The Green Room is one of three state
parlor
A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necess ...
s on the first floor of the
White House
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 ...
, the home of the
president of the United States
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 ...
. It is used for small receptions and teas. During a state dinner, guests are served cocktails in the three state parlors before the president, first lady, and a visiting head of state descend the
Grand Staircase for dinner. The room is traditionally decorated in shades of green. The room is approximately . It has six doors, which open into the
Cross Hall,
East Room, South Portico, and
Blue Room.
Little is known about the room's original decor, except that it was likely in the fashionable
French Empire style of the day, a tradition that continued until a group of
Colonial Revival
The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture.
The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...
and
Federal-style furniture and art experts appointed by then
President Coolidge sought to
restore the room according to the period in which it was built, rather than a passing style of a later time. All subsequent work on the room followed Coolidge's lead, First Lady Jackie Kennedy most prominently. In 1961, she formed the White House Historical Association "to help the White House collect and exhibit the very best artifacts of American history and culture." The same year, "Congress enacted Public Law 87-286 declaring that the furnishings of the White House were the inalienable property of the White House, legislating the White House’s status as a museum and extending legal protection to donated period furnishings and all White House objects."
An endowment for new acquisitions and the renovation of state rooms was created in 1979, with the help of former First Lady
Rosalynn Carter
Eleanor Rosalynn Carter ( ; née Smith; born August 18, 1927) is an American writer and activist who served as First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981 as the wife of President Jimmy Carter. For decades, she has been a leading advocate ...
.
Upon his death, February 20th 1862, Abraham Lincoln's son Willie 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. Following the 1816 rebuilding, inventories suggest the room initially contained French Empire items bought by President
James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for h ...
. Throughout most of the 19th century, the room was decorated in a series of revival styles.
1902 Roosevelt renovation
In 1902, President
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
selected the architectural firm of
McKim, Mead & White to make extensive structural changes to the White House and redecorate most of its rooms. For the Green Room, the firm decided to mimic an 1820s-style parlor or drawing room in the
French Empire style
The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 durin ...
. An 1817
fireplace mantel
The fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a fire grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and c ...
was removed from the
State Dining Room and used in the Green Room, displacing its original mantel. The door
moldings, which dated from the
James Monroe
James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe was ...
administration, were retained.
1926 Coolidge restoration
In 1924,
First Lady Grace Coolidge
Grace may refer to:
Places United States
* Grace, Idaho, a city
* Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois
* Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office
* Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...
undertook a
restoration of the White House. Coolidge appointed a group of wealthy patrons of the arts, many of whom were knowledgeable in
Colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
and
Early American furniture and art, to locate historic furnishings and raise money for the work. A split emerged in the committee between those who wished to implement a
Colonial Revival
The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture.
The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...
style room and those who wished to preserve the 1902
Beaux-Arts decor. The dispute became public, and President
Calvin Coolidge ordered the restoration stopped. Work resumed with a different committee in 1926, and the room redecorated in Colonial Revival and
Federal furniture.
Coolidge replaced the heavily patterned floral wall covering with a simple green
silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...
velvet
Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word ''velvety'' means ...
. The
Renaissance Revival-style mantel (likely installed in 1852) was replaced by a
French Empire mantel purchased by President Monroe in 1819. Although the some period antiques were found and placed in the room, most of the furniture were reproductions. A suite of reproduction French
Directoire
The Directory (also called Directorate, ) was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 2 November 1795 until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and replaced by ...
upholstered chairs and white-painted caned reproduction
English Regency
The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer period between and 1837. King George III succumbed to mental illness in late 1810 and, by the Regency Act 1811, h ...
furniture replaced a suite of overstuffed
Turkish style sofas and chairs.
Over the next 37 years, subsequent presidents mostly maintained the Green Room as Coolidge left it, with only minor alterations. 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
Damask (; ar, دمشق) is a reversible patterned fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin ...
in the style of
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...
(manufactured by American fabrics firm
Scalamandré). The
window treatment
A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent materi ...
s and drapes used the same fabric, with the window treatments covering the window moldings.
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. American antiques
autodidact Henry Francis du Pont
Henry Francis du Pont (May 27, 1880 – April 11, 1969) was an American horticulturist, collector of early American furniture and decorative arts, breeder of Holstein Friesian cattle, and scion of the powerful du Pont family. Converted into ...
(an expert in Federal furniture) led this committee. Mrs. Kennedy also brought in French interior designer
Stéphane Boudin
Stéphane Boudin (28 October 1888 – 18 October 1967) was a French interior designer and a president of Maison Jansen, the influential Paris-based interior decorating firm.
Boudin is best known for being asked by U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kenne ...
(an advocate of French interior design) and his company,
Maison Jansen
Maison Jansen (; en, House of Jansen) was a Paris-based interior decoration office founded in 1880 by Dutch-born Jean-Henri Jansen. Jansen is considered the first truly global design firm, serving clients in Europe, Latin America, North America a ...
