Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State

John Quincy Adams State Drawing Room.

Thomas Jefferson State Reception Room.

The Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the U.S. Department of State constitute forty-two principal rooms and offices where the Secretary of State conducts the business of modern diplomacy. Located in the Harry S Truman Building, Washington, D.C., the Diplomatic Reception Rooms contain one of the nation’s foremost museum collections of American fine and decorative arts.

Architect Edward Vason Jones designed many of the rooms between 1965 and 1980. Curator Clement Conger assembled much of the art, furniture, and decorative arts collections.

Public rooms

• Edward Vason Jones Memorial Hall. Elevator lobby, designed by Edward Vason Jones.
• Entrance Hall. Designed by Edward Vason Jones.
• John Quincy Adams State Drawing Room. The first of the rooms renovated, it measures 75 x 31 feet. Designed by Edward Vanson Jones, completed May 16, 1972.
• Thomas Jefferson State Reception Room. Used for entertaining, it measures 52 x 34 feet. Designed by Edward Vanson Jones, completed October 4, 1974.
• Benjamin Franklin Treaty Room. A large elliptical room used for ceremonial occasions.
• Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room. The largest of the reception rooms, it measures 100 x 47 feet and is 21 feet tall. Designed by John Blatteau, completed March 8, 1985. It is used for the grandest of occasions, such as State Dinners and swearing-in ceremonies.
• Martha Washington Ladies' Lounge.
• Walter Thurston Gentlemen's Lounge. Designed by Walter M. Macomber, completed November 6, 1981.

Other rooms

• Secretary of State's Office. Designed by Allan Greenberg, 1987-89.
• Gallery. Designed by Edward Vason Jones, 1965.
• Deputy Secretary of State's Office. Designed by Allan Greenberg, completed December 1, 1989.
• Deputy Secretary's Conference Room.
• James Madison Dining Room. Used for intimate meals.
• James Monroe Foyer and Hallway.
• Martin Van Buren Sitting Room.
• Henry Clay Dining Room.
• Robert Livingston Executive Dining Room.

Collections

Masterpieces in the collections are assembled from the early Federal period, c. 1790-1815. These masterpieces are interwoven into an interpretative narrative that explores U.S. diplomatic history: charting of the new world and the colonial foundations, the nation’s road to independence and birth of the United States, and expansion westward over the years 1740-1840. The Diplomatic Reception Rooms are a national treasure that belongs to the American people. It is the People that support the vital activities of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms. Charitable contributions from private citizens, foundations, and corporations support revitalization and expansion initiatives, collections maintenance and conservation, and educational programming.

Visitors experience diplomacy firsthand through the masterpieces of the collection. On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris, establishing peace with Great Britain after the American Revolutionary War, was signed on this Tambour Writing Table. This diplomatic achievement is depicted in the collection’s unfinished painting, after Benjamin West’s 1782 original, “The American Commissioners of the Preliminary Peace Negotiations with Great Britain.” Hand-wrought silver by patriot-silversmith Paul Revere, porcelain wares from George Washington’s Society of Cincinnati, and companion portraits of John Quincy and Louisa Catherine Adams, 1816, by artist Charles Robert Leslie are among the national treasures.

Guided tours of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms are available by appointment. Admission is free. Tours can be scheduled online at https://receptiontours.state.gov

• 
  Portrait of Benjamin Franklin (c. 1760), by Benjamin Wilson.
• 
  Portrait of Thomas Jefferson (c. 1791), by Charles Willson Peale.
• 
  Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room.
• 
  Benjamin Franklin Treaty Room.
• 
  Edward Vason Jones Memorial Hall.
• 
  James Madison Dining Room.

Publications

• Conger, Clement E. and Alexandra W. Rollins. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1991.
• Ward, Gerald W.R., ed. Becoming a Nation: Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms U.S. Department of State. New York: Rizzoli, 2003.

Further reading

• www.MuseumsUSA.org
• Traveling Exhibitions Gail F. Serfaty, Becoming a Nation: Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms. Sack Heritage Group. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
• Educational Programs & Activities United States Senate Youth Program Forty-Seventh Annual Washington Week, 2009. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
• Visiting the Collections William Whitman, Washington, D.C. Off the Beaten Path, Fourth Edition: A Guide to Unique Places. www.googlebooks.com. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
• For Kids Ages 12 and Up Beth Rubin, Frommer's Washington D.C. with Kids, Part Three. www.googlebooks.com. Retrieved 2011-01-12.

External links

• The Diplomatic Reception Rooms Official Website: https://diplomaticrooms.state.gov/default.aspx