TheOval Office is the formalworking space of thepresident of the United States at theWhite House inWashington, D.C. Part of theExecutive Office of the President, it is located at the southeast corner of theWest Wing.
A new Oval Office was the idea of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt, and was designed by architectEric Gugler as part of a 1933-34 expansion of the West Wing. PresidentWilliam Howard Taft had built a 1909 Oval Office at the center of the south side of the West Wing, but it was damaged in a 1929 fire. The new office offered FDR, who used a wheelchair, easier access, more privacy, and much more natural light. The Taft Oval Office was demolished in Gugler's expansion of the West Wing, and the space became additional staff offices.
The Oval Office has three large windows facing theSouth Lawn, in front of which the president's desk traditionally is placed. A fireplace at the north end is generally flanked by two armchairs. Two built-in bookcases are recessed into the west wall, and are balanced by two windows in the east wall. There are four doors: the east door opens to theRose Garden; the west door leads to aprivate study and dining room; the northwest door opens onto the main corridor of the West Wing; and the northeast door opens to the office of the president's secretary.
The Oval Office takes its inspiration from the oval rooms at the center of the White House's south facade. Presidents generally decorate the office to suit their own personal tastes, choosing furniture and drapery and often commissioning oval carpets. Artwork is selected from the White House collection, or borrowed from museums for the president's term.
The Oval Office has become associated in Americans' minds with the presidency itself through memorable images, such as a youngJohn F. Kennedy Jr. peering through the front panel of his fatherJohn F. Kennedy's desk, PresidentRichard Nixon speaking by telephone with theApollo 11 astronauts during their moonwalk, andAmy Carter bringing herSiamese cat Misty Malarky Ying Yang to brighten her father PresidentJimmy Carter's day. Several presidents haveaddressed the nation from the Oval Office on occasion. Examples include Kennedy presenting news of theCuban Missile Crisis (1962),Lyndon B. Johnson announcing that he will not run for reelection (1968),[1] Nixonannouncing his resignation from office (1974),[2]Ronald Reagan following theSpace ShuttleChallenger disaster (1986),[3] andGeorge W. Bush in the wake of theSeptember 11 attacks (2001).[4]
The White House was not ready for occupancy until 1800.George Washington never occupied the White House. He spent most of his presidency inPhiladelphia, which served as the temporary national capital for 10 years, from 1790 to 1800, whileWashington, D.C., a new city, was under construction.
In 1790, Washington built a large, two-story, semi-circular addition to the rear of thePresident's House in Philadelphia, creating a ceremonial space in which the public would meet the president.[5] Standing before the three windows of thisbow window, he formally received guests for his Tuesday afternoonaudiences, delegations from Congress and foreign dignitaries, and the general public at open houses onNew Year's Day, theFourth of July, and his birthday.
Washington received his guests, standing between the windows in his back drawing-room. The company, entering a front room and passing through an unfolding door, made their salutations to the President, and turning off, stood on one side.[6]
PresidentJohn Adams occupied the Philadelphia mansion from March 1797, and used the bow window in the same manner as had his predecessor.[7]
Curved foundations of Washington's bow window were uncovered during archaeological excavation of the site of the President's House in 2007.[8] They are exhibited under glass at the President's House Commemoration, next to theLiberty Bell Center.[9]
ArchitectJames Hoban visited President Washington in Philadelphia in June 1792, and probably saw the bow window.[10] The next month, Hoban won the design competition for the White House.
The elliptic salon at the center of the White House was the outstanding feature of Hoban's original plan. Oval rooms became common inneoclassical architecture early in the 19th century.
In November 1800,John Adams became the first president to occupy the White House. He and his successor, PresidentThomas Jefferson, used Hoban's oval rooms as Washington had used his bow window salon, standing before the three windows at the south end to receive guests.[11]
In the 19th century, some presidents used the White House's second-floorYellow Oval Room as their private offices and libraries. This cultural association, between the president and an oval room, was more fully expressed in theTaft Oval Office (1909) in the West Wing.
TheWest Wing was the idea of PresidentTheodore Roosevelt, brought about by his wife's opinion that the second floor of the White House, then shared between bedrooms and offices, should be solely a domestic space. Completed in 1902, the one-story Executive Office Building was intended to be a temporary structure, for use until a permanent building was erected there or elsewhere.[12] Siting the building west of the White House allowed the removal of a vast, dilapidated set of pre–Civil War greenhouses, which had been erected by PresidentJames Buchanan.[13]
Roosevelt moved the offices of theexecutive branch into the newly constructed wing in 1902. His workspace was a two-room suite of Executive Office and Cabinet Room, occupying the eastern third of the building. Its furniture, including thepresident's desk, was designed by architectCharles Follen McKim, and executed byA. H. Davenport and Company, both of Boston.[14] Now much altered, the 1902 Executive Office survives as the Roosevelt Room, a windowless interior meeting room situated diagonally from the Oval Office.
