Oval Office
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The Oval Office is the official office of the President of the United States. Located in the West Wing of the White House, the oval-shaped office features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk and a fireplace at the north end of the room.
The Oval Office has four doors: the east door opens to the Rose Garden; the west door leads to the president's private kitchen and study; the northwest door opens onto the main corridor of the West Wing; and the northeast door opens to the president's personal secretary's office.
- Size:
- Long axis: 35' 10" (10.9m)
- Short axis: 29' (8.8m)
- Height: 18' 6" (5.6m)
- Line of rise: 16' 7" (5.0m) the point at which the ceiling starts to arch.
Architecture and furnishings
The grand concept of an oval room did not figure in the original design of the White House. An oval interior space is a Baroque concept that was adapted by Neoclassicism. But oval rooms did not often feature even in American classical architecture. The "elliptic salon"—in the form of the Blue Room and Yellow Oval Room—was the outstanding feature of James Hoban's original plan of the White House. At the president's temporary home in Philadelphia, George Washington had two rooms each modified with an apsidal bowed end, which were used for hosting the formal receptions called levees. As his guests formed a circle around him, Washington could stand in the center with everyone an equal distance from the president. The apsidal end of a room was a traditional site of honor, for a host, a potentate, or the magistrate in a basilica.
Typically, each new administration redecorates the office to the President's liking by changing the oval carpet, the curtains, the paintings on the walls, and some furniture. When a new president takes office, he chooses a carpet from a previous administration until his custom carpet is ready. The decorating is mostly designated by the First Lady, and most of the major funding for the customization is done with fundraising.
The desk used by many presidents in the Oval Office is called the Resolute desk, so named because it was built from the timbers of the British ship HMS Resolute.
History
The Oval Office was originally constructed in 1909, during the Taft administration and rebuilt in its present form in 1934 during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration.President Taft intended the Oval Office to be the center of his administration. By creating the Oval Office in the center of the West Wing, he was more involved with the day-to-day operation of his presidency than were his recent predecessors. In 1933, when Franklin Roosevelt became president, he had a new Oval Office designed; he disliked the original central location because it lacked windows, as a result being entirely reliant on skylights. The new office's location at the southeast corner of the West Wing also allowed presidents greater privacy, being able to slip back and forth between the main White House and the West Wing without being in full view of the West Wing staff, a problem with the two earlier offices (and of particular importance to Roosevelt, who disliked being seen in his wheelchair).
Through the years, the Oval Office has become a symbol of the Presidency. Over the years, Americans developed an attachment to the Oval Office through memorable images, such as a young John F. Kennedy, Jr. peering through the front panel of his father's desk or President Nixon talking on the phone with astronauts after a successful voyage. Television broadcasts, such as President Reagan's speech following the Challenger explosion, would leave lasting impressions in the minds of Americans of both the office and its occupant.
Since its original construction in 1934 under President Roosevelt, there have been four floors in the Oval Office. The original floor was made of cork. However, President Eisenhower was an avid golfer and destroyed the floor with his golf spikes. President Johnson had the floor replaced in the mid-1960s with wood-grain linoleum. In 1982, fed up with the linoleum floor, President Reagan had the floor replaced by the same contractors who had put the floor into his ranch in California with white pine and oak in a wagon-wheel pattern. In August of 2005, the floor was replaced again under George W. Bush, though in almost exactly the same pattern as the Reagan floor.
References
- Portions of this article are based on public domain text from the [White House].
External links
- [Oval Office historical photo essay]
- [Washington Post: "Inside the Real West Wing"]
- * Satellite image from [WikiMapia], [Google Maps] or [Windows Live Local]
- * Street map from [MapQuest] or [Google Maps]
- * Topographic map from [TopoZone]
- * Aerial image from [TerraServer-USA]
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