Family Dining Room
Architect James Hoban's 1792 design for the White House featured a Grand Stair in the western part of the mansion on the State Floor.
[a][1] Not completed when the White House was occupied in 1800, the Grand Stairs were probably finished by architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1803 or shortly thereafter.
[2] Latrobe envisioned this as private space for the president to use during the day, or as quarters for a high-ranking presidential aide.
This 1817 recreation[4] saw the old Cabinet Room/Presidential Library turned into the State Dining Room,[1] and the President's Antechamber into a Yellow Parlor.
[14] During the first administration of President Chester A. Arthur, the D.C. firm of W. B. Moses & Son manufactured a large table for the dining room, which could be extended with leaves, and a mahogany sideboard.
[15] The White House was extensively renovated in 1902, during which the Stair Hall and its staircase were demolished and the State Dining Room expanded northward.
[16][17] Renovations by architect Charles Follen McKim during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt architecturally transformed the Family Dining Room.
The surface was articulated with a low relief plaster meander (Greek key) and five-pointed star decoration, and an eagle within a laurel wreath on the east wall above the mantel.
McKim commissioned the Boston furniture manufacturer A. H. Davenport and Company to build a somewhat overscaled Federal-style sideboard, china cabinet, and dining table.
[20] A photograph of the ceiling area taken while the room was being dismantled previous to the Truman reconstruction, shows the simple c. 1818 moulding and several pieces of Victorian era wallpaper.
McKim's groin vaulted ceiling and plaster decoration was copied, along with the Greek key, stars and large eagle ornament.
French interior designer Stéphane Boudin had recommended a similar treatment by her in the Yellow Oval Room.
Baseboard trim was painted to match the green marble of the mantel, and Federal period dining and side chairs were installed.
Yellow silk draperies based on an English Regency pattern were installed to cover the window frames.
[26] A mirror replaced C. Gregory Stapko's 1952 portrait of Frances Folsom Cleveland over the fireplace in the east wall.
(The informal event triggered protests by racists who opposed African Americans as guests in the White House.
)[25] A 1902 portrait of Edith Roosevelt by Theobald Chartran was taken down from the west wall, and the 1998 Robert Rauschenberg work Early Bloomer [Anagram (A Pun)] took its place.
)[34] During the presidency of Barack Obama, the annual White House Seder was held in the Family Dining Room.
[10] On February 10, 2015, the Family Dining Room was opened to the public for the first time as part of the White House Tour.