PresidentWilliam Howard Taft made the West Wing a permanent building, doubling its size by expanding it southward, and building the first Oval Office.[15] Designed byNathan C. Wyeth and completed in 1909, the office was centered on the building's south facade, much as the oval rooms in the White House are. Taft wanted to be more involved with the day-to-day operation of his presidency, and intended the office to be the hub of his administration. The Taft Oval Office had ample natural light from its three windows and skylight. It featured a white marble mantel, simple Georgian Revival woodwork, and twin glass-doored bookcases. It also was likely the most colorful presidential office in history; its walls were covered with vibrant seagrass green burlap.[16]
On December 24, 1929, during the first year of PresidentHerbert Hoover's administration, a fire severely damaged the West Wing. Hoover used this as an opportunity to create additional space, excavating a partial basement for staff offices. He restored the Oval Office, upgrading the quality of trim and installing air conditioning. He also replaced the furniture, which had undergone no major changes in twenty years.
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Dissatisfied with the size and layout of the West Wing, PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt engaged New York architectEric Gugler to redesign it in 1933. To create additional staff space without increasing the apparent size of the building, Gugler excavated a full basement, added a set of subterranean offices under the adjacent lawn, and built an unobtrusive penthouse storey. The directive to wring the most office space out of the existing building was responsible for its narrow corridors and cramped staff offices. Gugler's most visible addition was the expansion of the building eastward for a new Cabinet Room and Oval Office.[17]
The modern Oval Office was built at the West Wing's southeast corner, offering Roosevelt, who was physically disabled and used awheelchair, more privacy and easier access to the Residence. He and Gugler devised a room architecturally grander than the previous two offices, with more robust Georgian details: doors topped with substantial pediments, bookcases set into niches, a deep bracketed cornice, and a ceiling medallion of thePresidential Seal. Rather than a chandelier or ceiling fixture, the room is illuminated by light bulbs hidden within the cornice that wash the ceiling in light.[18] In small ways, hints ofArt Moderne can be seen, in the sconces flanking the windows and the representation of the eagle in the ceiling medallion. Roosevelt and Gugler worked closely together, often over breakfast, with Gugler sketching the president's ideas. One notion resulting from these sketches that has become fixed in the layout of the room's furniture is that of two high back chairs in front of the fireplace. The public sees this most often with the president seated on the left and a visiting guest on the right. This allowed Roosevelt to be seated, with his guests at the same level, de-emphasizing his inability to stand without help. Construction of the modern Oval Office was completed in 1934.
The basic Oval Office furnishings have been a desk in front of the three windows at the south end, a pair of chairs in front of the fireplace at the north end, a pair of sofas, and assorted tables and chairs. TheNeoclassical mantel was made for the Taft Oval Office in 1909 and salvaged after the 1929 West Wing fire.[19] Atradition of displaying potted Swedish ivy (Plectranthus verticillatus) atop themantel goes back to the mid 20th century, and the most recent plants were rooted from the original plant. The plant was removed from the Oval Office during the start ofDonald Trump's second presidency in 2025 and replaced with a collection of gold objects.
AFederal longcase clock, made in Boston by John and Thomas Seymourc. 1795–1805 – commonly known as theOval Office grandfather clock – was purchased by theWhite House Historical Association in 1972, and has stood next to the Oval Office's northeast door since 1975.[20]
PresidentHarry S. Truman replaced the Oval Office's 23-year-old dark green carpet in 1947. He had revised theseal of the president of the United States after World War II, and his blue-gray carpet incorporated the1945 revised seal, represented monochromatically through varying depths of its cutpile. The Truman carpet remained in the office through theDwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy administrations.Jacqueline Kennedy's redecoration of the Oval Office began on November 21, 1963, while she and President Kennedy were away on a trip to Texas. The following day, November 22, a red carpet was installed, just as the Kennedys were making their way through Dallas, where the president wasassassinated.[21]Lyndon B. Johnson had the red carpet removed and the Truman carpet reinstalled, and used the latter for his administration. Since Johnson, most administrations have created their own oval carpet, working with an interior designer and thecurator of the White House.
