... Library, hich as completely reorganized in 1962 the Vermeil or Gold Room, hich serves as a display room as ell as a ladies sitting room the China or Presidential Collection Room, hich includes a ide exhibit of hite House China the Diplomatic Reception Room, formerly a boiler room and the Map Room, from hich president Franklin Delano Roosevelt monitored the events of orld ar II.Although the rooms of the first state floor have been refurbished many times over the years, the floor has not changed architecturally since the hite House as designed by John Hoban in 1792. The East Room, three reception rooms the Green Room, Blue Room, and Red Room, the State Dining Room, and the Family Dining Room comprise the first floor. ith the exception of the Family Dining Room, these rooms are open to the public. The East Room, called the Public Audience Room by Hoban, retains its classical stile of the early 19th century. It has been the scene of many hite House dances, concerts, eddings, funerals, and bill-signing ceremonies. Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office in the East Room hen he succeeded Richard M. Nixon as chief executive. The State Dining Room as originally much smaller and functioned as a draing room, office, and cabinet room. The dining hall no can seat as many as 140 guests. The second floor includes the Queens Suite, formerly the Rose Guest Room and no a sitting room and bedroom the Lincoln Bedroom, hich as the office and the cabinet room of the 16th chief executive the adjoining Lincoln Sitting Room and the former Cabinet Room, hich as designated the Treaty Room during the John Fitzgerald Kennedy administration to reflect the many important decisions made in it. The private quarters of the president and his family are located on the est end of the second floor. The History of the hite HouseConstruction of the hite House as begun in 1792 after an architectural competition on by James Hoban, an Irish born architect ho had immigrated to America some years earlier. After many delays and financial problems the building as habitable but not completed in 1800, hen President John Adams and his ife, Abigail, moved in. Hobans original draing of the north faade, hich has survived, reflects the English-Palladian architecture of the mid 18th century. Thomas Jefferson, the second president to occupy the hite House, employed the gifted architect Benjamin H. Latrobe in 1806 to help design the east and est pavilions. The latter has survived in its nearly original state. Latrobe also made designs of the north and south porticoes hich ere executed in a modified form at a later date. In 1814 during the ar of 1812, British forces burned all of the public buildings in ashington. The hite House as not spared. ith the exception of a Gilbert Stuart portrait of George ashington, no in the East Room, all of the furnishings from the Adams, Jefferson, and Madison administrations ere destroyed. Under James Hobans supervision the hite House as rebuilt and as ready for occupancy in 1817, refurnished in the Empire Style ith items imported from France by President James Monroe. Hoever, in the architecture of the building, and particularly in the interior, Hoban returned to his earlier Palladian style and did not repeat the neoclassic innovations made by Latrobe. The scorched exterior alls ere painted hite. There is the misconception that this is the reason it as called the hite House. Actually it had borne that name since it as first built. Throughout the 19th century the interior of the hite House ent through each successive decorative style, but the exterior appearance of the building remained the same. Gas lighting as introduced in 1849 and central heating in 1853. The first bathroom as installed in 1877. In 1833 pipes bringing ater from a nearby spring replaced the pump formerly used. After 1853 ater as piped in from the citys ater system. Electricity came to the hite House during the residency of Benjamin Harrison. In 1902, during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt, the hite House underent its first major renovation, under the direction of the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and hite. The rooms on the first floor ere stripped of their Victorian overlay and returned to their early-19th-century appearance. The grand staircase as moved into the entrance hall to permit the creation of the State Dining Room at the southest corner of the building.In 1949, under the administration of President Harry S. Truman, the hite House as found unsafe for occupancy. The exterior alls ere retained hile the interior fabric of the building as removed and rebuilt on a steel and concrete frame. Great care as taken to preserve the original oodork, marble mantle-pieces, and decorative plasterork. The original floor plan as folloed faithfully. A balcony, no knon as the Truman Balcony, as built on the second-floor level of the South portico. It has become a favorite spot of presidential families. Under the guidance of Mrs. John F. Kennedy, the restoration of the interior of the hite House to its original late-18th and early-19th century appearance as begun. A Fine Arts Committee, composed of museum specialists and others, as formed to direct the ork of restoration. This committee as further strengthened by a special Advisory Committee and a Paintings Committee. Prior to this there had been little attempt to preserve or to use historic hite House furnishings, and the rooms of the first floor ere largely furnished ith reproductions. Many important objects ere recovered from hite House storage areas. Other outstanding examples of American cabinetmaking and the decorative arts ere supplied by generous donors. Mrs. Kennedy felt strongly that everything in the hite House must have a reason for being there. Subsequently, the Committee for the Preservation of the hite House and the permanent office of curator ere established by President Johnson. Additional pieces of valuable furniture and American paintings ere acquired for the hite House during the Nixon administration, and the principal rooms of the first and ground floors ere redecorated during the Nixon years. After moving to the executive mansion in January 1981, Mrs. Ronald Reagan oversa the remodeling of the first and second floor rooms and several preservation projects.For the American public, the executive mansion has become a national palace as ell as a home for the chief executive. For, in the ords of President Dight D. Eisenhoer, the hite House has been and should alays remain a place to be venerated by its occupants as ell as by all Americans. PAGE PAGE IV01asa-.1289iAà0JmHnHu0Jaj0JU56ts56CJtsaH5t6s56CJ
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