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A Glimpse of Calvin Coolidge's White House

Gallery

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Mrs. Coolidge’s Bedroom was more her personal sitting room, where she often attended to correspondence. She selected the Lincoln bed for her room and crocheted a coverlet for it hoping to start a tradition in which first ladies would leave a memento for the White House.
White House Collection
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Magee described the Red Room as a “parlor where the ladies of the house received callers.” While the Red Room maintained its 1902 decor during the Coolidge years, the Aubusson-style rug was made by Tiffany Studios, 1927-28. Gilbert Stuart’s 1797 replica of his Lansdowne portrait of George Washington, seen at left, was placed in this room in 1903. It was returned to the East Room in 1929 by Mrs. Herbert Hoover. On the east wall, between the doorways leading to the Blue Room, hung the 1878 portrait of John Adams by Edgar Parker, after a likeness by Gilbert Stuart. According to Chief Usher Irwin “Ike” Hoover, President Coolidge objected to the bald spot that appeared at the top of Adams’s head and asked for hair to be painted on it. The chief usher chose to have the varnish layer dulled instead.
White House Collection
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Steinway & Sons presented their 100,000th Piano to the White House in 1903. The special Concert Grand Piano is seen here placed on a stage at the north end of the East Room for a musicale. The piano was overlaid with gold and decorated with patriotic imagery. An allegorical scene, America Receiving the Nine Muses, was painted on the inside lid by Thomas Dewing.
White House
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The East Room set in preparation for a musicale performance. Two upholstered armchairs stand front and center, for the president and first lady, while lighter, gilt bentwood chairs await the guests.
The White House
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In the State Dining Room, the mahogany table is set for President Coolidge’s luncheon for German and Irish fliers, May 2, 1928. Originally acquired for the Family Dining Room in the 1890s, the table was found in the former or “old” kitchen by Edith Wilson and placed in the State Dining Room for occasions when a banquet table was not required. A portrait of Calvin Coolidge appears over the fireplace.
White House Collection
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Adetail of the Place Setting for the attorney general shows a service plate from the Woodrow Wilson state service, gilded silver flatware, and a “Russian” pattern goblet and tumbler from the Benjamin Harrison service.
White House Collection
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The position of “ceremonial officer” was created in 1925 to supervise and arrange the official social functions, leaving personal engagements and correspondence to the social secretary. During the social season, the ceremonial offi cer, detailed from the State Department, worked from a desk in the East Sitting Hall on the second floor, easily accessible for consultations with the first lady. Before the days of telephones with multiple lines, three phones, seen on the desk at right, were required to provide an outside line, a direct line to the social secretary’s office, and a direct line to the Usher’s Room.
White House Collection
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When the roof was removed in 1927, and the attic area enlarged as a third floor, a solarium was built over the South Portico. Mrs. Coolidge named it her "Sky Parlor," perhaps making use of an old-time Virginia term for a sunny attic room. "It was understood that when I was there I was not to be disturbed," she wrote, "unless for some urgent reason. A cot bed, a writing table, some porch furniture, a phonograph, and a portable radio provided comfort and entertainment. I was there with some friends the day that Graf Zeppelin passed over Washington. On the table stood the radio, with no tangible connection with the outside world, bringing us music from a distant station, while up in the air floated a huge, silvery man-made conveyance, bringing people across the wide ocean."6
White House Collection

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