| Red Room | |
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 Astereograph view of the Red Room looking northwest, during the administration ofRutherford B. Hayes. The Philadelphia-builtSchomacker grand piano previously in the Red Room, purchased byMary Todd Lincoln in 1861, was removed in 1877 and replaced by President Hayes'Hallet and Davis upright piano, seen here in the corner.[1] The center table, and "ladies' chairs" (one near the north door) were built by theHerter Brothers. | |
 Interactive map of Red Room | |
| Location | 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20500 |
| Built | circa 1800 |
| Built for | The President'santechamber |
| Restored | Coolidge-appointed committee ofColonial Revival andFederal furniture experts in 1926. Subsequent work byMaison Jansen in 1961 andClement Conger in 1971 further refined that restoration. |
| Architect | James Hoban |
| Architectural styles | French and AmericanEmpire style |
| Governing body | TheWhite House Office of the Curator, theCommittee for the Preservation of the White House, theWhite House Historical Association and theWhite House Endowment Trust |
TheRed Room is one of three state parlors on the State Floor in theWhite House, the Washington D.C. home of thepresident of the United States. The room has served as aparlor and music room, and recent presidents have held small dinner parties in it. It has been traditionally decorated in shades of red. The room is approximately 28 by 22.5 feet (8.5 by 6.9 m). It has six doors, which open into theCross Hall,Blue Room, South Portico, andState Dining Room.
Benjamin Latrobe's 1803 drawing of the White House's first floor indicates that the Red Room served as "the President'sAntichamber" (sic) for the president's "Library & Cabinet" next door in the location of the present State Dining Room. During the administration ofJohn Adams, it served as a breakfast room.[2] Thomas Jefferson kept a cagedmagpie in the room. During theJames Madison administration, the antechamber became the "Yellow Drawing Room" and the scene ofDolley Madison's fashionable Wednesday night receptions. Dolley ordered a piano she particularly wanted, along with redvelvet curtains for the room.
The White House was gutted in 1814 when the British set fire to the structure during theBurning of Washington. It was largely reconstructed during the administration of President James Monroe, and the door and window frames and doors themselves date to this era.[3] Monroe purchased furnishings for the Red Room in theEmpire style, as he had for theBlue Room, to furnish the rebuilt White House.
Gilbert Stuart'sportrait of George Washington originally hung in the Red Room, providing the colloquial name the "Washington Parlor." Stuart's 1804 portrait ofDolley Madison also was hung here.
Thefireplace mantel was one of two originally purchased by PresidentJames Monroe in 1817. Carved of white marble in France in theEmpire style, it and its partner originally were installed in theState Dining Room. In 1902, PresidentTheodore Roosevelt selectedCharles Follen McKim of theNew York architectural firmMcKim, Mead & White to renovate the White House. McKim fashioned all new mantels for the State Dining Room, and reused one of the 1817 mantels in the Red Room.[3] The walls were hung withburgundy silk velvet. A late nineteenth century suite of stuffed Turkish-style furniture was upholstered in the same shade.
The addition of a new attic story during theCoolidge administration placed great strain on the building's structure. By 1951 the house had become unsound and President Truman directed a major reconstruction. The building's interior was largely dismantled, with some of the architectural elements being numbered and stored. After a steel infrastructure was installed, those elements were restored in their original configuration. The Red Room was dismantled and reconstructed during this period. Installation of air conditioning in 1953 and 1954 required the ceiling height be reduced by approximately 18" and a new plaster ceiling with a somewhat generic pattern of stars was installed. Having nearly no furniture original to the house, Truman hired the New York department store B. Altman's design department to oversee the refurnishing of the house. In the Red Room, a red silk damask in the same pattern as before the reconstruction was installed on the walls.
The Louis XVI stylemantel clock is French, c. 1780–85, and was a gift to the American nation in 1954 from PresidentVincent Auriol of France following completion of theTruman reconstruction of the house (1949–52).
