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.