The East Sitting Hall is located on the second 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 ...

, 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 ...

. First used as a reception room for guests of the president (the

Lincoln Bedroom The Lincoln Bedroom is a bedroom which is part of a guest suite located in the southeast corner of the second floor of the White House in Washington, D.C. The Lincoln Sitting Room makes up the other part of the suite. The room is named for Presi ...

and the

Queens' Bedroom The Queens' Bedroom is on the second floor of the White House, part of a guest suite of rooms that includes the Queens' Sitting Room.. Furnishings The room has been furnished in 1868 Federal style since the Truman reconstruction. The bed ...

were originally offices of the chief executive), it is now a family parlor with access to the east rooms on the second floor. The room is entered from the second floor corridor on the west side of the room. A large fanlight window on the east side of the room faces the

Jacqueline Kennedy Garden The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden is located at the White House south of the East Colonnade. The garden balances the Rose Garden on the west side of the White House. History Edith Carow Roosevelt, who had established her "Colonial Garden" on the ...

, the East Colonnade, the

East Wing The East Wing of the White House is a two-story structure that serves as office space for the First Lady and her staff, including the White House social secretary, White House Graphics and Calligraphy Office and correspondence staff. The East Win ...

, and the

U.S. Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

. Two disguised doors allow access to a closet and a staircase up to the third floor.

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

wrote this about the room during the administration of

John Tyler John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president in 1841. He was elected vice president on the 1840 Whig tick ...

went upstairs into another chamber, where were certain visitors, waiting for audiences. At sight of my conductor, a black in plain clothes and yellow slippers who was gliding noiselessly about and whispering messages in the ears of the more impatient, made a sign of recognition, and glided off to announce him. We had previously looked into another chamber fitted all round with a great bare wooden desk or counter robably_the_Anteroom,_today's_Treaty_Room.html" ;"title="Treaty_Room.html" ;"title="robably the Anteroom, today's Treaty Room">robably the Anteroom, today's Treaty Room">Treaty_Room.html" ;"title="robably the Anteroom, today's Treaty Room">robably the Anteroom, today's Treaty Room whereon lay piles of newspapers, to which sundry gentlemen were referring. But there were no such means of beguiling the time in this apartment, which was as unpromising and tiresome as any waiting-room....

Because the East Sitting Hall is situated above the East Room (which has a 22-foot ceiling), access to the East Sitting Hall was originally by way a small set of stairs from the Grand Staircase (White House), Stair Landing. During the White House#The Truman reconstruction, Truman reconstruction, the room was reduced by the addition of a lavatory and side stair to the third floor; the steps were replaced with a ramp through an arched corridor.

Sister Parish Sister Parish (born Dorothy May Kinnicutt; July 15, 1910 – September 8, 1994) was an American interior decorator and socialite. She was the first practitioner brought in to decorate the Kennedy White House, a position soon entrusted to French i ...

, the first interior designer brought in to decorate during the Kennedy restoration, created the original concepts of the redesigned East Sitting Hall, which became a repository of furniture and memorabilia associated with the life of President

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 ...

References

*Abbott James A., and Elaine M. Rice. ''Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration.'' Van Nostrand Reinhold: 1998. .

External links

White House Historical Association: Residence second floor

{{coord, 38.89771, -77.03639, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-DC, display=title Rooms in the White House

See also

References

External links