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.