Jacqueline Kennedy made extensive renovations to the White House in 1961 and 1962. When the Kennedy family first moved into the White House, the Red Room (along with other rooms on theState Floor of the White House) were arranged and decorated using existing items bySister Parish, Mrs. Kennedy's long-time friend and interior decorator. Parish initially rearranged the Red Room, but did no refurbishment of it.[4][a] By the middle of 1961, however, as the wider Kennedy renovation of the White House moved into high gear, Parish's Red Room decor was dismantled and she no longer played much of a role in the renovation.[4]
The Kennedy renovation was overseen by American antiquesautodidactHenry Francis du Pont and French interior designerStéphane Boudin and his company,Maison Jansen.[5] Kennedy also established an advisory Committee on Fine Arts made up of museum professionals as well as wealthy individuals interested in antiques.[6] Kennedy was an ardent admirer of French interior design,[3] and the Red Room was not only the first room to be redesigned during the Kennedy renovation but also the room refurbished almost completely in a French style.[7] But because the involvement of a French interior decorator was considered politically unpalatable to the American people, Boudin's role in redecorating the Red Room was not mentioned and the refurbishment was for many years attributed solely to Parish.[8]
Boudin, rather than du Pont, proved to have the greatest impact on the Red Room. About June 1961, Boudin proposed two alternative treatments for the walls. The more elaborate of these featuredcerise (pinkish-red)silk upholstery for the walls, with a broad band of gold decorative "tape" around the inside of each panel (above thedado rail, below thecornice, and along both sides). The second proposal was nearly identical, but omitted the decorative band. In August, du Pont agreed that either of Boudin's suggestions would be appropriate.[9] The second proposal was approved by Kennedy Parish assisted by attempting to find a manufacturer who could not only duplicate the colors Boudin wanted but also the various medallion patterns he proposed. The New York textile manufacturerBergamo was approached, but problems with design, manufacture, and cost forced Parish to utilize theScalamandré firm instead.[10] The wall covering was put in place in late 1961.[8][b]
Du Pont suggested the room be made over usingDuncan Phyfe furniture, while Gerald Shea[c] of the Committee on Fine Arts felt thatAmerican Empire style furniture would be better.[12] Other advisors wanted furniture in the "French antique" style ofCharles-Honoré Lannuier.[13] Since no single individual was in charge of the renovation effort, at first confusion reigned. The issue was largely decided after a potential patron turned down a request to donate a suite of American Empire furniture, and Kennedy convinced du Pont that a mix ofFrench Empire and American Empire was appropriate.[14]
The room's refurnishing was made around a small circularguéridon probably designed and manufactured by Lannuier. A family inNew York, which had owned it since American colonial times, donated the piece.[15] As of 1998, furniture historians James Abbott and Elaine Rice say, it "is still considered the best example of American neoclassical furniture in the mansion."[16]Sofas which once belonged toDolley Madison andNelly Custis (granddaughter of Martha Washington) were donated and placed in the room, as was asofa table which featured asphinx as a base (also attributed to Lannuier).[16] Twocard tables with intricate wood inlays and sphinx-like legs; three French Empirearmchairs withgilt-bronze frames; and a French Empire desk were also purchased and installed.[17] Fourgondola side chairs, a pair of earlyRococo Revival side chairs, and a French Empire armchair already owned by the White House were removed from storage and placed in the room.[17] A carpet woven inAubusson, France, was selected by Kennedy for the floor of the Red Room. Too expensive to purchase outright, Boudin and his Maison Jansen associate Paul Manno approached financier André Meyer, who agreed to purchase and donate the carpet to the White House in exchange for a meeting with Mrs. Kennedy.[4]
To light the room, a gilded wood Frenchchandelier (made about 1820), three Frenchbouillotte table lamps, and a pair of Frenchtorchères were purchased and added to the Red Room.[4]
Boudin oversaw the installation of art in the Red Room as well. Boudin preferred a French design aesthetic,[18] which emphasized covering as much wall space as possible with paintings. This scheme was implemented early in 1961, but in early 1962 (after the walls were recovered in silk) Boudin altered this scheme. He now created two rows of paintings, one at eye-level and one above the top of the door frames. This mimicked the look of an art gallery, and was used in many French country manor-houses.[8]
Boudin and du Pont also competed to design window treatments for the Red Room. Boudin suggested straight panels of cerise silk, suspended from a gilded wood rod and rings. Du Pont proposed a lighter treatment of white cottonvoile ormuslin, drawn back from the windows withtassels. Mrs. Kennedy was concerned that du Pont's drapes would require constant pressing in order to look good, and that souvenir-hunters might snip at the tassels and fringe. Boudin's scheme won out.[19]
Most furniture currently found in the Red Room was acquired during the Kennedy andNixon administrations.
