page_title: Executive Residence
section_title: Lincoln Bedroom and Sitting Room
hierarchical_section_title: Executive Residence / Second Floor / Lincoln Bedroom and Sitting Room
caption_attribution_description: President and Mrs. Reagan sitting in their newly remodeled White House bedroom.
context_page_description: The Executive Residence is the central building of the White House complex located between the East Wing and West Wing. It is the most recognizable part of the complex, being the actual "house" part of the White House. This central building, first constructed from 1792 to 1800, is home to the president of the United States and the first family. The Executive Residence primarily occupies four floors: the Ground Floor, the State Floor, the Second Floor, and the Third Floor. A two-story sub-basement with mezzanine, created during the 1948–to-1952 Truman reconstruction, is used for HVAC and mechanical systems, storage, and service areas.
context_section_description: The Lincoln Bedroom and the Lincoln Sitting Room are located in the southeast corner of the Second Floor. As originally designed and completed in 1809, this space contained two very narrow, north-south running bedchambers with a toilet room between them. By 1825, the toilet had been removed and the space joined to the west bedchamber to form the president's office. This area was used for the president's office over the next several decades. Abraham Lincoln used it as both an office and a Cabinet room, and signed the Emancipation Proclamation in the Lincoln Bedroom in 1863. The Lincoln Sitting Room was used as an office for presidential aides, although President John Tyler used it as part of his office from 1841 to 1845.
  The next major reconfiguration of this space occurred during the 1952 reconstruction of the White House, when a full bath and toilet were built in the northeast corner of the Lincoln Sitting Room.
  President Truman was the individual who conceived of dedicating the space to Lincoln. The desk in the bedroom was Lincoln's, and the 8-foot (2.4 m) long, 6-foot (1.8 m) wide rosewood bed is probably the one Willie Lincoln died in. The portrait of President Andrew Jackson that hangs in the room is one which Abraham Lincoln admired, and the Lincoln Bedroom has the only known copy of the Gettysburg Address signed, dated, and titled by Lincoln himself. The sitting room furnishings were all purchased by First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. They include four mahogany chairs, a chest in the late Empire style, and red and gold rugs and drapes. The small mahogany desk in the sitting room was constructed by James Hoban himself. The Lincoln Bedroom and Sitting Room were redecorated by First Lady Laura Bush, who changed the decor so it more accurately reflected tastes common during the American Civil War. The Lincoln Bedroom is usually used to house close friends of the president who are visiting the White House.
caption: The Presidential Bedroom Suite, after redecoration in 1981.