The State Floor was unfinished when President John Adams moved into the White House on November 1, 1800. Work continued through the four remaining months of his presidency and into the first term of Thomas Jefferson to make the Executive Residence habitable. There were no floors in the East Room, the Blue Room, or the western third of the Cross Hall (which at that time extended all the way to the west, as the State Dining Room would not be extended all the way north until 1902). There was also no grand staircase east of the Entrance Hall, and the only way to access the Second Floor was via temporary stairs on the exterior of the building which led up to the top of the South Portico.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Residence#State_floor
The main entrance to the White House and located through the North Portico. The rectangular room features a gilded Steinway Grand Piano presented to Franklin D. Roosevelt by the Steinway family, as well as portraits of various occupants of the White House including President Bill Clinton. The room is separated from the Cross Hall by a set of Roman Doric columns.
The Old Family Dining room in the White House in Washington. Works by Robert Rauschenberg, right, and Alma Thomas, the first African American artist woman represented in the White House, left, make a modern splash. Michael Mundy-Architectural Digest/AP
The Grand Staircase is the chief stairway connecting the State Floor and the Second Floor of the White House, the official home of the president of the United States. The stairway is primarily used for a ceremony called the Presidential Entrance March. The present Grand Staircase, the fourth staircase occupying the same general space, was completed in 1952 as a part of the Truman White House reconstruction. The Grand Staircase is entered on the State Floor from the Entrance Hall.
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/floor1/entrance-hall-history.htm
Updated in 2019
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7474611/White-House-upgrade-First-ladys-lot-place.html
The Blue Room is located on the State Floor of the Executive Mansion and is famous for its oval shape, central location, and views of the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial.
https://www.whitehousehistory.org/photos/white-house-furnishings-blue-room
James Monroe purchased the furniture in the room to replace what was destroyed in the 1814 fire set by the British when they burned many buildings in Washington during the War of 1812. These pieces include the seven chairs and one sofa.
The Blue Room is where the President often receives guests, I assume because when entering the White House from Pennsylvania Avenue that this is the room you come to if you keep walking straight ahead.
President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room, making him the only president to be married in the White House. This is also the room used for the White House Christmas tree.
https://npplan.com/parks-by-state/washington-d-c-national-parks/presidents-park-white-house
The Cross Hall is a broad hallway on the first floor. It runs east to west connecting the State Dining Room with the East Room. The room is used for receiving lines following a State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn, or a procession of the President and a visiting head of state and their spouses.
The space measures just under 18 by 80 feet (5.5 by 24 m). It allows access to the elevator vestibule, Entrance Hall, East Room, Blue Room, Green Room, Red Room, and State Dining Room. The Grand Staircase is visible from an opening directly across from the Green Room.
The Buchanan administration first began the tradition of keeping paintings of presidents for the White House collection. The Grants added to this collection, and hung portraits of presidents from Washington to Lincoln in the Cross Hall behind a glass screen.
The East Room is the largest room in the Executive Residence; it is used for dances, receptions, press conferences, ceremonies, concerts, and banquets.
Pianos:
Most presidents had a piano of their own:
- George Washington (1st President) had a square piano made by Schoene & Vinsen (London, 1793-1806)
- Thomas Jefferson (3rd) had a square piano made by Astor & Co. (London 1799-1815)
- James Buchanan (15th) was the first to have a grand piano, a Chickering (Boston, 1823-1983)
- Abraham Lincoln (26th) had both a Chickering square and upright
- Warren G Harding (29th) had an electric player piano made by A.B. Chase (Norwalk, Ohio 1875-1985)
- John F Kennedy (35th) had an Ivers & Pond (1880-1983) grand piano.
In fact with the main exception of George W. Bush and Gerald Ford, virtually all the American presidents owned a piano, or a harpsichord. However, the president's own piano is not "the White House piano". This tradition was formalised in 1903 when Steinway, to celebrate their 50th anniversary and as a thanksgiving to the American people, presented Theodore Roosevelt with a beautiful art-case grand.