In 1971 the room was redecorated byFirst LadyPat Nixon with advice from a newWhite House curator Clement Conger who collaborated with architect and designerEdward Vason Jones. Conger replaced a generic plaster molding and ceiling medallion installed during the Truman reconstruction with historically accurate molding profiles and a new ceiling medallion.
Conger used the workshop of Franco Scalamandré for textiles, keeping the motif of medallions and scrolls, but changed the red color used by the Kennedys to a warmer morescarlet shade of red. On the south wall of the room between two windows a large gilded bracket was installed to hold a bust of PresidentMartin Van Buren carved byHiram Powers. A portrait of Van Buren's daughter-in-law, Angelica Singleton Van Buren, painted in 1842 byHenry Inman hangs above the mantel. The portrait includes a representation of the marble bust.
Drapery panels of yellow-gold silk satin with elaborate swags and jabots of red with gold medallions with handmade fringe recall a description of drapery used here during Dolley Madison's day. The curtains were designed byEdward Vason Jones, and are based on historical patterns held by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now calledHistoric New England) and theMetropolitan Museum of Art. Conger returned use of the decorative tape along the ceiling moulding but not above the dado.
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The 2000 refurbishment of the Red Room led by First LadyHillary Clinton with advice from theCommittee for the Preservation of the White House, and White House curatorBetty Monkman retained the general form of Clement Conger's 1971 design. The color for walls and upholstery was changed to a deepercarmine red that historians considered more typical of nineteenth-century American manufactured textiles. The wide decorative tape, like those used in the Kennedy administration was installed above thedado.
The most significant recent addition to the Red Room is a tall rectilinear secretary desk attributed to Charles-Honoré Lannuier. It was a gift of theWhite House Historical Association during the Clinton administration, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the completion of the house.
In 2019, First LadyMelania Trump had the wall fabric of the Red Room refreshed after sunlight streaming into the room had left parts of the walls faded.[20]
The Madisons, Lincolns, Grants, and Kennedys all used the Red Room as a music room. A guitar, piano and music stands were kept in the room. Today amusic stand beside the fireplace recalls that earlier use of the room.
In 1833, during the presidency ofAndrew Jackson, the Red Room was host to the secondCatholic ceremony in the history of the White House.[21]William Matthews presided over the baptism of Andrew Jackson Pageot, the son of Joseph Pageot and Mary Anne Lewis, a ward of Jackson.[22][23]
PresidentUlysses S. Grant, fearing disruption of the transition of power toRutherford B. Hayes (because of the latter's contestedElection of 1876) had the new president-elect secretly sworn into office in the Red Room the evening before the inauguration. The Grants used the Red Room as a family living room.
Eleanor Roosevelt used the Red Room for meeting with women members of the press.
Following the State Funeral for President John F. Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy received foreign heads of state in the Red Room.
The Reagans frequently used this room for official photographs with visiting heads of state. The room was Nancy Reagan's favorite. Her husbands portrait is positioned outside the room looking in as if he is watching over it.
The Clintons favored the room for small dinner parties.
In 2012, PresidentBarack Obama and First LadyMichelle Obama had lunch with theBush family in the Red Room ahead of the unveiling of thepresidential portrait ofGeorge W. Bush.[24]
During thepresidency of Donald Trump, First LadyMelania Trump andQueen Rania of Jordan had lunch together in the Red Room in April 2017.[25] President Trump met withFrench PresidentEmmanuel Macron in the Red Room during anofficial state visit in 2018.[26]
The Bidens used the Red Room for their 2021Lunar New Year message, red being anauspicious color in Chinese and East Asian culture.
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38°53′51.15″N77°2′11.4″W / 38.8975417°N 77.036500°W /38.8975417; -77.036500