Six desks have been used in the Oval Office by U.S. presidents since its construction in 1909.[22] The desk usually sits in front of the south wall of the Oval Office, which is composed of three large windows.[23] Some presidents only use the desk in this room for ceremonial purposes, such as photo opportunities and press announcements, while others use it as their main workspace.[24]
The first desk used in the Oval Office was theTheodore Roosevelt desk, and the desk currently in use byDonald Trump is theResolute desk. Of the six desks used in the Oval Office, theResolute desk has spent the longest time there, having been used by eight presidents in the room. TheResolute has been used by all U.S. presidents since 1977 with the exception ofGeorge H. W. Bush, who used theC&O desk for his one term, making it the shortest-serving desk to date. Other past presidents have used theHoover desk, theJohnson desk, and theWilson desk.[22]
TheResolute desk, the current desk in use, is built fromoak timbers that were once part of the shipHMS Resolute.[25] The BritishResolute was trapped in Arctic ice in 1854 and abandoned.[26] The ship was discovered in 1855 by an Americanwhaling ship and later underwent a complete refit, repaint, and restock paid for by the United States Government. It was returned to England in 1856 and decommissioned in 1879.[26] The same year theBritish Admiralty launched a competition to design a piece of furniture made from the timbers of theResolute which Queen Victoria could gift to the American president.[27][28] Following a design competition, Queen Victoria ordered that three desks be made from the timbers ofResolute. The one that is now known as theResolute desk was designed by Morant, Boyd, & Blanford, built by William Evenden atChatham Dockyard, and announced as "recently manufactured" on November 18, 1880.[26][29][30] The desk was delivered as a gift to PresidentRutherford B. Hayes in 1880.[31] PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt requested that a panel be installed in the kneehole during his presidency.[25] The desk was used in various areas of the White House untilJacqueline Kennedy had it moved to the Oval Office in 1961.[25][32] Following the1963 assassination of President Kennedy, theResolute desk was transferred, on loan, to the Smithsonian Institution and went on tour around the country to help raise funds for theJohn F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.[25][33] After this tour, the desk was put on view at theSmithsonian Institution beginning in 1966.[25][33]Jimmy Carter returned theResolute desk to the Oval Office in 1977.[25]
Artworks are selected from the White House collection or may be borrowed from museums or individuals for the length of an administration.
Most presidents have hung a portrait ofGeorge Washington – usually theRembrandt Peale Porthole portrait or theCharles Willson Peale three-quarter-length portrait – over the mantel at the north end of the room. A portrait ofAndrew Jackson byThomas Sully hung in the offices of Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan,George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. A portrait ofAbraham Lincoln by George Henry Story hung in George W. Bush's office and continued in Barack Obama's and Joe Biden's. Three landscapes and cityscapes –City of Washington from Beyond the Navy Yard byGeorge Cooke,Eastport and Passamaquoddy Bay by Victor de Grailly, andThe President's House, a copy afterWilliam Henry Bartlett – have adorned the walls in multiple administrations.Passing the Outpost (1881) byAlfred Wordsworth Thompson, a Revolutionary War genre scene of a carriage stopped at a Britishcheckpoint, hung in Gerald Ford's office, and in Jimmy Carter's and Ronald Reagan's.[34]The Avenue in the Rain byChilde Hassam andWorking on the Statue of Liberty byNorman Rockwell flanked theResolute desk in Bill Clinton's office and did the same in Barack Obama's.Avenue in the Rain hung beside theResolute desk in Joe Biden's office.
Statuettes, busts, heads, and figurines are frequently displayed in the Oval Office. Abraham Lincoln has been the most common subject, in works by sculptorsAugustus Saint-Gaudens,Gutzon Borglum,Adolph Alexander Weinman,Leo Cherne and others. Over time, traditional busts of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or Benjamin Franklin have given way to heads of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman or Dwight Eisenhower. Western bronzes byFrederic Remington have been frequent choices: Lyndon Johnson displayedThe Bronco Buster, as didGerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush added its companion piece,The Rattlesnake.
According toThe New York Times, as of 2021, an estimated 43 paintings and one photograph have decorated the walls of the Oval Office since 1961.[35]
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to occupy the Modern Oval Office, and placed Rembrandt Peale'sGeorge Washington over the mantel. Assorted prints of theHudson Valley hung on the walls.