This piano's casework incorporates the seals of the original 13 states, and the painting on the lid depicts America welcoming the nine Muses. Each leg of the instrument features an American eagle – these appear to be supporting the instrument. The piano cost $20,000 to produce and was given the serial number 100,000 (although Steinway had been producing instruments with six-figure serial numbers since 1901).
This instrument became the first White House piano and was kept in the East Room. It is now in the Smithsonian Institute.
In 1938 a second Steinway replaced the original White House piano. The new "State Piano" was given the serial number 300,000, and was presented to Franklin D Roosevelt. The legs are again American eagles, carved from mahogany and then gilded. The instrument was restored in 1979 and is usually placed in the Entrance Hall.
More "standard" pianos can be found within the White House – primarily upstairs in the residential rooms and the Central Hall. Most are made by Baldwin (Harry S. Truman, probably the most accomplished presidential pianist, favoured this brand).
The State Dining Room is located next to the Red Room on the State Floor of the White House and it is used as a reception room and the room can accommodate up to 140 guests for luncheon or small dinner parties. In previous administrations the room has been used as an office, library and cabinet meeting room. When in the interior of the White House was renovated in 1902 and the former grand stairway was removed from the west end the State Dining Room was expanded to the current size and the room dimensions are approximately 48 feet by 36 feet.
The State Dining Room has a very long dining table used with William & Mary style armchairs and several Queen Anne style side chairs, later during the Truman reconstruction the chairs were replaced with Chippendale style side chairs. Hang from the ceiling is a large silver-plated chandelier and wall sconces; they were later given a gilded appearance during the Kennedy restoration. Also displayed in the room are two large mahogany console tables which are painted ivory and features carved eagle supports. Above the mantel hangs a portrait of Abraham Lincoln by George P.A. Healy which was formerly severely damaged but now fully restored.
The Mantle:
One item of note is the original 1902 fireplace mantel which was restored during the Kennedy restoration and bears a very special inscription.
The inscription was taken from a letter President John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail back in 1800 during his first few days of living in the White House, it reads:
I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this House, and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men rule under this roof.
Known as the Adam's blessing, the inscription was carved into the State Dining Room mantel by President Franklin Roosevelt.
https://theenchantedmanor.com/tag/the-john-adams-inscription-on-the-mantel-of-the-state-dining-room
Today the walls of the Red Room are not painted but covered in a red twill satin fabric with a gold scroll design in the border.
- Thomas Jefferson often ate dinner in the Red Room and kept his caged magpie here.
- Dolly Madison had her special pianoforte placed in the Red Room and used the room as a music chamber during her husband's administration. She held her popular and fashionable Wednesday night receptions (levees) here. But the room was decorated in yellowthen until Dolly ordered red velvet curtains for the windows.
- Yellow dominated the Red Room until 1845 when President and Mrs. Polk (James K. Polk was our 11th president.) furnished the room with a dark, crimson French antique style furniture and added a ruby carpet. From then on, the room has been called the Red Room.
- Mary Lincoln favored the Red Room as a sitting room and for receiving private guests. And her husband, President Abraham Lincoln (our 16th president) usually met with his friends here for a quiet time after dinner.
- President Chester Arthur (our 20th president) commissioned Louis Tiffany to totally redecorate the Red Room. Mr. Tiffany painted the walls red and added a tawny red frieze of abstract stars on the ceiling.
- First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, our 32nd president) held press conferences in the Red Room for woman reporters who were not permitted to attend regular press conferences at the time. Only male reporters were allowed to attend regular White House Press conferences.
- During more recent administrations the Red Room has served as a favored parlor or sitting room for First Ladies. And recent Presidents have had small dinner parties here, in the Red Room.
- In 1962 during President John F. Kennedy's Administration (our 35th president) and in 1971 during President Richard Nixon's administration (our 37th president), the Red Room was again renovated.
https://www.picklepeawalks.com/historical-walk-blog/white-house-red-room
