Full Description
For 200 years the White House has served as the residence of our nation's president and his family. John and Abigail Adams were the first residents, and each family ever since has been able to make the White House a comfortable home and to acquire the necessities for handsomely carrying out its additional functions as nexus for state ceremony and entertaining. In captivating detail, this volume--produced in association with the White House Historical Association--reveals how the decoration of the White House has reflected the personal style of our first families and their countless forays into redecorating. Illustrated largely with photographs especially commissioned for this book, as well as historic pictures, The White House focuses on some of our nation's most important heirlooms, including furniture, silver, glass, porcelain, and textiles. Enlivened with stories about the first families and how their furnishings often clashed with the politics of the time, this book is an ideal gift for those interested in the decorative arts, biography, and history.
Contents
The president's house in the early years, 1789-1814; The White House; French taste at its White House zenith, 1817-1829; the Blue Room; the People's President and the Jacksonian era, 1830s-1840s; the Green Room; revivals of the "antique" at mid-century, 1850s-1860s; the Red Room; Renaissance revivals and the aesthetic movement, 1870s-1880s; the East Room; national identity and the colonial revival, 1890s-1950s; the State Dining Room; a collection evolves into a museum -1960s to the present.
