Historic Interiors Architecture in America
Copyright 2008 Rhonald Angelo Interiors. All rights reserved.
A team of architectural photographers had documented the architectural character style of this structure before renovation, capturing and preserving the glory of our past; whereby we can reminisce or duplicate the beauty. Click here to view exclusive images.
Do you live in a historic home or neighborhood? Is preservation important to you? Have you ever visited or looked at a renovated public building and wondered how it might have looked in the early phase of its life? The McCook Mansion is a magnificent example of a historically renovated home located at the corner of Fifth and Amberson Avenues in Pittsburgh, PA. The mansion was owned by Willis McCook, a lawyer by profession with a passion for medieval castles and knights in armor. The renovation revealed a scale and splendor of an elite Jacobean mansion as it was built in 1907.
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What if the walls of historic sites could tell their story? Now, historic archives avail their documented sources (letters, photos, articles, floor plans and elevations from renovations) that tell a story from different perspectives. For historic preservation of an interior space, a good place to begin our story is right here at the White House, in the East Room.
Preservation restores a period in time for architecture and interior spaces when history becomes a treasured heritage we leave as a legacy to our future. Together, let us plan with a greater understanding of how we live today knowing that our present time will become an inherited legacy for another generation. Click here to see properties on the market, that may either be on the historic registry or be worthy of inclusion.
Click here to see if there are any preservation-related events in your area.
The architectural firm, Carpenter and Crocker, created a world of opulence with oak-paneled walls in the great hall, tall amber stained-glass windows, and a grand staircase. A neo-classical parlor with fluted ionic pilasters and a dinning room with a plasterwork pendant ceiling are rooms that will be enjoyed by visitors to this preserved mansion now converted to a bed and breakfast inn. Click here for an article highlighting The McCook Mansion.
The McCook Mansion was a project of the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh, just one non-profit group of a national organization, Young Preservationists Association. YPA has a board of directors with 15 members, an advisory committee of 26, locations in 19 states, and a 250 membership. Become active in your community.
Preserving good architecture is timeless; and begins with a respect for its foundation, and interior spaces. Look for the "good" in the details. Be it an entry gate to a street or avenue, a small library, a private dwelling, or a sprawling 100,000 square foot building erected for public use; celebrate it!
Let us not forget that many historic interiors as well as structures were designed an built through the influence of structures in other countries...mainly in Europe and England. Click here to see a pictorial library of global historic architecture and interiors.
The East Room of the White House in the late
20th Century
The East Room of the White House in the
mid-19th Century
Irish-born architect, James Hoban and President George Washington designed the East Room to be a large "Public Audience Room." Washington foresaw to design the President's House for expansion "beyond the present day." Indeed, several presidents made additions and renovations to the Executive Mansion, including this East Room.
The White House cornerstone was laid October 13, 1792; stone masons from Scotland, free laborers and hired slaves continued construction for eight years. In 1800, the second president came to reside in the White House; the East Room was unfinished and unfurnished. Abigail Adams placed a clothesline in the room for laundry to dry. This First Lady to John Adams believed that "the president's laundry should not be hung to dry outside on the lawn for everyone to see."
The White House was burned on August 24, 1814 by the British in the War of 1812, leaving a burned-out shell. Dolley Madison saved the Gilbert Stewart portrait of Washington. Hoban returned to rebuild in March 1815 to symbolize a nation's determination to remain free; the unfinished East Room remained unfurnished for twelve years (1817-1829): bare plaster walls, unadorned windows, painted mantles, an anthemion (a flat floral and leaf frieze design highlighted with gold leaf on a black flocked background), and floor boards. President Monroe entertained the Marquis de Lafayette in this unfinished room.
By 1873, the East Room needed a major renovation: new wood mantles with huge mirrors, two ceiling beams continued the Hoban anthemia theme, and gas chandeliers with clusters of glass globes. This was the latest interior design for the wedding of Ellen, the daughter of President Grant. The Centennial of 1876 spurred American pride; the East Room opened (10-3) weekdays, the public viewed art that documented a nation's history including the Gilbert Stewart life-size portrait of George Washington. In 1882, for President Arthur, Louis Tiffany added delicate ceiling wallpaper resembling Pompeiian mosaics, suitable for its first formal concert.
In the same year, Steinway & Sons presented a gilded and painted Grand Piano (#100,000) to the White House. First Daughter, Alice Roosevelt was wed to Nicholas Longworth in the East Room in 1906. And in 1908, Roosevelt held the White House Conference on Conservation, a three-day meeting with governors to congratulate them for state conservation programs.
During the Truman renovation (1948-1952) each Bohemian chandelier was shortened and modified to about 6,000 cut glass pieces and now weighed 1,200lbs (as seen in the photo above). The ornamental bold, high relief wall frieze was simplified based on a 1902 McKim design. By the 1960s, the East Room had become a grand stage for America's artistic achievements: opera, ballet, jazz and chamber music; this room was also a historical stage for award ceremonies, press conferences, and bill-signing ceremonies including where President Lyndon Johnson affirmed the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
During the Jackson Presidency, the East Room had walls covered in lemon yellow paper and adorned with gold stars, a blue Brussels carpet, and spittoons on square oilcloths aligned the east and west walls. By contrast, three large glass chandeliers were installed and small lard-oil lamps replaced candles. Twenty-four Empire style chairs were repaired. During Polk's administration, gas was piped into the East Room to light the chandeliers.
Up to this point, the East Room draped in black, mourned the deaths of three presidents: William H. Harrison (1841), Zachary Taylor (1850), Abraham Lincoln (1865). The Lincolns had hosted receptions and danced the waltz in this East Room, where weak floors were supported by log beams in the basement. During the Civil War, Kansas soldiers used this room as a bivouac.
In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt hosted a dinner for Prince Henry of Prussia. And in 1902, a renovation by architects McKim, Mead & White changed the Victorian style (French neoclassical paneling) to a brilliant white cream paint and installed an oak floor where the Roosevelt children roller-skated. The architect firm commissioned Edward F. Caldwell & Co. to design an electric chandelier; Christoph Palme & Co., of Parchen, Bohemia (Austria-Hungary) made three new massive, cut glass and gilded brass chandeliers. In 1903, the diameter of the lower portion was reduced.
The first Steinway piano was replaced by a Concert Grand (#300,000) made of Honduran mahogany and presented to Present Franklin Roosevelt in 1938. Muralist Dunbar Beck painted five musical forms indigenous to America: a New England barn dance, a lone cowboy playing a guitar, the Virginia Reel, two Black field hands (one clapping, one dancing), and an Indian ceremonial dance. Sculptor Albert Stewart carved three Mahogany gilded legs as American Eagles (shown in the photo to the right); the instrument was restored in 1979.
Source: White House History
The White House circa. 1860
