A Setting For Diplomacy
When the elevator doors open to the eighth floor of the Harry S Truman Building, special guests to the Department of State step into a space that seems to be from another time: the era of the founding of the nation. In keeping with the regard Americans and people everywhere have for the world’s first modern republic, the spirit is different, too. Here ambassadors and heads of state are welcomed into rooms that recall those that were familiar to the men who established the United States and governed in its first decades. The business of modern diplomacy is conducted among art and furnishings that in many cases have direct ties to the Founders and the Framers of the Constitution. The experience of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms begins here, in the Edward Vason Jones Memorial Hall.
In contrast to the bustle of the lower floors, where thousands of employees work, the grandeur of this space takes visitors by surprise. The impact of the architecture and surroundings brings conversations to a halt. Instead of concrete or linoleum floors, here guests step out of the elevator onto dark, polished King of Prussia marble. High ceilings also signify that this space is different. Instead of steel-facing, the walls are handsomely paneled in painted wood. Fluted pilasters have been embellished to look like veined marble and are topped by intricate carvings. Guests’ attention is focused on statuary busts of the Marquis de Lafayette and George Washington, two heroes of the American Revolution. A third bust is of John Jay, one of the nation’s first diplomats.
This room is named for Edward Vason Jones, the architect who designed it and transformed many of the first Diplomatic Reception Rooms into 18th-century spaces. Like them, this one is modeled on a fine home of the colonial period, the drawing room at Marmion, a plantation house in King George County, Virginia, noted for its extraordinary paneled woodwork. Jones researched his designs. His vision for the Diplomatic Reception Rooms derived not only from his familiarity with the nation’s architectural resources but also from historical sketches and drawings in archives and manuscript collections. And he implemented his designs with great precision.
In addition to honoring its namesake, the Edward Vason Jones Memorial Hall recognizes the many donors whose cumulative contributions built and continue to sustain the Diplomatic Reception Rooms and its collection. Their names are displayed in an ever-growing list that serves as a constant reminder that these rooms are a gift of the American people to the world.
- Paneling from Marmion, the Fitzhugh Family House, Tidewater, Virginia, ca. 1756. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
- The east wall of the Edward Vason Jones Memorial Hall as it appears today.
- The architect’s design for the east wall of the Edward Vason Jones Memorial Hall.