Notable State Dinners at the White House
December 12, 1874: First state dinner for a foreign head of state King David Kalakaua of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). Hosted by...
Architecture: 1850s-1890s
How Long? 2 minutes
1850s
James Buchanan, at the urging of his niece and White House hostess Harriet Lane, added a wooden greenhouse on the roof of the west terrace in 1857, adjacent to the State Dining Room. One could enter a private world of plants and flowers grown for decorating the house. This simple structure burned in 1867 and was replaced by iron and wood structure twice as large as the earlier one.
The south grounds, c. 1860, showing the first greenhouse, built on the west terrace in 1857.
1860s
Stables were an important part of early White House life. First located several blocks from the Executive Mansion, they were shifted around until the creation of greenhouses forced their removal in 1869 from the west colonnade to the area southwest of the Presidents Grounds.
The stable of the White House, 1869.
1870s
In the 1870s and 1880s additional conservatories were added to the White House, including rose houses, a camellia house, orchid houses and a house for bedding plants. All were removed to construct the Executive Office Building (the West Wing) in 1902.
Exterior views of the conservatories from the southwest in the late nineteenth century when they had reached their ultimate extent.
1880s
Chester A. Arthur, president from 1881 to 1885, found no charm in the White House and called on Louis C. Tiffany, a new lion of the world of fashionable interiors in New York to add his touch to the White House. "Twenty-four wagon loads of old furniture and junk from the White House" were sent to warehouse and sold in 1882. Tiffany worked in the East, Blue, and Red Rooms; the State Dining Room, and the transverse corridor, all on the state floor. By far the greatest cost of Tiffanys redecoration was in artistic painting. Practically every surface was transformed with his decorative patterns and complicated glazing accented in the transverse hall and entrance hall by his trademark colored glass.
The entrance hall, 1882, transformed by Tiffany with his trademark colored glass.
Peter Waddell, The Grand Illumination, 1891.
The White House Historical Association1890s
First Lady Caroline Harrison found the White House inadequate as a residence and supported a proposal for a major expansion of the complex that would include an art wing open to visitors. In 1890, Frederick Owen, an engineer and friend of Mrs. Harrison, created plans from her ideas for the expanded house that included an open court and a glass conservatory on the south front. Congress refused to fund the project.
Detail from a White House expansion plan compiled and drawn by Frederick D. Owen, 1890.
You Might Also Like
-
-
The Soldiers' Home: First Presidential Retreat
Leaving the White House during the summer is an old tradition of the presidents. Those with farms, such as Dwight...
-
The President, the Press, and Proximity
The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room has been the on-grounds quarters for the White House correspondents and news photographers...
-
Papal Visits to the White House
Papal visits to the White House have been rare—with Pope Francis' recent visit, just three popes in history have vi...
-
Music and Musical Performances in the White House Timeline
1790sBefore the White House was completed in 1800, President George Washington and his wife Martha lived first in New York City,...
-
Fall Foliage at the White House
Throughout the history of the White House and the grounds surrounding it, visitors have commented on the trees and foliage...
-
Secret Service and the Presidents
Historian William Seale has described presidential protection as a learning process, with presidents and their families and the Secret Service...
-
The White House Remembered
In 2005, The White House Historical Association released The White House Remembered,Volume 1: Recollections by Presidents Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R....
-
Nell Arthur's Memorial Window
Stained glass, a medieval art, was revisited in the historically retrospective nineteenth century. The art was a prominent feature of...
-
"Articles of the Best Kind"
When on March 4, 1817, James Monroe was inaugurated as the fifth president of the United States, the District of Columbia still...
-
Introduction: Where Oh Where Should the Capital Be?
So much about the new United States was new—a democracy in a world full of monarchies, an elected president in...
-
The American Presidents and Shakespeare
On April 23, 1932, Shakespeare-lovers from around the country flocked to Washington, D.C., to attend the dedication of the handsome new...