President Harry S. Truman displayed works related to his home state ofMissouri, prints ofbiplanes and sailing ships, and models of jet airplanes. A series of paintings held pride of place over the mantel, including Rembrandt Peale'sGeorge Washington,Charles H. Woodbury'sWoodrow Wilson,[36]Luis Cadena'sGeorge Washington (the gift ofEcuador),[37] and a copy ofTito Salas'sEquestrian Portrait of Simon Bolivar (the gift of Venezuela).[38] A large photograph of the White House portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt, under whom Truman had served as vice president and who died in office in 1945, hung beside the mantel and later beside his desk. He also displayed the paintingFired On by Western artist Frederic Remington.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower filled the office walls with landscape paintings, as well as a portrait ofRobert E. Lee.[39]
President John F. Kennedy surrounded himself with paintings of naval battles from theWar of 1812, photographs of sailboats, and ship models.
President Lyndon B. Johnson installed sconces on either side of the mantel, and added the office's first painting by a woman artist,Franklin D. Roosevelt byElizabeth Shoumatoff.
President Richard Nixon tried three different portraits of George Washington over the mantel, and hung a copy ofEarthrise – a photograph of the Earth taken from the Moon's orbit during theApollo 8 mission – beside his desk.
President Gerald Ford hung historic paintings, possibly in anticipation of the1976 Bicentennial. Most of these works remained in place through the administrations of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.[35]
President George H. W. Bush hung landscape paintings on the walls, along with three portraits: Rembrandt Peale'sGeorge Washington, Charles Willson Peale'sBenjamin Henry Latrobe, and Thomas Sully'sAndrew Jackson.
President Bill Clinton chose the Childe Hassam and Norman Rockwell paintings mentioned above, along withWaiting for the Hour by William T. Carlton,[40] a genre scene depicting African-Americans gathered in anticipation of theEmancipation Proclamation going into effect on January 1, 1863.
President George W. Bush mixed traditional works with paintings by Texas artists and Western sculptures. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, BritishPrime Minister Tony Blair lent him abust of Winston Churchill, who had guided the United Kingdom through World War II.
President Barack Obama honored Abraham Lincoln with the portrait by Story, a bust by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. Below the proclamation was abust of Martin Luther King Jr. byCharles Alston,[41] and in the nearby bookcase was displayed a program from theAugust 28, 1963, March on Washington, at which King gave his"I Have a Dream" speech.
President Donald Trump hung mostly portraits on the office walls: Rembrandt Peale'sGeorge Washington, George H. Story'sAbraham Lincoln, Asher B. Durand'sAndrew Jackson, George P. A. Healy'sThomas Jefferson, John Trumbull'sAlexander Hamilton, Joseph-Siffred Duplessis'sBenjamin Franklin.[35] He later substituted in other portraits: Rembrandt Peale'sThomas Jefferson and Ralph E. W. Earl'sAndrew Jackson.[35]
Former president Joe Biden's Oval Office featured a cluster of five portraits at its north end, with Frank O. Salisbury'sFranklin D. Roosevelt given pride of place over the mantel.[35] On the left of the Roosevelt, there were portraits ofGeorge Washington andAbraham Lincoln, and on the right wereThomas Jefferson andAlexander Hamilton.
A tradition evolved in the latter part of the twentieth century of each new administration redecorating the office to the president's liking. A new administration usually selects an ovalcarpet, newdrapery, the paintings on the walls, and some furniture. Most incoming presidents continue using the rug of their predecessor until their new one is installed. The retired carpet very often is then moved to storage.
The redecoration of the Oval Office is usually coordinated by thefirst lady's office in theEast Wing, working with an interior designer and theWhite House curator.
Since the present Oval Office's construction in 1934 during the administration of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt the room has remained mostly unchanged architecturally.[citation needed] More than any president, Roosevelt left an impression on the room and its use. Doors and window frames have been modified slightly.[citation needed] A screen door on the east wall was removed after the installation of air conditioning. President Lyndon B. Johnson's row of wire service Teletype machines on the southeast wall required cutting plaster and flooring to accommodate wiring.[citation needed] The Georgian style plaster ornament has been cleaned to remove accumulated paint, and a series of electrified wallsconces have come and gone.[citation needed]
Though some presidents have chosen to do day-to-day work in a smaller study just west of the Oval Office, most use the actual Oval Office for work and meetings. Traffic from the large numbers of staff, visitors, and pets over time takes its toll. There have been four sets of flooring in the Oval Office. The original floor was made ofcork installed over softwood; however, President Eisenhower was an avidgolfer and damaged the floor with his golf spikes. President Lyndon B. Johnson had the floor replaced in the mid-1960s with wood-grainlinoleum. In 1982, PresidentRonald Reagan had the floor replaced withquarter sawn oak and walnut, in a cross parquet pattern similar in design to a 1933 Eric Gugler sketch, which had never been executed. In August 2005, the floor was replaced again under PresidentGeorge W. Bush, in exactly the same pattern as the Reagan floor.
