Palace of State: The Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Featuring John F.W. Rogers, Chairman of the White House Historical Association’s Board of Directors
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About this Gallery
As skilled craftsmen molded the raw materials into finished floors, walls, and ceilings, Abbie Rowe captured on film the contributions of the various construction trades. To add scale and a human personality, he was careful to include the faces of workers in many of his photographs. Their expressions often revealed their pride in contributing to the rebuilding of the White House.
Where once the White House had nearly collapsed from its structural deficiencies, now 660 tons of steel strengthened the new concrete inner walls and floors. Although retaining much of its historical appearance, the interior of the house now sparkled with new paint, wall coverings, parquet flooring and tile. At a cost of $5.7 million, the White House had been rebuilt to serve the needs of the modern Presidency while retaining the symbolism as the historic home of the President.