even the East and West Bedrooms on the north side, nor anything on the third floor. It would be nice to see what the Bushes have done with the Clinton's Music Room, at least. And it would be nice to the see the grounds in detail, especially the new pool house.

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.

White House: Behind Closed Doors report

I just watched WH:BCD and here are a few things of interest:

• It has a nice 3D WH and takes the lid off to show various parts. However, the floor plans are not significantly different from WHM's and it does not show any parts (like the basement press offices) that I don't have documented. It specifically avoids showing the layout of the third floor even when discussing it directly and showing it from the outside.
• The servants' spiral staircase definitely ends at the first mez level and has storage shelves built into the interior[!]
• I believe we get our first glimpse at the basement mez pantry.
• In addition to the Kitchen and state rooms, we get a good look at the guest rooms, Treaty Room, West Sitting Hall, and Private Dining Room.
• Laura claims she and W stayed in the Lincoln Bedroom when they visited the Bush 1s. This contradicts her claims from Monarchy that they stayed in the Queens' Bedroom. Then again, she also says that they hosted QE2 and Prince Charles in the Private Dining Room, while a picture is shown of the QE2 lunch in the Yellow Room.
  
• There's a good moment when the narrator says the WH is wired for 21st century living and we see a workman remove a wall panel to reveal what appear to be 50-year-old screw-type fuses.
  

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 House: Behind Closed Doors

The History Channel sneaked up on me and aired Secret Access: Air Force One and The White House: Behind Closed Doors tonight. I managed to record them, but if you missed them, you can still order the DVDs (SA: AF1 and WH: BCD).

Winterthur

Jack sent along a link to Winterthur Magazine, which has a Q&A with Laura Bush.

Life photos

I've added a few more photos from Life via Google.

However, after adding this photo, I realize it can't possibly be the room now known as the president's private study. However, it also can't be the traditional president's secretary's office or what is now the president's dining room.

Site stats

Visitorship continues to rise, apparently with a mention on MSN this week. Here are the page views from the past few weeks, the first of which represents the last "normal" week.

5-Oct-08	56,761
12-Oct-08	70,975
19-Oct-08	73,760
26-Oct-08	78,386
2-Nov-08	192,762
9-Nov-08	369,645
16-Nov-08	525,377

Home Oval Office

Here is a link to a Texas Country Reporter video about Ron Wade's home replica of the Oval Office. Fantastic.

(Thanks to George and to Pete.)

Ford home

Seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and, presumably, a view of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant... own your own home of former President Gerald Ford.

Mirror site

Visitor Dale sent a note about the mirror site, saying a lot of the pictures didn't show up. I noticed and fixed a few several days ago, but I can't find any now. Please comment on this message if you come across a page in the mirror site where photos aren't showing up.

More QE2

I happened upon Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work this afternoon on public television and found episode 1 to include the queen's visit to the White House. Here are some tidbits:

• WH staff is shown touching up the paint, using Duron Exterior Alkyd/Oil Gloss labeled "Whisper - 248".
• Miss Beazley got into the white paint the day of the queen's state dinner.
  
• The queen's visit was the occasion of the first (and, I think, only) white tie event during the Bush 2 administration.
• Buckingham Palace is waaaay fancier than the WH, but some of the corridors are very narrow.
• Bush 2 met the queen when she visited the WH during the Bush 1 time, 16 years earlier.
• Barney likes to steal the president's ball when he is practicing on the putting green and is very good at pulling golf balls out of the hole.
• The president had a good joke about how he was concerned at how Barney would behave toward the queen, given that he is Scottish.
• The Bush 1s stay in the Queens' Bedroom when they visit the Bush 2 WH, as the Bush 2s did when they visited the Bush 1 WH.
  
• Some of the queen's house staff are what Mrs. Slocombe would have called "dead common".
• The queen's lunch was held in the Yellow Oval Room.

HMS Resolute writing table

Here's something I don't think I've seen before: the writing table companion to the partner desk given to President Hayes by Queen Victoria, both made from timbers of the Resolute. If I recall correctly, the desk shown in Buckingham Palace in National Treasure 2: The Ridiculous Sequel was the queen's actual current desk, a rather horsey-looking secretary.

Redecoration speculation

Fox News has an article on moving into the White House. It's a follow-up to their piece about White House food.

The AP has something on first lady transition tours.

Very grumpy article from The Scotsman on how darn much presidents and prime ministers spend redecorating to make things "homely". (British pound conversion: double it and add thirty.*)

The Californian has an article with some juicy cost details I haven't seen before in the right sidebar.

* I may have that wrong.

Photo day

It was photo day again at the White House. Look for this to be more and more common as the administration winds down. It must just drive the staff nuts to have to move all those priceless antiques out of the state floor rooms for these events (not to mention dragging in risers for the larger groups). And I always wonder whose idea it is for everybody to be photographed throwing gang signs.

I knew this would come in handy for something

I decided I can somewhat alleviate the site slowdown problem, at least for those who check this blog. I've uploaded nearly the entire site to 1ObservatoryCircle.com as a mirror.

It's still loading as of the moment, but keep an eye on it. Once the images get loaded, I'll go thru and fix things like broken navigation links (like links from the site to this blog, which of course isn't mirrored).