In the late 1980s, a comprehensive assessment of the entire house, including the Oval Office, was made as part of theNational Park Service'sHistoric American Buildings Survey(HABS).[42] Detailed photographs and measured drawings were made documenting the interior and exterior and showing even slight imperfections. A checklist of materials and methods was generated for future conservation and restoration.
| Dimensions | US | SI |
|---|---|---|
| Major axis (north-south) | 35 ft 10 in | 10.9 m |
| Minor axis (east-west) | 29 ft | 8.8 m |
| Eccentricity | 0.59 | 0.59 |
| Height | 18 ft 6 in | 5.6 m |
| Line of rise (the point at which the ceiling starts to arch) | 16 ft 7 in | 5.0 m |
| Approximate circumference | 102 ft 5 in | 31.2 m |
| Approximate area | 816.2 sq ft | 75.8 sq m |
The ratio of the major axis to the minor axis is approximately 21:17 or 1.24.
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| President | Image | Designer | Furnishings | Paintings/Sculptures/ Personal effects | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Howard Taft 1909–1913 |  | Nathan C. Wyeth, 1909 |
| 
| |
| Woodrow Wilson 1913–1921 |  | President Wilson rarely used the Oval Office, preferring to work in theTreaty Room.[44] | |||
| Warren G. Harding 1921–1923 |  | President Harding died in office on August 2, 1923. This photo, taken on the day of his funeral, shows mourning crepes tied to the desk chair andblotter. | |||
| Calvin Coolidge 1923–1929 |  | President Coolidge's first official photograph, taken August 15, 1923. | |||
| Herbert Hoover 1929–1933 |  | Before fire:
After fire:
| Following the December 24, 1929 fire, President Hoover and his staff relocated to the adjacentState, War, and Navy Building. He restored the West Wing as it had been, but installed air conditioning. He replaced the Taft Oval Office's Colonial-Revival lighting fixtures with Art Moderne ones, replaced its leather sofas and chairs with upholstered furniture, and added the 6 cane-back armchairs that were used in the modern Oval Office for decades until the end of thefirst Trump administration in 2021. | ||
| Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933–1945 |  | Hoover desk | Note the Art Moderne sconces between the windows of the restored Oval Office, in this 1933 photo.
|
| President | Image | Designer | Furnishings | Paintings Sculptures Personal mementos/Misc. | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933–1945 | | Eric Gugler, 1934 |
|
| Oval Office replica atFranklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. |
| Harry S. Truman 1945–1953 |  |
|
|   | |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953–1961 |  |
|
|  | |
| John F. Kennedy 1961–1963 |  | Stéphane Boudin, 1963 |
|
|   |
| Lyndon B. Johnson 1963–1969 |  |
|
| .jpg) | |
| Richard Nixon 1969–1974 |   |
|
| _(cropped1).jpg) First LadyPat Nixon designed the Oval Office's royal blue rug. | |
| Gerald Ford 1974–1977 |   |
|
|  | |
| Jimmy Carter 1977–1981 |  | 1977 |
|
|  |
| Ronald Reagan 1981–1989 |  | Ted Graber, 1981[57] Ted Graber, 1988 |
|
Cowboy's Meditation by Harry Jackson
|  First LadyNancy Reagan designed the "Sunburst" rug.[60] |
| George H. W. Bush 1989–1993 |   | Mark Hampton, 1990 |
|
|  |
| Bill Clinton 1993–2001 |   | Kaki Hockersmith, 1993 |
|
|  |
| George W. Bush 2001–2009 |   | Ken Blasingame, 2001 |
|
|  Oval Office replica atGeorge W. Bush Presidential Center. First LadyLaura Bush designed the "Sunbeam" rug.[66] |
| Barack Obama 2009–2017 |   | Michael S. Smith, 2010 |
|
|  |
| Donald Trump 2017–2021 |  .jpg) | 2017 |
| President Trump initially used the Obama striped wallpaper, but replaced it with white and gray brocade wallpaper during renovations made in August 2017. The miniature World Cup replica was a gift fromFIFA, presented upon the U.S. being named a host country for the2026 FIFA World Cup. | |
| Joe Biden 2021–2025 | .jpg) .jpg) | 2021 |
Swift Messenger byAllan Houser[79][68]
| Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to then Vice President Biden byBarack Obama in 2017 | |
| Donald Trump 2025–present |  .jpg) | 2025 |
| Paintings:
Statues:
Documents:
Back desk:
Side table:
Adjacent hallway:
Dining room:
|
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38°53′51″N77°02′15″W / 38.8974°N 77.0374°W /38.8974; -77.0374
