East Sitting Hall
Encyclopedia
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, home of the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. First used as a reception room for guests of the president (the Lincoln Bedroom and the Queens' Bedroom
Queens' Bedroom
The Queens' Bedroom is located on the second floor of the White House, part of a guest suite of rooms that includes the Queens' Sitting Room. It is "named for the many royal guests it has hosted, ".- Furnishings :The room has been furnished in 1968 Federal style since the Truman renovation...
were originally offices of the chief executive), it is now a family parlor with access to the east rooms on the second floor.
The room is entered from the second floor corridor on the west side of the room. A large fanlight window on the east side of the room faces the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden
Jacqueline Kennedy Garden
The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden is located at the White House south of the East Colonnade. The garden balances the Rose Garden on the west side of the White House Complex.-History:...
, the East Colonnade, the East Wing, and the U.S. Treasury
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
. Two disguised doors allow access to a closet and a staircase up to the third floor.
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
wrote this about the room during the administration of John Tyler
John Tyler
John Tyler was the tenth President of the United States . A native of Virginia, Tyler served as a state legislator, governor, U.S. representative, and U.S. senator before being elected Vice President . He was the first to succeed to the office of President following the death of a predecessor...
:
[W]e went upstairs into another chamber, where were certain visitors, waiting for audiences. At sight of my conductor, a black in plain clothes and yellow slippers who was gliding noiselessly about and whispering messages in the ears of the more impatient, made a sign of recognition, and glided off to announce him. We had previously looked into another chamber fitted all round with a great bare wooden desk or counter [probably the Anteroom, today's Treaty RoomTreaty RoomThe Treaty Room is located on the second floor of the White House, the official residence of the President of the United States. The room is a part of the first family's private apartments and is used as a study by the president....
], whereon lay piles of newspapers, to which sundry gentlemen were referring. But there were no such means of beguiling the time in this apartment, which was as unpromising and tiresome as any waiting-room....
Because the East Sitting Hall is situated above the East Room
East Room
The East Room is the largest room in the White House, the home of the president of the United States. It is used for entertaining, press conferences, ceremonies, and occasionally for a large dinner...
(which has a 22-foot ceiling), access to the East Sitting Hall was originally by way a small set of stairs from the Stair Landing
Grand Staircase (White House)
The Grand Staircase is the chief stairway connecting the State Floor and the Second Floor of the White House, the official home of the president of the United States. The stairway is primarily used for a ceremony called the Presidential Entrance March...
. During the Truman reconstruction, the room was reduced by the addition of a lavatory and side stair to the third floor; the steps were replaced with a ramp through an arched corridor.
Sister Parish
Sister Parish
Sister Parish was an American interior decorator and socialite. She was the first interior designer brought in to decorate the Kennedy White House, a position that was soon usurped by French interior designer Stéphane Boudin...
, the first interior designer brought in to decorate during the Kennedy restoration, created the original concepts of the redesigned East Sitting Hall, which became a repository of furniture and memorabilia associated with the life of President James Monroe
James Monroe
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...
.