UPDATE: Actually, this is going to take hours. Please be patient.
UPDATE: Okay. All done. 1OC is practically an identical copy of WHM as of yesterday. WHM now has several main room pages and floor plan pages broken out into current and historical versions, as the Oval Office has been for some time.

Site performance still poor

I called GoDaddy again about the slow performance of the site, but they've confirmed that even with the upgrade it's just swamped with user requests. Mirroring content wouldn't even help, since it's not a traffic thru-put problem.

The only real solution at this point would be to upgrade to my own server, which is $150 a month. And with donations still topping out at $0 a month, that's not economically feasible. :-(

I'll spend some time breaking up content so the individual pages have fewer images and see if that improves things.

Marine One

I finally added Peter Sharkey's wonderful model of the new Marine One to the 3-D Models page. He created it quite a long while ago, but it looks great. I even did an X-ray view that looks very cool. (When I say I "did" it, I mean I clicked an option that says "X-Ray view." Pete is the genius here.)

Site performance

I've upgraded my hosting plan with GoDaddy to allow for more concurrent users, which is what is causing the slow-down. Doubling the concurrent users should ease the traffic jam.

PS Can you tell I haven't have a whole lot to do at work today?

Obamas visit the White House

The Obamas visited the White House today to talk transition. The event happens to afford us the best view I've seen of the Bush 2 Oval Office rug border.
There's also a nice pic of the incoming and outgoing first ladies in the West Sitting Hall.

New presidential limo

Jalopnik is reporting that GM is working on a new limousine for the president, a version of the GMC Topkick disguised as a giant Cadillac DTS. Since the DTS is a bigger STS, which is a bigger CTS, You would think they'd call this the LTS (for limo) or maybe even PTS.

I've always wanted the limo fleet controlled by the Army so the president's car can be called Army 1 to match the names Air Force 1 and Marine 1, but that's just my natural neurosis for parallelism.

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.

East Wing

I've made a couple of small changes to the East Wing floor plans (first and second) to place the stairs in the right location, altho I'm not certain I have them oriented exactly right.

Page views

Traffic went thru the roof as election day approached. I'm now getting some offers to add advertising, but the potential sponsors are kind of random (patriotic or DC-related products might make sense). This chart shows page views (not unique visitors) from the beginning of the site to this week, with this week's final numbers partly a projection.

UPDATE: I've updated the chart to show the real numbers up to Saturday, and they're even higher than I projected.

Best wishes

Best wishes to the future first family: Barack, Michelle, Malia Ann, and Sasha (and puppy-to-be-named-later). Here's hoping that the showers are strong enough, the furniture is comfortable enough, and the ghosts are friendly enough.

Welcome, new visitors!

The WHM site seems to be quite slow this morning, probably as a result of a rush of visitors after the general election. Welcome, all!

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.

New front page - old front page

For the first time since I started back in June of 2006, I've decided to reuse a front page image for the monthly front page change. It's the Kennedy Blue Room, one of my favorites.

Planeta Fascinante

The latest issue of my favorite Spanish-language magazine, Planeta Fascinante, is on the stands, and I naturally rushed out to get it. So there I am, reading "Se pueden leer los pensamientos?" ("Have you lost your thoughts of Mentos?"*) and I turn the page to find none other than Peter Sharkey's 3-D White House diagrams!

The article concerns the security of the White House and its anti-bomber defenses. Unfortunately, the editors seem to have taken the liberty of moving the Despacho Oval from the Ala Del Oeste to the Salon Amarillo, for some reason. But the images look great, don't they?

Congratulations, Pete!

* My Spanish, she is a little rusty.

White House visitors

Theodore Roosevelt returned from the dead to visit the White House yesterday and, presumably, take over and start a war with Spain. Or possibly Paraguay. Or any of the several other nations whose leaders have visited recently.

One way or another, the White House is preparing for a transition of power to someone.

Nancy Reagan

I've been remiss in not wishing Nancy Reagan a speedy recovery from her fall in which she fractured her pelvis. She is out of the hospital now and making a gradual—but expected full—recovery.

Thanks to Mike B for commenting previously.

Diagrams

I added a new and improved East Wing first floor. And I've created a page of high-resolution overview diagrams useful as visual aids for, say, a school report like the one Madeline J has to do for her fourth grade class.

White House contractors

I got a request looking for information on businesses that do contract work for the White House. I know pretty much all the regular maintenance is done by in-house staff and the Parks Department, tho. The one thing that came to mind is the making of the Oval Office rugs and some of the furniture. Rode Brothers laid a new Oval Office floor a few years ago, for one. I believe Scott Group made the rug for the Clinton Oval Office, but I don't know they have an ongoing relationship with the WH.

Anybody know more about this?

Floating White House for sale

The Manitou, John Kennedy's "floating White House" has been restored and is up for sale for a ridiculous amount of money. Inevitable unfortunate quote: "JFK using her adds to the intrigue."

Scannin'

I took a little time finally and scanned an article from a 1902 issue of The Outlook magazine called "The White House - The Plans for Its Reconstruction" and also the recent Architectural Digest spread of the Bush 2 renovation. Look for those soon.

