Entrance Hall

To remedy the draft problem, President Martin Van Buren had floor-to-ceiling glass partitions installed between the Hoban columns.

The patterns included American eagles, and a shield with stripes, stars, and the initials "U.S." A high example of the Aesthetic Movement, Tiffany's glass would remain into the early 20th century.

McKim attempted to make the White House interiors appear closer to how they had near the time of construction, during the period of the early republic.

A robust entablature of triglyphs, garlanded bureaucrania, ornamental cuirass, and spread Roman eagles integrate the frieze and ceiling.

McKim's new finishes though robust in form were made of plaster and stucco over wood frames hastily added to Hoban's original surfaces.

Architect Lorenzo Simmons Winslow explored several options for the reorientation of the Grand Stair before convincing President Truman of the present configuration where it opens to the center of the east wall of the Entrance Hall.

[10] Except for the new stair opening, most of McKim's design was followed but now reinterpreted in light gray Joliet marble instead of warm hued Sienna stone and painted plaster.

The redecoration of the State Floor rooms, including the Entrance Hall, was overseen by American antiques autodidact Henry Francis du Pont and French interior designer Stéphane Boudin.

President Thomas Jefferson used the Entrance Hall as a "Cabinet of Natural History" displaying finds from the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

In the southeast and southwest corners of the Entrance Hall are crimson and gold upholstered French Empire banquettes acquired by interior designer Stéphane Boudin of Maison Jansen during the John F. Kennedy administration.

A pair of armchairs commissioned for the Blue Room in 1902 and based on a suite of chairs designed by Jacob-Desmalter in the Salon des Fleurs of the Château de Compiègne are placed on the North wall.