Green Room (White House)
The Green Room is one of three state parlors on the first floor in the White House, the home of the President of the United States. It is often used for entertaining. It is traditionally decorated in shades of green.
The room is approximately 28 feet by 22.5 feet. It has six doors, which open into the Cross Hall, East Room, South Portico, and Blue Room.
Furnishings
Descriptions of the Green Room's furnishings before the 1814 fire are limited. Following the 1816 rebuilding inventories suggest the room initially contained French Empire items bought by President James Madison. Throughout most of the nineteenth century the room was decorated in a series of revival styles. In 1902 a major renovation, guided by historical research, was implemented by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White. Layers of complex Victorian ornamentation was replaced by a style called Colonial Revival which was more similar to how the house was initially furnished. Heavily patterned floral wallcovering was replaced by a simple green silk velvet. The c. 1852 Renaissance Revival mantel was replaced by a French Empire mantel purchased by President Madison in 1819. A suite of reproduction French Directoire upholstered chairs and white painted caned reproduction English Regency furniture replaced a suite of overstuffed Turkish style sofas and chairs. Subsequent twentieth century presidents mostly maintained what could be described as an "Colonial" appearance with largely reproduction furniture.
The Kennedy restoration, begun in 1961, brought a more academic yet dramatic approach to the decoration of the Green Room. Henry Francis du Pont of the Winterthur Museum, with influence of French interior designer Stéphane Boudin, selected the Federal Style for the Green Room. Several significant pieces of antique furniture were acquired and placed in the room. Chief among these are Daniel Webster's sofa and John and Abigail Adam's silver tea urn. In 1971, the walls of the Green Room were rehung with the same delicate moss green watered-silk moiré fabric chosen by Jacqueline Kennedy in 1962 with the advice of Stéphane Boudin.
Clement Conger, the new White House curator appointed during the Nixon administration, had completed substantial neoclassical interiors at the United States Department of State. In the Green Room as well as in the Blue and Red Rooms, Conger addressed correcting the generic traditional plaster moldings installed during the Truman reconstruction, installing historically accurate crown molding and ceiling medallion. Conger collaborated with Edward Vason Jones in designing new draperies of striped cream, green, and coral silk satin. Conger and Vason Jones cited illustration shown in an early nineteenth century pattern book belonging to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now called Historic New England). Coral and gilt ornamental cornices were constructed and installed above the windows. They are topped by a hand-carved, gilded American eagles with outspread wings. The eagle was a favorite decorative motif of the Federal period. The cornices are similar to those in the library of the Miles Brewton House in Charleston, South Carolina, and the South Drawing Room of the Sir John Soane House in London. On the west wall above the sofa formerly owned by Webster, hang a pair of gilded girnadole bull's eye wall sconces. Today the room contains several major pieces by the 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 window benches.
The Green Room was refurbished during the summer of 2007 by First Lady Laura Bush with advisement from the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, Bush family interior deisgner Ken Blasingame, and White House curator William Allman. The refurbishment retained much of the Nixon era Conger and Vason Jones design. Walls were again hung in a moss green watered silk, a treatment originating during the Kennedy restoration, but this time in a more vertical and largely scaled moiré pattern. The coral color in the upholstered chairs and in the striped drapery fabric was intensified to a more vibrant shade bordering on vermilion. The drapery recreates Edward Vason Jones' 1971 design but with the more intense vermilion in the silk and the painted cornice. The drapery design was simplified by removing four large tassels. The green Turkish Kilim carpet installed in the Nixon administration was replaced by a new rug woven in the style of a French Savonnerie. It is somewhat similar in design to an antique Savonnerie acquired for the Red Room by Stephane Boudin. As a part of the refurbishment the painting The Builders by Jacob Lawrence was acquired for the Green Room by the White House Acquisition Trust.[1]
Refurbishments of the White House's historic rooms happen on a regular basis. Input from the current first family, along with reference to historical documents and sometimes new research help guide the decisions of the committee and curator.
History
The room was intended by architect James Hoban to be the "Common Dining Room." Thomas Jefferson did use it as a dining room and covered the floor with a green-colored canvas for protection. Over the years, presidents and first ladies have used the Green Room as a small parlor for hosting guests and encouraging informal conversation. President James Madison signed the nation's first declaration of war in the Green Room (see War of 1812). James Monroe used it as the "Card Room" with two tables for playing whist. It wasn't until the 1820 that room came to officially be called the "Green Drawing Room" during the John Quincy Adams administration. The Lincolns' dead son Willie was laid out in the Green Room, and President Lincoln's body was brought to this room after his assassination for embalming. The room has seen happier times as well. Grace Goodhue Coolidge displayed what some considered risqué Art Deco sculpture here and used the room for small parties with friends. Eleanor Roosevelt entertained Amelia Earhart here, and President Kennedy thought it the most attractive and restful room on the state floor.
Notes
- ^ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/19/AR2007091902423.html Jacqueline Trescott, The Washington Post, "Green Room Makeover Incorporates A Colorful Past," September 20, 2007
References and additional 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.
- Abbott, James A., and Elaine M. Rice. Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration. Van Nostrand Reinhold: 1998. ISBN 0-442-02532-7.
- 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