I also scanned the floor plan of 1 Observatory Circle (the VP residence) from American Monarchy; so I'll create a mini-site for that soon, too.

UPDATE: 1902 article now available

C-SPAN's White House

Pete clued me in to C-SPAN's documentary on the White House scheduled to air December 14-20: White House: Inside America's Most Famous House. Can't wait!

New front page - doorway

I've put up a new front page: a visitor's picture of doorway from the East Room to the Green Room (at least, that's what I think it is), suggested by Pete. Thanks Pete!

San Francisco

I've been working in Sacramento for a while now and traveling home on the weekends (it's what I do). This weekend, I stayed in California and visited San Francisco. Down on Fisherman's Wharf, I ran into a surprise: a big copy of the Oval Office Remington bronze Bronco Buster—and, right across the street, the Boudin restaurant (Boudin being the name of the Kennedy's second interior designer). Not more than 20 feet on was a wax museum chock full of presidents. Lincoln looks a bit hydrocephalic, and Washington looks very angry about having swallowed a bug, but most of them are good. There were more presidents, but it was quite dark, so some of my photos didn't turn out well at all.

Check out my Fisherman's Wharf gallery. I'll be posting more on Lombard street and downtown late tonight. And I hope to get the Golden Gate Bridge before fighting my way back to Sacramento.

PS for photo enthusiasts: the way I got the best photos in the wax museum was not using a flash, which tended to wash out the figures (and trip the proximity alarm) but rather to shoot the figure once, set a custom white balance based on the pic I just shot, then shoot the figure again. They were under various colored lights (yellow, blue, white, and red), so it was a bit arduous. I got it figured out at Napoleon.

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.

Resolute desk

Visitor Ryan is interested in plans for the Resolute desk...

hi, i am looking to start carving and building my own exact replica of the hms resolute desk, i was wondering if you know of the exact measurements of the desk overall size and if any other measurements of it , drawings, and what not. and i fully agree with you on the full replica of the white house and a museum . maybe in 7 years from now when i run for congress i can help you obtain that goal, or if luck is on my side maybe when i am president in 2028.

Does anyone know of any such plans?

New front page - East Wing Lobby

I realized last night that I'd forgotten to change the front page for the month, so I've change it now to a picture of visitors in the East Wing Lobby a couple of years ago.

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.

White House overview

Pete pointed me to this pic of President's Park on Picasa showing shadowy shapes on the east and west where work on the wings is proceeding, so I cleared up its cloudiness to clarify the clues.

North Portico lamp

Visitor Merlin writes:

Do you have any information about the large light fixture that hangs in the North Portico, including the name of the manufacturer? It appears in a 1906 photo on your website but is not visible in a 1902 photo, so it must date from sometime in that interval.

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.

Navy Mess

Pete sent a link to a SF Sentinel article on DC power eateries. The first part is about the West Wing's Navy Mess. There aren't many photos, but there is one of the menu.

New WHHA online shop

The White House Historical Association has a new online shop that promises "several new sections and improved navigation." Take a look.

The site is still a bit slow, and the categories are a little too small ("Serving Accessories"?).

Hoban's original plan

An interesting note from visitor Andrew McCarthy regarding the "original" Hoban elevation reconstructions on the Residence Overview page:

The reconstructed elevations you’ve posted seem inaccurate in several respects, even to the early-revised plan of Hoban’s which they purport to emulate. Not only that, but the two images were done by different draftsmen, so they are slightly inconsistent even with each other. (I understand completely that they’re the best you have – I’m no artist, myself – but you’d think the original artists would’ve put more effort into it.)

In the front reconstruction, a pediment has been added that was not there: as William Seale points out in most of his books, the surviving wall section from Hoban’s second plan doesn’t show one. However, it does show fluting on the central columns, carvings on the frieze, and a more elaborate balustrade than ended up in the final plan – none of which is in the reconstructed image.

Another detail shown in Hoban’s wall section is shown incorrectly: a carved strip of molding ran all the way along the second-story wall, flush with the base of the Ionic columns and acting as a sill beneath the second-floor windows. This exists at Leinster House, and was apparently adopted by Hoban. Below the stone molding on most of the windows, the wall section shows two long scroll supports, similar to the ones holding up the first-floor window hoods on the finished WH. However, at Leinster House, the second-floor central windows have a balustrade beneath their sill instead of carved supports, and I would guess that Hoban copied this detail as well.

Also, the second-story window hoods were probably a little wider than shown in the picture, with the scroll supports beneath them resting on either side of the stone window frame, not on top of it (this is the arrangement both at Leinster House and the final WH). Plus, the windows in the first-floor center, within the rusticated area, are shown as arched. Since both Leinster House and the Charleston County Courthouse (the two buildings which are closest in form to Hoban’s original intent) have rectangular windows in the corresponding area, I suspect that the arching may be incorrect, and that the windows were sunk in rectangular openings in the rusticated wall.

Finally, (and this is just a guess), the window hoods of the central windows on the second story might be more elaborate than the ones to each side – this is the case on the rear façade of Leinster House, and was common in 18th century Dublin architecture. My personal guess is that the window directly above the door had a triangular pediment, while the ones immediately to either side had arched hoods. This idea is based on the placement of the window hoods in the final WH front, where two arched pediments flank an arched transom, a curiosity given Hoban’s alternating hood-shape scheme elsewhere on the house.

