Green Room (White House)
Green Room (White House) | |
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Colonial Revival and Federal style | |
Governing body | The White House Office of the Curator, the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, the White House Historical Association and the White House Endowment Trust |
The Green Room is one of three state
Little is known about the room's original decor, except that it was likely in the fashionable
Upon his death, February 20, 1862, Abraham Lincoln's son Willie was laid in state in the Green Room. (With Malice Towards None by Stephen B. Oats)
Early decor
Descriptions of the Green Room's furnishings before the 1814 fire are limited.[citation needed] Following the 1816 rebuilding, inventories suggest the room initially contained French Empire items bought by President James Madison.[citation needed] Throughout most of the 19th century, the room was decorated in a series of revival styles.[citation needed]
1902 Roosevelt renovation
In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt selected the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White to make extensive structural changes to the White House and redecorate most of its rooms.[3] For the Green Room, the firm decided to mimic an 1820s-style parlor or drawing room in the French Empire style. An 1817 fireplace mantel was removed from the State Dining Room and used in the Green Room,[4] displacing its original mantel.[citation needed] The door moldings, which dated from the James Monroe administration, were retained.[4]
1926 Coolidge restoration
In 1924,
Coolidge replaced the heavily patterned floral wall covering with a simple green
Over the next 37 years, subsequent presidents mostly maintained the Green Room as Coolidge left it, with only minor alterations.[6] One significant change was made after the White House was gutted and renovated under President Harry S. Truman in 1952. When the Green Room was decorated after the renovation, the walls were covered in a green silk damask in the style of Robert Adam (manufactured by American fabrics firm Scalamandré). The window treatments and drapes used the same fabric, with the window treatments covering the window moldings.[7]
1961 Kennedy cultural conservation
In 1961, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy began a major refurbishment of the White House that included the Green Room. Her renovation was technically overseen by an advisory Committee on Fine Arts made up of museum professionals as well as wealthy individuals interested in antiques.[8] American antiques autodidact Henry Francis du Pont (an expert in Federal furniture) led this committee.[9] Mrs. Kennedy also brought in French interior designer Stéphane Boudin (an advocate of French interior design) and his company, Maison Jansen, to oversee the refurbishment.[10] Although du Pont and Boudin often competed with one another for control of redecoration of a space in the White House, the Green Room represents an area where they cooperated more closely.[4] This was because the Green Room had a long history as a Federal-style room, an area in which du Pont and his committee were experts.[6] The Green Room was the first room in the White House to be redesigned almost completely with the input of the committee.[4][a]
Du Pont and Boudin did disagree over the wall covering. Du Pont proposed a green-on-green stripe, while Boudin desired a more subdued, moss-colored silk with a moiré pattern. Jacqueline Kennedy chose Boudin's fabric in spring 1962.[11] After the Scalamandré fabric company proved unable to reproduce the moiré silk with the quality desired by Kennedy, the French firm of Tassinari et Châtel was chosen to manufacture the fabric.[12][b]
The window treatments were another area of disagreement between du Pont and Boudin. Du Pont wanted the window treatments inside the window frame, to expose the moldings. Boudin felt this made the room appear too tall. After the two discussed the issue in early 1961, du Pont's view won out.[7] But in late 1962, Boudin removed these window treatments and implemented one he had used many times before in many different homes: Straight panels to hide the side moldings, with a Baroque Revival flat panel to cover the top molding and rods. The fabric used was the same Boudin had selected for the wall covering, but trimmed with a French-made decorative silver tape.[13][c]
Several significant pieces of antique furniture were acquired and placed in the room by du Pont. Among these were
Artwork in the room was generally selected by Boudin, primarily because the frames used reflected the Federal style of the Green Room. These paintings included John Frederick Kensett's 1853 Niagara Falls, Théobald Chartran's 1902 portrait of Edith Roosevelt, and Alvin Fisher's 1849 Indian Guides. Smaller still lifes were used to frame the larger pictures.[19]
A late 18th-century English Axminster carpet in a
]The Green Room became President John F. Kennedy's favorite.[4] After Kennedy's assassination, the Kennedy family donated Claude Monet's 1897 Morning on the Seine, Good Weather, to the White House. It was hung in the Green Room. When Aaron Shikler finished President Kennedy's official portrait in 1970, it, too, was hung in the Green Room.[20]
In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson followed in the former First Lady's footsteps, by establishing the advisory Committee for the Preservation of the White House to oversee the maintenance of the State Rooms in a museum-like fashion, as well as to create a permanent position for a White House curator.[2]
1971 Nixon interior architecture
Many changes occurred during the Nixon administration under the direction of First Lady
Conger also added several major pieces by Scottish-born New York cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe. They include a pair of work tables, side chairs with scroll arms, two card tables, and a pair of window benches. These replaced the more delicate Federal-era furniture approved by du Pont and Mrs. Kennedy. On the west wall above a Duncan Phyfe sofa, Conger hung a pair of gilded girandole "bullseye" wall sconces.
