Yellow Oval Room
The Yellow Oval Room is an oval room on the second floor in the White House, the home of the American president. The room is used for small receptions and for greeting heads of states immediately before a State Dinner. The room is entered from the second floor corridor on the north side of the room. Three large windows on the south side of the room face the South Lawn and The Ellipse. Double doors on the west side of the room, with flags of the United States and of the presidency on either side, lead to the president and first ladies bedrooms, private sitting rooms and dressing rooms.
Furnishings
The earliest written description of the room dates to the John Adams administration, and describes the room as a ladies drawing room. The room was papered in yellow with gilded stars, and a suite of crimson furniture. This furniture, likely a mix of Louis XVI and English Hepplewhite styles was moved from the President's House in Philadelphia. The room was susequently used as a library and private family parlor.
With the building of the West Wing in 1902, and moving of offices out of the residence, this oval room was again used as a parlor. Franklin Roosevelt used it as an office in the residence. Following the Truman reconstruction the room was once more used for state events and entertaining. During the Kennedy Administration the room received many of the furnishings now located there. The American interior designer Sister Parish established much of the current appearance by painting the room yellow. The French interior designer Stéphane Boudin built upon Parish's contributions, replacing the Truman era hotel style furniture with real antiques. The furnishing are mostly in the Louis XVI style, assembled during the Jacqueline Kennedy restoration. Two short columns of green marble were designed by Stéphane Boudin to hold candelabras.
During the Nixon administration many more pieces of antique furniture were acquired for the state and family floors. The Yellow Oval Room was redesigned in a more academic style by the Nixon's new curator Clement Congers with interior decorator Edward Vason Jones. Jones replaced Sister Parish's simple drapes that fit within the window frames with the current grander gold and coral stripe that cover the woodwork (see image above right) reducing the sense of height of the room. During the Carter Administration a large number of American Impressionist paintings, including Mary Cassatt, were acquired and hung in this room and the Center Hall.
History
On January 1, 1801, and before it was even complete, John Adams held the first presidential reception in this room, known then only as "the upstairs oval parlor." Dolley Madison first decorated the room in yellow damask in 1809.
In 1851, Abigail Fillmore got an allocation from Congress for books to make the room into the first White House library. The Harrisons continued to use the room as a library and family parlor and, in 1889, put the first White House Christmas tree here.
Franklin D. Roosevelt converted the room into his study, and it was in this room on December 7, 1941, that he learned of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Secret Service moved his desk away from the windows as a security precaution. Harry Truman continued to use the room as a study and opened access to a new balcony he added, called the "Truman Balcony," to the South Portico in 1948. Following the Truman reconstruction the room was decorated by B. Altman and Company, New York with reproduction traditional furniture. Later presidents reserved the room as a parlor for formal receptions and used the Treaty Room, just to the east, as a private study instead.
External links
References and additional reading
- 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.
- The White House: An Historic Guide. White House Historical Association and the National Geographic Society: 2001. ISBN 0-912308-79-6.
- 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.