As for the rear reconstruction: the windows on the second story, as on the front, should have wider hoods with small scroll supports to either side, and a strip of molding running along the second-floor wall acting as a windowsill. As well, the balustrade and frieze should be more elaborate, as with the front side (and the pillars should be added back to the balustrade, a detail the artist forgot). Plus, the second-story window hoods might have more elaborate designs, mirroring those I proposed on the front. Also, the first-floor door in the center of the bow is missing: this should be an actual doorway, not a jib door, given that in the early-revised floorplan Hoban drew it wide open, as he did the front door, while he drew the other jib-doors as plain windows. Lastly, the artist forgot to draw in the windowsills beneath the third-floor windows, and drew the wrong number of chimneys (these were pretty much as they are in the final WH.)

I was in Charleston about a month ago and took pictures of the Charleston County Courthouse, a building which, even if Hoban didn’t help build it (the records are lost), was certainly known to him and Washington. The back façade of the building has a curious window design which may represent how Hoban envisioned the central side windows of the revised three-story WH plan. The building was exactingly restored about 10 years ago to how it would’ve looked in Washington’s day – judging from old photographs they did an excellent job.

On the first floor is a Palladian arched window, very similar to the one that today graces the East Room. The floorplan for Hoban’s second design indeed shows such windows on the side walls. However, this window is slightly different from the WH version – the smaller side window panels are one tier lower than the height of the “normal” windows to either side. To suit this change, the carved entablature just above the window does not arc over the central fan-shaped panel, as it does on the actual WH, but instead rests in two sections atop the side panels, while a much less elaborate arched window frame curves atop the center of the window. Also, the four Ionic pilasters holding the entablature up have different shapes: the two on the outside are rectangular, and the two inner ones are curved (this was shown in Latrobe’s floorplan of 1803, but is not visible on the window today). Finally, I suspect that if Hoban carried this scheme over to his revised WH plan, he added carving to the frieze on the entablature, and fluting to the Ionic columns, to make the side windows more harmonious with the front façade. In fact, such a carved frieze is visible in an engraving of the ruined WH walls after the fire of 1814 – it may have been altered, like the columns, in the rebuilding.

On the third story is a lunette window with a carved keystone on top and a plain sill beneath. However, this one lacks the row of straight glass panes on the bottom edge of the WH lunette. I suspect that Hoban originally wanted to put the lunette window on the smaller third floor, and when he removed one floor he brought the design down, adding glass panes to the bottom to lengthen it.

Between the wide top and bottom windows on the courthouse back, on the second floor, is a window of ordinary width, but with an arched top tier. Such a design would be awkward on the side of the WH, given the window hoods on the second floor in Hoban’s revised wall section, so I suspect he substituted a normal-shaped window with an arched pedimented hood. Such a curved hood would be complemented by the pointed and curved hoods which I suspect he also put on the center of the second-story front façade (see above).

If you want to see the photos for yourself, ask and I’ll send them along. It’s very rare that the back of the courthouse gets photographed.

As for why Hoban had such an elaborate entablature in the first place: I suspect that, as on Leinster House and the Charleston courthouse, Hoban’s very first plan did indeed have a pediment, but a plain one, without carving on it, or a balustrade or a complex entablature beneath. Then, when Washington ordered more elaborate stonework, he probably removed the simple pediment and added a fancy balustrade and frieze. Later, when he made his final plan, he added the pediment back on and scaled back the entablature carvings, but kept the new balustrade and drew an elaborate bald eagle image to be carved on the pediment (which was never acted on).
As you can see, I’ve probably thought about this too much.

New additions

I added a terrific layout of the second floor of the East Wing created by Pete Sharkey (thanks, Pete!) from materials dating from LBJ, I believe, but probably not changed much since.

I've also begun adding photos that Pete found. The first are a couple from the West Wing. Next will be some from the second floor of the Residence. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Fixed the What's New page. It had become corrupted somehow.

Facebook photos

Hey, I found this great little site called Facebook, where there is a vibrant community of White House enthusiasts in a group called "White House Fanatics".

They've posted some great photos on there that I don't have that would look great hanging in the museum. There is even a floor plan of the East Wing! I'll be contacting them soon....

Also Pete has sent some photos of the West Wing dining room and elsewhere that I plan to use.

New front page - TR's new office

I've changed the front page for August, this time to a photo of TR in repose in his new room in the new Executive Office Building—the original West Wing (if you don't count the stables and laundry).

Happy Anniversary ! (belated that is)

As a regular visitor and infrequent contributor, I would like to wish Derek all the best on the 2nd anniversary of the White House Museum website and to express my thanks for this refuge for we White House "fanatics" . Technically this blog, and perhaps ceremonially the White House Museum website officially got going on July 22, 2006. So this anniversary greeting is somewhat belated.

Derek has shown terrific leadership in attracting many White House enthusiasts and encouraging them to contribute in many ways, doing so with a tremendous amount of grace and willingness to hear constructive criticism.

The White House museum has been a wonderful place for me to view my favorite building/home. And I have also learned a significant amount of new information by what has been shared. And to top it off, the website itself is structured so well and just-plain looks terrific . . . a true compliment to the class and modest elegance that is The White House.

