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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Comparisons of photos of the "beauty parlor" with those of the residence dining room suggests that there's some distance between the west wall of "the beauty" and the east wall of the dining room, permitting there to be a single-width not-very-well-hidden door defacing the east wall of the one, and a double-wide door from "beauty."
ReplyDeleteYa know, some of the architecture of the house is plain dumb. I'm surprised that the occupants over the years hadn't corrected these anomalies, especially in the residence area itself where they seem to have the power to make changes.
I wonder how Chuck & Di reacted to the Martha Stewart K-Mart collection table linens. Yikes! The room makes me absolutely dizzy!!
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I guess I'd have to see the table covers up close/the stitching. I think the room looks nice (trying to imagine the context through 80's eyes)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree with Duane. I get tired of seeing doors covered up by pieces of furniture. I suppose they just want to keep the balance.
ReplyDeleteThank you for changing the proposal scene in the Rose Garden. For some reason, it always bugged me. I would rather see furniture, I guess.
In reexamining the Beauty Salon photos, notice the 1948 of Rathael. Her desk actually blocks the door to the west bedroom, apparently. Was the room smaller then? There is no way it could have held that beauty equipment!
ReplyDeleteSo was Rathael's name pronounced "Ray-THEL" or "Ray-thul"?
ReplyDeleteMaybe her friends (of whom she had many, I'm sure) called her "Ray".
I've seen watercolor prints (in books) of Prince Albert's dressing room at Balmoral (or was it at Buckingham Palace?) where there was a chest of drawers placed up against a door - so apparently this practice has been around a long time.
ReplyDeleteIt's written in the official manual for rich and important people that one should place a chest of drawers in front of a door. Paris Hilton, for instance, always shoves her chest in front of doors.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you cited the Rich and Famous manual. I've misplaced mine somewhere, I had forgotten the chest of drawers rule.
ReplyDeletei love the WH, i've been drawing it ever since i found this web site, i love it, it has answered several questions, about how far this wall is or where is this located, it's been an every day log on for me, i'm hooked. now what i have'nt been able to draw correctly is the stairway going to the 3rd level, i can't get the right dimentions right, plus there are no pictures, so.. i'm working on a drawing of it. Several drawings are done and are to the right scale, and i got to sayboy there are some thick walls in some areas!
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of staircases to the third floor. If you mean the one off the East Sitting Hall, take a look at this cross section, available on the East Sitting Hall page. It should help you sort it out.
ReplyDeleteIf the second floor dining room photo is from 1981 and the occasion was a dinner for Prince Charlles, I believe this visit must have occurred prior to his marriage to the then Lady Diana Spencer. I believe her first visit to the White House occured in 1986 when the Regan's gave a dinner in the State Dining Room during which President Reagan momentarily referred to the princess as "Princess David." The visit coincided with the opening of an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art centered around Britain's grand country estates. It was during this 1986 visit where Diana twirled around the dance floor with John Travolta?
ReplyDeleteJoe