History and Furnishings
Earliest White House floor plans by architect James Hoban label the southwest corner room on the first floor as a dining room, but it was used as an office, library and cabinet room before finally being used as a dining room. Following the 1814 fire and the 1817 reconstruction of the house President James Monroe ordered gilt service (purchased from France in 1817) and ornamental bronze-doré pieces. A plateau centerpiece, with seven mirrored sections, measures over 14 feet long when fully extended. Standing bacchantes holding wreaths for tiny bowls or candles border the plateau. Three fruit baskets, supported by female figures, are often used to hold flowers. The two Italian marble mantels presently in the Green Room and Red Room were also bought by Madison, and were originally installed in this room.
The original State Dining Room, located in the southern area of the present room, was almost half the size of the present room. Removal of a grand stairway on the west end of the house in the 1902 renovation by the architecture firm of McKim, Mead, and White allowed for the enlargement of the room, and reorientation with the length of the room running north-south. The style of the room was modeled after that of neoclassical English houses of the late eighteenth. Below a ceiling and a cornice of white plaster, a dark natural oak paneling with Corinthian pilasters and a delicately carved frieze was installed. Charles Follen McKim designed a large serving table and two large console tables, each with eagle supports. They were produced by A.H. Davenport, a Boston furniture company. The serving table was placed against the north wall, and the two console tables on the east wall. A silver-plate chandelier and complementing wall sconces were added. The two rococo-revival candelabra date from the Hayes administration. Queen Anne style chairs placed around the central table were a part of the 1902 McKim renovations.
The present appearance of the State Dining Room is the result of a renovation and refurbishing completed in 1998 by the Committee for the Preservation of the White House, the White House Office of the Curator, and funded by the White House Endowment Trust.
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