Derek, Thank You!

Library 3D Model

Hi White House Museum Friends,

I've restarted building the White House rooms after needing to take some time away for work. If you regularly check in to the Wingnut's Workings Blog you'll see more frequent updates and photos of the progress. (Derek has a link located on the right in this blog page as well)

I'm currently working on the Library and will be moving on to other Ground Floor rooms after that. Rather than making any of you wait for an entire floor to be completed, each room will be given to Derek upon it's completion for him to present it to you here at the WHM.

I will be calling upon you folks regularly for opinions on specific details and also help with providing color photos. I've already had help from some of you. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Peter

P.S: For now, here is the latest screen photo of the Library:

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.

New front page - West Sitting Hall

I changed the front page to one of the West Sitting Hall around 1937.

Also, I noticed that in the Truman 1945 renovation plans for the West Wing (which were never realized), there was a better layout for the first floor than I had for anywhere near that era, so I combined it with the 1960 plan to create a composite that should be pretty accurate (if not entirely complete on the north side).

Hoban's inspiration

I got a substantive question from visitor Andrew on James Hoban's sources which I have been unable to answer, but I know some regular readers have more insight into the subject:

I am curious about the possibility of James Hoban having used an architectural reference book when designing the White House front elevation.

A few months ago, when I was browsing in my local university library, I stumbled on the book The United States Capitol: Designing and Decorating a National Icon, edited by Donald R. Kennon (published by Ohio University Press, in Athens, OH, in 2000). On page 32 of this book is reproduced an elevation drawing of Leinster House (Hoban’s inspiration for the White House). The engraving in question was originally taken from the 1780 architectural reference book Views of the most remarkable public Buildings, Monuments and other Edifices in the City of Dublin, written by Robert Pool and John Cash.

This engraving is most notable because in one regard it seems to be an intermediate step between the actual Leinster House as built and Hoban’s final plan for the two-story White House. Specifically, the elevation is much as Leinster House actually looked in the 1780’s (judging by a 1792 painting reproduced in William Seale’s The White House: The History of an American Idea) except for the second-story window pediments, which are inaccurate.

The actual Leinster House has (and has always had, going by the painting in Seale’s book) window pediments that are arranged (in terms of rounded vs. pointed pediments) much differently than those on the White House first-story windows. However, the engraving of Leinster House published by Pool and Cash, reproduced by Kennon et al., incorrectly shows the front side of Leinster House with second-story window pediments arranged almost exactly like those on the first-story front of the final White House.

Because of this inaccurate detail which was reproduced in Hoban’s designs, I think it quite possible that Hoban had a copy of this 1780 book, which he would have used to refresh his memory about Leinster House’s architecture when designing the original 3-story WH plan. Moreover, judging by the floorplan and partial side elevation which survive of his original three-story concept, it is quite possible that the Pool and Cash elevation is very close to what Hoban originally had in mind before budget costs forced a reduction in scale of the project.

I always thought that Hoban was indeed working from an architecture book and not from personal study of Leinster House, but I don't recall seeing the book named.

West Wing Tour

Visitor Colton passed along a link to a great set of photos on Flickr documenting a recent tour of the West Wing. Great pics!

New front page - Reagan and Bush

I got busy and lazy simultaneously and neglected to change the front page for June. But Becky kindly reminded me, and now I've changed it to a beautiful photo of President Reagan with VP Bush on the patio outside the Oval Office, from almost exactly 20 years ago.

State Dining Room furniture copies

Visitor Ben writes:

I am trying to find chairs for my
dining room similar to the gold upholstered 1902
chairs in the State Dining Room. Kittinger has a
similar chair, but it doesn't have the same simplified
lines as the chairs in the White House collection.
Have you ever run across the manufacturer of the
chairs in any of your research? I imagine
reproductions have been made since 1902...just
wondering if you have any leads.

The laziest presidential article ever

A new Slate article on the presidential names is about the laziest piece of writing I've ever seen on presidential history. The author claims that "Barack Hussein Obama" is such an unusual name that it is entirely out of keeping with American history--largely true--and that past presidents and even presidential candidates have all had very ordinary names, which is patently ridiculous.

Full article at Tysto.com.

Lincoln stained glass

Knowing my (and my readers') general interest in architecture as well as the presidency, and perhaps my substantial time spent in Columbus, OH, visitor Ray writes:

I'm trying to do some research about a one of kind artifact that came out of the old Franklin County courthouse in Columbus, Ohio. I've enclosed a photo of the window, it was made in 1892 and was removed when the courthouse was demolished.
The architect was George Maetzel, who also built many other courthouses in the mid-west and I'm trying to research who made this window. There are similar windows made in the Madison County courthouse in London, Ohio and I'm guessing that they were made by the same person.
I'd appreciate any info you might have and would be grateful if you can point me in the right direction.

West Wing Lobby clock

Visitor Jim writes:

Recently my wife was privileged to a White House tour. She was particularly interested in a “federal” (?) style clock on the wall in the West Wing Lobby, first floor (see attached pic. from your site). Can you tell us anything about the clock’s mfg., age, history, etc??

Anybody got any help for Jim?

