President Nixon first welcomed reporters to the new Press Room and work space in April 1970. Interior designer Judith Farrington described the concept as “English pubby.” The masculine decor and laid-back ambience was fitting for the nearly all-male press corps of the time. The Press Room occupied only one-third of the new facility.

This photograph from the West Wing was taken during the Richard M. Nixon administration, just before its conversion into the Press Room in 1970. President Nixon established the Press Room to meet the needs of the growing press corps that was assembling in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door. Prior to 1970, Franklin D. Roosevelt had an indoor pool installed in this West Wing room. The pool, though empty, still exists underneath the new Press Room floor.