Diplomatic Reception Room (White House)

Last updated October 29, 2019

West side of the Diplomatic Reception Room showing the panoramic Zuber et Cie wallpaper Scenes of North America. DiplomaticWest.jpg — West side of the Diplomatic Reception Room showing the panoramic Zuber et Cie wallpaper *Scenes of North America.*

White House ground floor showing location of the Diplomatic Reception Room. WHgroundDiplomatic.svg — White House ground floor showing location of the Diplomatic Reception Room.

The Diplomatic Reception Room is one of three oval rooms in the Executive Residence of the White House, the official home of the President of the United States. It is located on the ground floor and is used as an entrance from the South Lawn, and a reception room for foreign ambassadors to present their credentials, a ceremony formerly conducted in the Blue Room. The room is the point of entry to the White House for a visiting head of state following the State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn. The room has four doors, which lead to the Map Room, the Center Hall, the China Room, and a vestibule that leads to the South Lawn.

The Executive Residence is the central building of the White House complex located between the East Wing and West Wing. It is the most recognizable part of the complex, being the actual "house" part of the White House. This central building, first constructed from 1792 to 1800, is home to the president of the United States and the first family. The Executive Residence primarily occupies four floors: the Ground Floor, the State Floor, the Second Floor, and the Third Floor. A two-story sub-basement with mezzanine, created during the 1948–to-1952 Truman reconstruction, is used for HVAC and mechanical systems, storage, and service areas.

The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. The term "White House" is often used as a metonym for the president and his advisers.

The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

History

For its first hundred years, the ground floor of the White House was used as a service and work area. Domestic staff used it for storage, kitchens, and maintenance. White House domestic staff gathered in this room to do mending and to polish silver. In 1837, the Van Buren administration installed a furnace here for the White House's first central heating system. Later steam boilers replaced the gravity system, remaining until the 1902 renovation by McKim, Mead, and White.

Martin Van Buren was an American statesman who served as the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. He was the first president born after the independence of the United States from the British Empire. A founder of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the ninth governor of New York, the tenth United States secretary of state, and the eighth vice president of the United States. He won the 1836 presidential election with the endorsement of popular outgoing President Andrew Jackson and the organizational strength of the Democratic Party. He lost his 1840 reelection bid to Whig Party nominee William Henry Harrison, due in part to the poor economic conditions of the Panic of 1837. Later in his life, Van Buren emerged as an elder statesman and important anti-slavery leader, who led the Free Soil Party ticket in the 1848 presidential election.

A central heating system provides warmth to the whole interior of a building from one point to multiple rooms. When combined with other systems in order to control the building climate, the whole system may be an HVAC system.

The 1902 renovation during the Theodore Roosevelt administration dramatically reconfigured the ground floor. Multiple layers of rotting floor boards were removed and new flooring installed. Several new rooms were framed and finished with a finished plaster coat. A gentlemen's and ladies' lounge and guest bathrooms were created. Charles Follen McKim admired James Hoban's groin vault ceilings in the center hall. The hall was refurbished and the center hall served to connect the new East and West wings. Though the ground floor oval room was much improved and now a part of the finished living space in the house, it remained primarily a passageway not a destination.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was an American statesman, politician, conservationist, naturalist, and writer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He served as the 25th vice president from March to September 1901 and as the 33rd governor of New York from 1899 to 1900. As a leader of the Republican Party, he became a driving force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century. His face is depicted on Mount Rushmore alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. He is generally ranked in polls of historians and political scientists as one of the five best presidents.

Charles Follen McKim was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the partnership McKim, Mead & White.

A groin vault or groined vault is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. The word "groin" refers to the edge between the intersecting vaults. Sometimes the arches of groin vaults are pointed instead of round. In comparison with a barrel vault, a groin vault provides good economies of material and labour. The thrust is concentrated along the groins or arrises, so the vault need only be abutted at its four corners.

In 1935, Franklin Roosevelt had a chimney opened so he could conduct his "fireside chats." White House architect Lorenzo Winslow designed a new chimney breast and mantel that, though intended to appear traditional, subtly evokes Art Moderne in its ribbed curved sides.

Fireside chats Series of radio broadcasts by US President FDR

The fireside chats were a series of evening radio addresses given by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1944. Roosevelt spoke with familiarity to millions of Americans about the promulgation of the Emergency Banking Act in response to the banking crisis, the recession, New Deal initiatives, and the course of World War II. On radio, he was able to quell rumors and explain his policies. His tone and demeanor communicated self-assurance during times of despair and uncertainty. Roosevelt was regarded as an effective communicator on radio, and the fireside chats kept him in high public regard throughout his presidency. Their introduction was later described as a "revolutionary experiment with a nascent media platform."

A chimney breast is a portion of a chimney which projects forward from a wall to accommodate a fireplace. Typically on the ground floor of a structure, the masonry extends upwards, containing a flue which carries smoke out of the building through a chimney stack. Chimney jambs similarly project from the wall, but they do so on either side of the fireplace and serve to support the chimney breast. The interior of a chimney breast is commonly filled with brickwork or concrete.