Problems in the West Wing

No, it's not political. It's hydrological. As usual, the Hou Chron blog is there... and ankle deep in water.

Jenna gets hitched

CNN has pics of the lovely outdoor wedding and tent reception. WH.gov has some too. Seems like the White House would have been a nice setting too.... I'm just saying....

No word on whether the president calls his new son-in-law "Hanky Panky" or "Hager the Horrible," but you know it has to be one of those.

Number 1 Observatory Circle

MSNBC has a great tour of the vice-president's residence.

New front page - Johnson 1 East Room

I've changed the front page to one of Andrew Johnson's East Room.

Also, I've added two new pics of the north side from 19th century postcards in my collection.

Oval Office 2008

Very nice photo of the Oval Office the other day, courtesy of Time's WH blog.

LibriVox presidential projects

LibriVox, the free audio book site supported by volunteers, is looking for readers for a couple of presidential projects: A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln by John Nicolay and Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography by, one supposes, Theodore Roosevelt. Consider volunteering for a couple of chapters or take note of them to listen to later when they're finished.

PS I never did read any of the Kennedy-Khruschev telegram exchanges from congratulations to missile crisis to condolences. They found two readers to do them all(!)

Pope visit

Pope Benedict visited the White House today. It is his birthday, no less. I hope the president bought him Prada.....

HouChron is backstage....

Grand staircase decorations

Ndkott (and JFK) wonders about the nature of the designs around the grand staircase. I think they are emblems of each of the original 13 states, but I'm not sure. Any better answers?

The president's call button

Time has graciously served up a nice photo of the president's call button, under discussion here recently. Thanks Brooks Kraft!

Happy 90th, Mrs. Ford

Today, Betty Ford turns 90 years old. Best wishes to her and her family.

New front page - Ike in the theater

President Eisenhower sits quietly and comfortably in his easy chair in the Family Theater, where he spent so many hours watching western after western. No foolin'.

Resolute desk

Time has a really nice photo of the Resolute desk plaque.

Easter egg roll

Former First Lady Barbara Bush attended this year's WH Easter egg roll, along with former Presidents Washington, Roosevelt 1, Lincoln, and Jefferson. Former football great Troy Aikman read One Fish, Two Fish for some reason.

Art question

Océano Pablo Navarro from Spain writes:

I found the enclosed picture of the Reagans with Prince Charles and Lady Diana in the Yellow Oval Room [actually the West Sitting Hall] and though I've searched all the web, I couldn't know who is the painter of the impressionist beach scene hanging on the wall.
Could you please give me this information?

Update: He got a reply back from Hillary Crehan of the WHHA that...

The painting in the image is entitled: At the Seaside by Edward Potthast. This painting was borrowed from a private collection and is shown hanging in the West Sitting Hall.

Road trip: Reagan Library

I'm currently working in far-flung Rancho Cordova, California, near Sacramento, which Google places 6 hours away from the Reagan Library in Simi Valley and 6-and-a-half from the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda.

I think I'll plan to stay over one weekend and visit those locations as well as San Francisco. Does anyone who has visited those libraries have any travel tips? Traveling on business, I have the luxury of staying overnight in that area, giving me a jump on the next day.

Welcome, newcomers!

I just looked at the Web stats for the WHM for the first time in several weeks and found that traffic is up considerably. The site first broke 30,000 page views a week in February of 2007 and held steady thru-out summer and fall until December, when visitorship went up markedly. Since then, we've been enjoying about 60,000 page views a week.

Welcome to everyone who found us in the last couple of months!

The president's box

Got a note asking about the box with the medallion on top that appears in some of the photos for the President's Dining Room. It's quite prominent in the one I added recently. A similar box appears in photos of the Cabinet Room. I believe these are buttons the president can use to summon a White House steward into the room for more water or to clean up a spill or something. Anyone with more info? Are they radio controls or wired? I think that presidents have had similar call buttons since the house was wired for electricity (and bell pulls before that), but this president seems to like to keep his on display.

New front page - Reagan Green Room

I've changed the front page to the 1982 Green Room, a nice bit of color in the gray weather.

Gizmodo hating on Laura

Gizmodo takes exception to the Bush 2 renovation of the Family Theater in a new article using the Architectural Digest photos.

WordPress and more

I haven't been paying a lot of attention to this site recently, partly because I've run out of photos and other good historical material to improve it. This is something I anticipated happening after about 3 months, but I got such good encouragement and tips from other enthusiasts that I had plenty to keep me busy for a year and a half. Thanks!

The other reason is that I went researching WordPress as an alternative to Blogger (since many have had trouble with the Blogger commenting system) and ended up creating a whole new site relevant to a different hobby of mine: movies. As regular readers know, I've done several audio commentaries for movies set in the White House and more still for other movies. I decided to create a site where others can submit their commentaries, so there is a central repository for movie and television commentaries available on the Web. Check it out at Zarban.com, if you like that sort of thing.

I'm liking WordPress a lot, so I may convert this blog one of these days.

Soldiers' Home opening

After a $15 million renovation, the Old Soldiers' Home presidential retreat beloved by the Lincolns is set to reopen tomorrow (for tourists, not soldiers). Apparently, it took a lot to get the old soldiers out.