, to oversee the refurbishment. 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. 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. The Green Room was the first room in the White House to be redesigned almost completely with the input of the committee.
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
In mathematics, physics, and art, moiré patterns ( , , ) or moiré fringes are large-scale interference patterns that can be produced when an opaque ruled pattern with transparent gaps is overlaid on another similar pattern. For the moiré ...
. Jacqueline Kennedy chose Boudin's fabric in spring 1962. 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.
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. 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
The Baroque Revival, also known as Neo-Baroque (or Second Empire architecture in France and Wilhelminism in Germany), was an architectural style of the late 19th century. The term is used to describe architecture and architectural sculptu ...
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.
Several significant pieces of antique furniture were acquired and placed in the room by du Pont. Among these were
card tables, "Martha Washington" chairs, a
secretary
A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a ...
(by
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
furniture maker Joseph Burgess),
side chairs, a
sofa
A couch, also known as a sofa, settee, or chesterfield, is a cushioned item of furniture for seating multiple people (although it is not uncommon for a single person to use a couch alone). It is commonly found in the form of a bench with up ...
(formerly owned by
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison ...
),
settees (from
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
),
urn
An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...
stands, and
work tables. Many items of furniture were reupholstered in white. Du Pont chose a white cotton with delicate embroidered vines in green and gold for the Massachusetts settees, and an ivory silk with multicolored flowers for the Webster sofa. The various chairs were covered in either a white damask with a medallion pattern, a green-on-white silk
brocade (inspired by Robert Adam), or a buff, green, or gold silk of contemporary design and weave. With the new window and wall upholstery in place by early 1963, Boudin suggested upholstering all the furniture in the room in green. But for reasons which are unclear, he only changed one item, a
Louis XVI-style armchair acquired in 1963. It was covered in a leather the same shade of green as the walls.
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
Théobald Chartran (20 July 1849 – 16 July 1907) was a classical French academic painter and portrait artist.
Early life
Chartran was born in Besançon, France on 20 July 1849. His father was Councilor at the Court of Appeals and he was the ne ...
's 1902 portrait of
Edith Roosevelt
Edith Kermit Roosevelt ( née Carow; August 6, 1861 – September 30, 1948) was the second wife of President Theodore Roosevelt and the First Lady of the United States from 1901 to 1909. She also was the Second Lady of the United States in 1901 ...
, and Alvin Fisher's 1849 ''Indian Guides''. Smaller
still lifes were used to frame the larger pictures.
A late 18th-century English Axminster carpet in a
Neoclassical pattern was donated by an anonymous individual and placed on the floor. This carpet incorporated as its central motif an architectural medallion surrounded by
rosettes. The borders featured
anthemion in shades of
taupe
Taupe ( ) is a dark gray-brown color. The word derives from the French noun ''taupe'' meaning "mole". The name originally referred only to the average color of the French mole, but beginning in the 1940s, its usage expanded to encompass a wide ...
,
sage, and pink.
The Green Room became President John F. Kennedy's favorite. After Kennedy's assassination, the Kennedy family donated
Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. Durin ...
's 1897 ''Morning on the Seine, Good Weather'', to the White House. It was hung in the Green Room. When
Aaron Shikler
Aaron Abraham Shikler (March 18, 1922 – November 12, 2015) was an American artist noted for portraits of American statesmen, such as the official portrait of John F. Kennedy, and celebrities such as Jane Engelhard and Sister Parish.
Early li ...
finished President Kennedy's official portrait in 1970, it, too, was hung in the Green Room.
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.
1971 Nixon interior architecture
Many changes occurred during the Nixon administration under the direction of First Lady
Pat Nixon
Thelma Catherine "Pat" Nixon (''née'' Ryan; March 16, 1912 – June 22, 1993) was First Lady of the United States from 1969 to 1974 as the wife of President Richard Nixon. She also served as Second Lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961 wh ...
.
Clement Conger, the new
White House curator appointed during the Nixon administration, had completed substantial
Chippendale and
Neoclassical interiors at the
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
. In the Green Room, as well as in the Blue and Red rooms, Conger addressed correcting the generic traditional plaster moldings put in place during the Truman reconstruction, installing historically accurate crown moldings and ceiling medallions. Conger commissioned
Edward Vason Jones and
David Byers to design new drapes of striped cream, green, and
coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...
silk
satin
A satin weave is a type of fabric weave that produces a characteristically glossy, smooth or lustrous material, typically with a glossy top surface and a dull back. It is one of three fundamental types of textile weaves alongside plain weave ...
. Conger and Jones cited illustrations shown in an early 19th-century pattern book belonging to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now called
Historic New England
Historic New England, previously known as the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), is a charitable, non-profit, historic preservation organization headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is focused on New England ...