2007 Bush interior decor
The Green Room was refurbished during the summer of 2007 by First Lady
Usage
The room was intended by architect
References
- Notes
- ^ Historians James Abbott and Elaine Rice note that du Pont and Boudin worked in almost total isolation. It was common for Boudin to revise du Pont's alterations without telling anyone except for Jacqueline Kennedy.[11]
- ^ The Kennedy administration was very sensitive to the political uproar which would have occurred had the public known that a French interior decorator and the French firms he was associated with were refurbishing the White House. Tassinari et Châtel's role as the manufacturer of the silk was hidden, and many historians continued for several decades to mistakenly assume that Scalamandré produced it.[13]
- ^ Boudin had used the same window treatment a few years before in the Green Room at Leeds Castle in Kent, England. He would replicate the Baroque Revival panel for use on a bench in the White House's Queens' Bedroom.[13]
- ^ The chair was a high-backed, upholstered Sheraton style chair first manufactured in 1790 and named for the former First Lady as a marketing technique.[14]
- ^ Du Pont wanted a much more delicate lady's writing desk used in the room, but Boudin insisted on the Burgess secretary. It was later discovered that the lady's desk was a late-1800s reproduction and unsuitable for the White House.[16]
- Citations
- ^ "About Us". WHHA (en-US). Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- ^ a b c "Decorating the White House". WHHA (en-US). Retrieved 2021-02-03.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, p. 16.
- ^ a b c d e Abbott & Rice 1998, p. 89.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, pp. 16, 90.
- ^ a b c Abbott & Rice 1998, p. 90.
- ^ a b Abbott & Rice 1998, p. 93.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, pp. 21–24.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, p. 22.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, pp. 5–6.
- ^ a b Abbott & Rice 1998, p. 95.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, pp. 95–96.
- ^ a b c Abbott & Rice 1998, p. 96.
- ^ Dreppard 1948, pp. 142–143.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, pp. 91–92.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, pp. 91–93.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, p. 94.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, pp. 97–98.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Abbott & Rice 1998, p. 99.
- ^ Trescott, Jacqueline (September 20, 2007). "Green Room Makeover Incorporates A Colorful Past". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
- ^ White House Acquires Tanner painting http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/102296.html
Bibliography
- Abbott, James A.; Rice, Elaine M. (1998). Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 0442025327.
- Dreppard, Carl William (1948). Handbook of Antique Chairs. New York: Doubleday & Company.
Further reading
- Abbott, James A. A Frenchman in Camelot: The Decoration of the Kennedy White House by Stéphane Boudin. Boscobel Restoration Inc.: 1995. ISBN 0-9646659-0-5.
- Clinton, Hillary Rodham. An Invitation to the White House: At Home with History. Simon & Schuster: 2000. ISBN 0-684-85799-5.
- Monkman, Betty C. The White House: The Historic Furnishing & First Families. Abbeville Press: 2000. ISBN 0-7892-0624-2.
- Seale, William. The President's House. White House Historical Association and the National Geographic Society: 1986. ISBN 0-912308-28-1.
- Seale, William, The White House: The History of an American Idea. White House Historical Association: 1992, 2001. ISBN 0-912308-85-0.
- West, J.B. with Mary Lynn Kotz. Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies. Coward, McCann & Geoghegan: 1973. SBN 698-10546-X.
- The White House: An Historic Guide. White House Historical Association and the National Geographic Society: 2001. ISBN 0-912308-79-6.
External links
- White House Web site
- White House Museum's Green Room page, with many historical pictures
- Death Of Willie Lincoln