• CBS News
• Washington Times
  

Nancy Reagan hospitalized

86-year-old Nancy Reagan was hospitalized after a fall in her home. She attended the funeral of Merv Griffin last year and seems to otherwise be in good health. Best wishes to her and her family.

Got it!

I got a copy (two, actually) of AD at O'Hare while traveling today. The photos are beautiful, altho I wish we'd seen one or two of the private rooms (even the Family Kitchen!). The Green Room looks great and the Lincoln Bedroom is marvelous, but the Queens' Bedroom is as frumpy as ever. You'd think that first families would be more adventurous with the lesser known guest room. The Vermeil Room is somehow still boring, despite the goldware. It's nice to see the Palm Room, tho.

Also, I must say, the Porsche advertising insert was very persuasive. It fairly convinced me that I want a Porsche. But what is with that ad on page 35? Are they selling Isabella Rosselini? As much as I admire her beauty and talent, I won't be a part of the illicit film star trade.

Architectural Digest

I still haven't had a chance to pick up the new Architectural Digest with pics of the Bush redecoration. I've looked for it locally, but couldn't find it. I didn't want to go all the way to Barnes & Noble or Borders because I knew I'd be passing thru O'Hare airport Monday and it would certainly be there. Cue the severe weather flight delays.... and I had to rush to catch my connection.

This week I'm in Sacramento. Surely these people are civilized. The weather certainly is.

Presidents in movies and TV

As a result of a reader of the WHM Movies and TV page, I was prompted to consider how the US president is portrayed in movies and TV. I thought it would be a good discussion topic.

SPOILERS AHEAD

One thing that comes to mind is political party. Without studying it in depth, I think few movie presidents have actually been described as Republican or Democrat. They just don't talk about it. Jed Bartlett of The West Wing TV show was a Democrat, tho.

I've also noticed that there aren't many presidential marriages portrayed as happy. Notably, in the movies Dave and The Sentinel, the first couple were estranged, and in Murder at 1600 and Absolute Power, the president was cheating on his wife. In The American President, the president was widowed shortly before taking office. Real presidents get the benefit of the doubt, tho. In Nixon, the marriage seemed solid, for example.

I can't think of any works that portray fictional presidents as really corrupt, altho I think the president murdered his mistress in Absolute Power. I can't remember if we see much of Nixon in All the President's Men. It's actually surprising, now that I think of it, that pretty much all fictional presidents are portrayed as thoughtful, well-meaning, tough-minded, and kind-hearted, even when they're ordering mass destruction (Failsafe and Dr. Strangelove).
The president takes forceful action in Independence Day and Air Force One.

In the new movie, Vantage Point, I believe the president uses a double who gets murdered. Dave also featured a double, but for the-prince-and-the-pauper comic effect.

Presidents are probably most often the target of assassination. In the Line of Fire and The Sentinel come to mind, as well as JFK. I think both Parallax View and Manchurian Candidate are about candidates for president.

Diversity is pretty important to Hollywood. Female presidents feature in 1964's Kisses for My President (gotta see that one) and the TV shows Commander in Chief and 24. Black presidents feature in The Fifth Element and the TV show 24.

Even so, the great majority of fictional presidents are white, middle-aged, male, and of European descent, just like every president so far in real life. I can't think of any fictional presidents from the South, however, and we've had a number of those. Their names are almost uniformly bland too: Bartlett, Shepherd, Marshall, Palmer, Taylor, Allen, McKenna, Ballentine, Neil, Mitchell. One exception is Dr. Strangelove's President Merkin Muffley, and--of course--The Simpsons Movie's President Arnold Schwarzenegger.

List of fictional presidents from Wikipedia (as usual, way overdone, including presidents in short stories).

Lincoln Sitting Room

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

Movies and the president

I've started a special thread over at White House Fanatics on Facebook regarding movies and the president. If you live in near NYC, DC, or LA, please take a look.

New blog look

Board with the olive drab of the original, I've spent another 12 minutes updating the look of the blog. Let me know if you think it's too much.

White House whispers

An anonymous tip pointed me in the direction of Duron paint as the source of the White House's "whisper white" exterior paint. This enabled me to dig up a couple of old articles and prompted me to change the answer to the question asked some time ago about it.

Super Bowl

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. With football gradually taking over from baseball as the national past time, how long will it be before the president of the United States starts flipping the Super Bowl coin rather than (or in addition to) throwing out the first baseball of the season?

Ford was a big football fan. Did he ever preside over the first football game of the season?

Presidents' sleeping habits

I ran across a curiosity a couple of weeks ago and haven't satisfied it yet. Today, I googled it again and came upon a blog post that actually phrases it in reference to presidents. I know that in "the old days" many people slept sitting up because they thought it was healthier, and it was so common that beds were built quite short. But when did it start and when did it end?

Specifically, which presidents would have slept sitting up and which would have slept flat?

New look

Freshened the look of the site for 2008 with a different color scheme and border. You may need to refresh some pages to see the changes.

New front page - Trumans

Changed the front page to one of Truman being sworn in in the Cabinet Room, with Bess and Margaret by his side.

Front page gallery.