). Coral and gilt ornamental
cornices were constructed and installed above the windows. They were topped by hand-carved, gilded American eagles with outspread wings, a favorite decorative motif of the Federal period. The cornices are similar to those in the library of the
Miles Brewton House
The Miles Brewton House is a National Historic Landmark residential complex located in Charleston, South Carolina. It is one of the finest examples of a double house (a reference to the arrangement of four main rooms per floor, separated by a c ...
in
Charleston, South Carolina, and the South Drawing Room of the
Sir John Soane House in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Scalamandré produced a copy of the Kennedy-era moss green silk to be rehung on the walls.
Conger also added several major pieces by Scottish-born New York cabinetmaker
Duncan Phyfe
Duncan Phyfe (1768 – 16 August 1854) was one of nineteenth-century America's leading cabinetmakers.
Although he did not create a new furniture style, he interpreted fashionable European trends in a manner so distinguished and particular that ...
. 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
A girandole (; from French, in turn from Italian ''girandola'') is an ornamental branched candlestick or light fixture consisting of several lights, often resembling a small chandelier. Girandoles came into use about the second half of the 17th ce ...
"bullseye" wall sconces.
2007 Bush interior decor
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 designer Ken Blasingame, and White House curator William Allman. The refurbishment retained most of the Nixon-era Conger and Jones design. Walls were again hung in silk, but this time in a more vertical and largely scaled moiré pattern and a darker shade. The coral color in the upholstered chairs and in the striped drapery fabric was intensified to a more vibrant shade bordering on
vermilion
Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It i ...
. The drapery recreates Edward Vason Jones' 1971 design but with the more intense
vermilion
Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It i ...
in the silk and the painted cornice. The drapery design was simplified by removing four large tassels but retained the large bobble-fringe of the Nixon-era design. The green
Turkish Kilim
A kilim ( az, Kilim کیلیم; tr, Kilim; tm, Kilim; fa, گلیم ''Gilīm'') is a flat tapestry- woven carpet or rug traditionally produced in countries of the former Persian Empire, including Iran, the Balkans and the Turkic countries. Ki ...
carpet installed in the Nixon administration was replaced by a new rug woven in the
Savonnerie
The Savonnerie manufactory was the most prestigious European manufactory of knotted-pile carpets, enjoying its greatest period c. 1650–1685; the cachet of its name is casually applied to many knotted-pile carpets made at other centers. The manuf ...
style of France. It is somewhat similar in design to an antique Savonnerie acquired for the Red Room by Stéphane Boudin. As a part of the refurbishment the painting ''The Builders'' by
Jacob Lawrence
Jacob Armstead Lawrence (September 7, 1917 – June 9, 2000) was an American painter known for his portrayal of African-American historical subjects and contemporary life. Lawrence referred to his style as "dynamic cubism", although by his own ...
was acquired by the
White House Acquisition Trust The White House Acquisition Trust is a private, non-profit, tax-exempt fund established to finance the purchase of fine art and decorative arts for the White House, the official home and principal workplace of the president of the United States. The ...
. ''The Builders'' and ''Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City'' by
Henry Ossawa Tanner
Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21, 1859 – May 25, 1937) was an American artist and the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, in 1891 to study at the Académie Julian and gained acclaim in Fren ...
were at that time the only two paintings by African-American artists in the White House permanent collection.
[White House Acquires Tanner painting http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/102296.html]
Usage
The room was intended by architect
James Hoban
James Hoban (1755 – December 8, 1831) was an Irish-American architect, best known for designing the White House.
Life
James Hoban was a Roman Catholic raised on Desart Court estate belonging to the Earl of Desart near Callan, County Kilkenny ...
to be the "Common Dining Room."
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
used it as a dining room and covered the floor with a green-colored
canvas for protection. It was in the Green Room that William Wallace Lincoln, the third son of President Abraham Lincoln, was embalmed following his death (most likely from
typhoid
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...
). Grace Coolidge displayed what some considered risqué
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
sculpture in the room and used the room for small parties with friends.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
entertained
Amelia Earhart in the Green Room.
References
;Notes
;Citations
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
* Abbott, James A. ''A Frenchman in Camelot: The Decoration of the Kennedy White House by Stéphane Boudin.'' Boscobel Restoration Inc.: 1995. .
* Clinton, Hillary Rodham. ''An Invitation to the White House: At Home with History.'' Simon & Schuster: 2000. .
* Monkman, Betty C. ''The White House: The Historic Furnishing & First Families.'' Abbeville Press: 2000. .
* Seale, William. ''The President's House.'' White House Historical Association and the National Geographic Society: 1986. .
* Seale, William, ''The White House: The History of an American Idea.'' White House Historical Association: 1992, 2001. .
* 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. .
External links
White House Web site with many historical pictures
{{coord, 38, 53, 51.15, N, 77, 2, 11.16, W, region:US-DC_type:landmark, display=title
Rooms in the White House