|The Blue Room as refurbished in 1995 during the Clinton Administration. Public Domain.|
President John Adams used the chamber for receptions, but also as the house's south entrance hall. This particular use did not last, however, and during the Madison Administration, architect Benjamin Latrobe designed classical-revival furniture to be used here. Sadly, the chairs and other furnishings were destroyed when the White House was burned in 1814.
President Madison set about redecorating the refurbished White House, and ordered a suite of mahogany furniture in the French Empire style for the oval room from French furniture maker Pierre-Antoine Bellangé. However, the firm sent gilded furniture, insisting mahogany was not appropriate for saloons! The oval Aubusson rug, woven specially for this room, was described as green velvet, and the chairs were upholstered in crimson and two shades of gold--not blue.
The Blue Room was not blue until President Van Buren redecorated in 1837. While the blue theme continued through following presidencies, the furniture did not: in 1860 President Buchanan auctioned off several pieces and replaced them with rococo-revival pieces. In the 1870s, President Johnson's daughter-in-law chose blue wallpaper paneled with black and gold geometric shapes.
|The Blue Room during the Grant Administration, 1870s. Note the paneled wallpaper. Public Domain.|
President Cleveland's Administration saw the room decorated by Tiffany, with a shield and star pattern on the ceiling and robin-egg blue wallpaper inlaid with rosettes of colored glass. (For a beautiful painting of the room, imagined by Peter Waddell, click here.)
It was in this room, with the glass rosettes on the walls, that President Cleveland married his wife, Frances in 1886.
|President Cleveland and Frances Folsom's wedding in the Blue Room. Harper's Weekly, Public Domain.|
In 1902, during the refurbishment that occurred during President Roosevelt's Administration, the Blue Room's decor was restored to its former Empire style. When Jacqueline Kennedy set about restoring and updating the White House in 1961, she read an article that referenced a suite of French Empire-style gilt wood furniture made in 1817 by French furniture maker Pierre-Antoine Bellangé for use in the Yellow Oval Room--the same designer who created the suite for the Blue Room. Kennedy's staff began to research the lost pieces, and found but one: a pier table. The pier table was acquired, restored, and received a new white marble top. It was placed across from the fireplace, which is where it sat during the Madison Administration.
Replicas of the lost Bellangé chairs were made (although three originals were acquired by the 1970s). A marble-topped table purchased by Madison in 1817 was reintroduced over the years, and still serves as the room's centerpiece (unless it is the Christmas season, when a Christmas Tree takes its place.
|The first themed-Christmas at the White House was 1961, when Mrs. Kennedy chose a Nutcracker theme. Robert Knudsen, White House Collection - The White House, Kennedy Library. Public Domain.|
While the room has been updated several times, its last refurbishment was in 1995, under the direction of the Committee for Preservation of the White House, the White House Office of the Curator, paid for by the White House Endowment Trust. It has remained a popular chamber, used to receive diplomats, hold receptions and meetings, for small dinners, and to gather.
|1981, Presidents Nixon, Reagan, Ford and Carter share a toast in the Blue Room. Public Domain.|
|President Obama meets with Business Council Leadership in 2009. Public Domain|
Christmas in September?! It sure is! Today I'm giving away a copy of my new release, The Victorian Christmas Brides Collection. To enter to win, please comment below by September 7, 2018, noon Pacific time, and include a way to contact you.
Susanne Dietze is the award-winning author of over a dozen inspirational romances. You can learn more about her at www.susannedietze.com.