Margaret Truman

News outlets are reporting that Margaret Truman Daniel died a few hours ago at the age of 83. The New York Times, which husband Clifton Daniel managed, has a big story. Condolences to her family.

MTD was the only daughter of President Truman, lived in the White House for part of his administration, and authored several novels set in the White House and elsewhere in Washington. Her bedroom is now the Family Kitchen.

• Truman Library bio
• Wikipedia page

WH bridal shower

According to the Washington Post (WaPo to Beltway insiders), Jenna Bush is hosting her bridal shower at the White House, or at least hosting the 15 guests there. Maybe we'll see some pics of it leak later.

Non-WH wedding

Houston Chronicle is reporting that Jenna and Henry will marry at the Crawford Ranch and not at the White House itself. The date is set for May 10, so plans must be well under way.

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.)

Rose Garden in winter

The Time White House blog has a nice photo of the Rose Garden getting a snow shower, complete with one of Barney's stray balls.

Open post: White House 6-11

Becky sent along this photo from oldpicture.com (the source of some good WH photos in the past) with the caption "White House at night, 6/11". I'm not sure if the bright glare is from fireworks or just from a streetlamp due to the long exposure or what.

UPDATE: Robert Martin sent a better image that he found in the LOC which includes the full date: 6/14/11, prepping for the Tafts' silver wedding anniversary party on June 19, 1911, which we know was lit up with search lights.

Two score electricians are now at work in the White House grounds, as thousands of electric lights will be placed among the trees and festooned across the lawns and terraces. The White House itself will be outlined completely by electric lights. No cornice, angle, or gable will be overlooked. On the west lawn of the White house an electric flag will wave. This will be a wonderful sight, the red, white, and blue colors flashing into the night.

Buildin' a remedy

Volunteered to be the voice of Krushchev in the first few exchanges between JFK and the Crusher in a new audio project at LibriVox.

ESTEEMED MR. KENNEDY, Allow me to congratulate you on the occasion of your election to the high post of the President of the United States.

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?

The French...

Times Online is reporting that President of France Nicolas Sarkozy has secretly married supermodel Carla Bruni in the Elysee last week. It's hard to imagine such a thing happening in the White House (except maybe back in the days of President Hefner), but then there is a little church just across the park from the White House, where such things could be taken care of discreetly. One imagines the Elysee is surrounded by cheese shops and topless beaches.

Abe Lincoln, cultural icon

I have no explanation for this. I just think it's sort of interesting that Lincoln is the only president you'd see depicted this way.

Update: Except, of course, President Marshall.

Photoshop 1903?

Just added a suspicious pic of TR with his Cabinet in his "executive office" in the old West Wing. How many of these characters do you think were actually in the room with him at the time?

The legend reads

Cortelyou, Knox, Payne, Moody, Hay, Roosevelt, Hichcock, Root, Shaw, Wilson. The President reading his message to the Cabinet before sending it to Congress.

Update: Let me stress that the photo is a genuine 1903 print. I haven't done anything to it myself, and I doubt the Library of Congress did. But clearly the original publisher optically printed in several of the figures.

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.

Lincoln-era memoir

Full text of Elizabeth Keckley's 1868 memoir Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. There doesn't seem to be much description of the White House itself, but there is an awful lot of this sort of thing:

Mrs. Lincoln was especially severe on Mr. Wm. H. Seward, Secretary of State. She but rarely lost an opportunity to say an unkind word of him.

Welcome, Nick Cage fans

I saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets this past weekend. The titular book is a diary passed from president to president that holds all their deepest secrets. Given the vagaries of politics, that seems unlikely (Carter wouldn't release Nixon's missing 18-minute tape?), but the point of it is that the book contains a photo of a wooden plaque that was formerly concealed in a secret compartment of the Resolute desk—one half of a treasure map that has something to do with the Queen of England. Her Resolute desk (the feminine fraternal twin to our president's) contains the other half. Naturally, Nick Cage must sneak into the Queen's private office and the Oval Office (it looks just like GWB's) to get the information that he needs, only it's not there, and he has to ransack the Library of Congress. Unfortunately for him, the president's secret book is one of the 17 million items I purloined from the Library of Congress a few months ago and the movie ends with him being nonplussed, chagrined, arrested, indicted, arraigned, and other French terms. The End.

Anyway, as a result, "Resolute Desk" is now the top term that brings visitors to the White House Museum. Welcome!

New front page: blueprint

Changed the front page to an elevation of the south face that I made to look like a blueprint to use as wallpaper. I've included regular versions at two size, in case anyone wants to use it as computer wallpaper (altho the term "wallpaper" doesn't make sense with a computer "desktop;" maybe it should be called a "computer blotter paper.")

Happy New Year &c.

Happy New Year. Here is hoping that 2008 is prosperous and full of growth and knowledge.

If you were intrigued by my post on LibriVox, the free audio book site, there is a project going on right now in which numerous people all contribute their reading of the US Bill of Rights. They do this from time to time, everyone recording the same piece; and hearing the different voices is rather fascinating. Check out the Jabberwocky catalog page. Reading the BoR has the added benefit of being educational. I for one learned that the "right to party" was not in the original 10 amendments, so it must be number 12 or 13. And I learned that I can apparently just kick out all these soldiers that have been quartered in my house for a while.