All the Presidents' Homes

Turns out our fearless leaders--George Washington, in particular--liked to dabble in interior design when they weren't running a country.

	George Washington added a formal dining room to Mount Vernon and had it painted his favorite verdigris color.
	Visitors wanting an audience with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello were seated in 28 Windsor chairs in the entry hall, which was filled with Old Master paintings and a marble statue of the mythic princess Ariadne. It also contained a display of artifacts brought back by Lewis and Clark on the expedition Jefferson commissioned as president.
	John Quincy Adams, elected president in 1824, frequently held meetings in the small library of his Boston-area home just as his father had when he was president. Called the Paneled Room, it features a Queen Anne center table and a red velvet Chippendale sofa that belonged to his parents. It was here that Adams met with lawyers for the Africans from the slave ship Amistad and agreed to argue their case for freedom before the Supreme Court.

So you think your taste is "eclectic"? And that this is a new thing, huh? Eclectic is just a big word for "we didn’t buy everything at one time." Not only that, eclecticism is not new. As a matter of fact, it has been around forever, or at least it seems that way if you take a look at presidential homes.

This President’s Day let’s reflect back on the very First Family. That’s right, ol’ George and the Mrs., Martha Washington, had a huge influence on this country, not only politically, but in terms of interior design. And it wasn’t just Martha doing the decorating! George was quite the interior design whiz himself.

Mount Vernon is the quintessential American home, made for hospitality and functionality. From correspondence between the Washingtons during the 18th century, a good deal is known about the creation of Mount Vernon’s interiors.

The site for Mount Vernon, originally named Little Hunting Creek Plantation, was purchased in 1674 by George’s half-brother Lawrence. He renamed it after British admiral Edward Vernon, whom Lawrence had served under in the West Indies. Imagine that: Mount Vernon, our nation’s ancestral home, named after a British admiral!

The estate George inherited in 1754 upon Lawrence’s death comprised 2,100 acres. Washington expanded those possessions to more than 8,000 acres. Initially, the home was one and a half stories, with four small rooms on the main floor, two parlors, a dining room and a bedroom. The Washingtons increased the size of the home by adding another story and constructing the library, more bedrooms and the formal dining hall. Whew! That’s some renovation. The original GW used the library as an office (the home office goes way back, doesn’t it?), with an Aitkin tambour secretary-desk, which is still on display today.

In the drawing room of president James Monroe’s Virginia home, the French wallpaper resembles a tapestry. Paris-made chairs are examples of the neoclassical influence during the French Empire. The bust of Napoleon was a gift from the emperor himself.

President James Monroe signed the Monroe Doctrine at a Louis the XVI desk in the study of his Virginia home.

Over the years, the Washingtons added to their estate and embellished its interior. Objects were purchased through George’s London agent and shipped overseas to Mount Vernon. A good many other items were acquired from family and friends. Sound familiar?

Not only that, but George, not Martha, supervised the home’s interior design. This was typical of 18th-century gentlemen. GW, Tom Jefferson (check out Monticello) and their ilk all liked to dabble in design when they weren’t trying to start a country.

Martha, though known to have acquired only one piece of furniture during the couple’s tenure at Mount Vernon (the Cinquefoil Cluster poster bed in the Blue Bedroom), can be credited for providing the impetus for the home’s interior decoration. Apparently bachelor George needed a bit of gentle prodding before he got going interior-design-wise. Not long after the Washingtons' marriage in 1759, orders for furniture increased dramatically. Atta girl, Martha!

Theodore Roosevelt’s dream home in Oyster Bay, N.Y., was called Sagamore Hill. Its interiors were a combination of feminine and masculine tastes. Edith's retreat resembled a city parlor rather than a country drawing room.

Teddy Roosevelt entertained in the North Room, a manly space with huge elephant tusks, black walnut and a high ceiling made of cypress and hazel.

Washington described his taste as "neat and fashionable." In its mature stage the home reflected English, French and American influences and furnishings. Did someone just say "eclectic"? The furnishings consisted of French fauteuil and bergere chairs in the Louis XVI style, a Federal-style sewing table, Philadelphia Chippendale dining chairs, rococo candle stands and a Hepplewhite sofa.

On November 8, 1932, Franklin Roosevelt sat in an oak chair carved with roses from the family crest in his Hyde Park dining room and listened to the election returns that made him president.

America, prior to the 1930s (and the advent of beige and white interiors borrowed from black-and-white movies--but that's another story), had always been famous for its delightfully colored interior spaces. Mount Vernon’s interior coloration reflects the "colorful" (in more ways than one) era in which it was designed. In the formal dining room, for instance, George used a favorite shade of verdigris on the walls, a color he termed "grateful to the eyes."

All in all, Mount Vernon was a place of both business and pleasure, where the greats of the age gathered. The influence Mount Vernon and other presidential homestyles had on the American home, and still have today, can never be diminished.

The nation’s 33rd president, Harry Truman, enjoyed his "Little White House" in Key West.

Harry Truman's late-night poker games took place at a table of hand-crafted South African mahogany while his work was done on a modest desk tucked into a corner.

The most important room in President Eisenhower’s Pennsylvania farm was the relaxed glassed-in porch with its lamps made from Colorado red cedar trees. Here he dabbled in painting, played bridge with friends and ate TV dinners with Mamie. The president also used this room to hold political meetings with the likes of Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.

The showcase at the Eisenhower Pennsylvania farm was the living room. The silk Tabriz rug was a gift from the Shah of Iran and the pearl-inlaid lacquer coffee table was a gift from the president of South Korea. The Italian Carrera marble fireplace once graced the White House.

Mark McCauley is a professional member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and is author of Color Therapy at Home (Rockport Publishers, 2000) and Interior Design for Idiots (Great Quotations Publishing Company, 1995). He is senior designer at Darleen's Interiors in Naperville, Ill. Visit his website at www.colortherapyinc.com.

Resources
George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens
3200 George Washington Memorial Parkway
Mount Vernon, VA 22121
Phone: 703-780-2000
E-mail: info@mountvernon.org
Website: www.mountvernon.org

Monticello, Home of Thomas Jefferson
Monticello, Home of Thomas Jefferson
PO Box 316
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Phone: 434-984-9822
E-mail: publicaffairs@monticello.org
Website: www.monticello.org

historic site—Harry S. Truman Little White House
Website: http://trumanlittlewhitehouse.com

Lincoln Home National Historic Site
Lincoln Home National Historic Site
413 S. Eighth St.
Springfield, IL 62701
Phone: 217-492-4241
Fax: 217-492-4673
E-mail: lincolnhome@nps.gov
Website: www.nps.gov/liho/

Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site
Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site
4097 Albany Post Rd.
Hyde Park, NY 12538
Phone: 914-229-9115
Website: www.nps.gov/hofr/hofrhome.html

Theodore Roosevelt Association
Theodore Roosevelt Association
PO Box 719
Oyster Bay, NY 11771
Phone: 516-921-6319
E-mail: trinfo@cs.com
Website: www.theodoreroosevelt.org/association/tra.htm

Adams National Historical Park
Adams National Historical Park
135 Adams St. (mailing address)
1250 Hancock St. (street address)
Quincy, MA 02169
Phone: 617-770-1175
Fax: 617-472-7562
E-mail: ADAM_Visitor_Center@nps.gov
Website: www.nps.gov/adam

Eisenhower National Historic Site
This is the former home of President and Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Eisenhower National Historic Site
97 Taneytown Rd.
Gettysburg, PA 17325
Phone: 717-338-9114
Fax: 717-338-0821
E-mail: eise_site_manager@nps.gov
Website: www.nps.gov/eise