The Center Hall is a broad central hallway 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 ...

. It runs east to west connecting the

East Sitting Hall The East Sitting Hall is located on the second floor of the White House, home of the president of the United States. First used as a reception room for guests of the president (the Lincoln Bedroom and the Queens' Bedroom were originally offices of ...

with the West Sitting Hall. It allows access to the

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

vestibule, East and West Bedrooms, the

Grand Staircase The Grand Staircase is an immense sequence of sedimentary rock layers that stretch south from Bryce Canyon National Park and Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, through Zion National Park, and into Grand Canyon National Park. Ch ...

, Yellow Oval Room, the first family's private living room, and the president's bedroom. In the early 20th century,

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

decorated the hall with exotic plants and art he had brought with him from his tenure as

Governor-General of the Philippines The Governor-General of the Philippines (Spanish: ''Gobernador y Capitán General de Filipinas''; Filipino: ''Gobernador-Heneral ng Pilipinas/Kapitan Heneral ng Pilipinas''; Japanese: ) was the title of the government executive during the colo ...

. Later,

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

watched motion pictures here as the present White House theater was still a cloakroom. Furnishings include an American manufactured painted wood Neoclassical suite including a settee, six armchairs and four side chairs that once belonged to 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 ...

. The suite was reupholstered in a wool and silk velvet faux tiger print during the administration of

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

and moved to the Center Hall from the Yellow Oval Room. Also in the room is a

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

mahogany cylinder desk acquired for the Red Room during the administration of President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

. A pair of bronze French Empire

caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

torchères from

Château de Malmaison The Château de Malmaison () is a French château situated near the left bank of the Seine, about west of the centre of Paris, in the commune of Rueil-Malmaison. Formerly the residence of Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, along with the Tui ...

were originally acquired for the Blue Room by Kennedy decorator

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 ...

External links

White House Museum: The Central Hall
{{coord, 38, 53, 51.7, N, 77, 2, 11.7, W, type:landmark_region:US_dim:24, display=title Rooms in the White House

Further reading

External links