Rebuilt by Harry Truman as a sitting room, it was refurbished in 1960 during the Dwight Eisenhower administration in the style of the Federal period ^[1] with antiques selected by New York interior designer Michael Greer. In 1962, with advice from American antiques expert Henry Francis du Pont, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy had the room papered with antique French scenic wallpaper produced by Jean Zuber et Cie in Rixheim (Alsace), France c. 1834. The Zuber wallpaper, titled Scenes of North America, was printed from multiple woodblocks, and features scenes of Boston Harbor, the Natural Bridge in Virginia, West Point, New York, Niagara Falls, and New York Harbor. The sweeping panorama on the elliptical walls provide a sense of space negating the lack of windows. Additional Federal-era furniture was acquired, and upholsteries and the carpet furthered a soft gold and blue decor.

Henry Francis du Pont, was an American horticulturist, an expert and collector of early American furniture and decorative arts, and a member of the prominent du Pont family. For more than 40 years, he was recognized as a premier breeder for his herd of Holstein Friesian cattle.

Rixheim is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in northeastern France. It forms part of the Mulhouse Alsace Agglomération, the inter-communal local government body for the Mulhouse conurbation.

Alsace is a cultural and historical region in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland.

Detail of the panoramic Zuber et Cie wallpaper Scenes of North America showing Boston Harbor. The African American men depicted wear Phrygian caps as sign of their status as free men. DiplomaticBoston.jpg — Detail of the panoramic Zuber et Cie wallpaper *Scenes of North America* showing Boston Harbor. The African American men depicted wear Phrygian caps as sign of their status as free men.

A labeled mahogany bookcase-desk by John Shaw was made in Annapolis in 1797 and formerly stood in the Kennedy Green Room. A suite of lancet-arched side chairs and a pair of sofas with splayed legs are attributed to the workshop of New York cabinetmakers Abraham Slover and Jacob Taylor. Furniture is upholstered in a yellow silk damask. A rug in shades of blue and gold and incorporating the seals or coats of arms of the fifty United States in an elliptical border was specially made for the room in 1983. An English Regency chandelier of cut glass and bronze three-armed crystal sconces with glass chimneys illuminate the room.

The Regency in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a period at the end of the Georgian era, when King George III was deemed unfit to rule due to his illness, and his son ruled as his proxy, as prince regent. Upon George III's death in 1820, the prince regent became King George IV. The term Regency can refer to various stretches of time; some are longer than the decade of the formal Regency which lasted from 1811 to 1820. The period from 1795 to 1837, which includes the latter part of George III's reign and the reigns of his sons George IV and William IV, is sometimes regarded as the Regency era, characterised by distinctive trends in British architecture, literature, fashions, politics, and culture. It ended in 1837 when Queen Victoria succeeded William IV.

2014 Between Two Ferns video

In March 2014, President Barack Obama was interviewed on Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis . Towards the end of the video the room becomes the subject of conversation, with Obama questioning the Galifianakis' authority to film on that site over the past few years.^[2]

Related Research Articles

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State Dining Room of the White House art collection

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The China Room is one of the rooms on the Ground Floor of the White House, the home of the President of the United States. The White House's collection of state china is displayed there. The collection ranges from George Washington's Chinese export china to Bill Clinton's ivory, yellow, and burnished gold china. The room is primarily used by the first lady for teas, meetings, and smaller receptions.

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The North Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC, is bordered on the north by Pennsylvania Avenue with a wide view of the mansion, and is screened by dense plantings on the east from East Executive Drive and the Treasury Building, and on the west from West Executive Drive and the Old Executive Office Building. Because it is bordered by Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House's official street address, the North Lawn is sometimes described as the front lawn.

South Lawn (White House) Location within the White House campus in Washington, DC

The South Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC, is located directly south of the house, and is bordered on the east by East Executive Drive and the Treasury Building, and on the west by West Executive Drive and the Old Executive Office Building, and along its curved southern perimeter by South Executive Drive and a large circular public lawn called The Ellipse. Since the address of the White House is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, and the North Lawn faces Pennsylvania Avenue, the South Lawn is sometimes described as the back lawn of the White House.

The West Sitting Hall is located on the second floor of the White House, home of the President of the United States. The room is entered from the second floor Center Hall on the east side of the room. The room features a large lunette window on the west wall looks out upon the West Colonnade, the West Wing, and the Old Executive Office Building. The room is used by first families as a less formal living room than the Yellow Oval Room.

Zuber & Cie, founded as Jean Zuber et Cie is a French Manufacture de Papier Peints et Tissus company which claims to be the last factory in the world to produce woodblock printed wallpapers and furnishing fabrics.

References

Bibliography

Abbott, James A.; Rice, Elaine M. (1998). Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 0442025327.

For further reading

Clinton, Hillary Rodham. An Invitation to the White House: At Home with History. Simon & Schuster: 2000. ISBN 0-684-85799-5.
Leish, Kenneth. The White House. Newsweek Book Division: 1972. ISBN 0-88225-020-5.
McKellar, Kenneth, Douglas W. Orr, Edward Martin, et al. Report of the Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion. Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion, Government Printing Office: 1952.
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.

External links

Coordinates: 38°53′51″N77°02′12″W / 38.897583°N 77.036567°W / 38.897583; -77.036567

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[FOOTNOTEAbbottRice199817-1] Abbott & Rice 1998, p. 17.

[2] ttp://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/03/11/watch-president-obama-between-two-ferns-zach-galifianakis