Evening journal., 1897-03-18
THE WHITE HOUSE.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE OFFICIAL
QUARTERS or THE EXECUTIVE.

Telephone IL Almost the Only Modern /
Improvement In the Building.
Mr. c. C.. Buol writes a paper for The |
Century on "Our Fellow Citizen OF the
White House, devoted to the official |
cares and duties of the president, IN the |
course Of which he says:
At ID 0o'clUcka hardly discernible sign |
against tho glass OF the barrier am
nounccs to the citizen who has arrived |
under the grand portal that the execu-
tive mansion is "opcn'' to visitors. At
o'clock the sign is changed to "clos
e.. The CCCrkocpers swing the doors
open to everybody. Within the large
vcstibule nothing is seen which indi-
Gates the arrangement and purposes of
the different parts OF the mansion. lt
was net always SO, for originally tho
now concealed corridor, on middle hall,
with the staircase on the right, was
part OF the entrance hall. Now the
spaces lctwCcn the middle columns are
closed with colored glass partitions and
the yestibule is simply a large, square
rCcm pleasant to get cut Of.
No way appears TO open TO the state
| apartments III the center on to the west
wing, which is devoted TO the private
/ apartments. Yet glass doors are there,
though as impcrccptible to the stranger
as a swinging panel. To the left there
is q door which is always oron. 1t nd.
nlits to q small hall, across which Il sim
liar door is the side entrance TO the
| great east room About this splendid
room, comprising the whole east end of
the mansion, the visitor may wander at
viii befere the portraits on enjoy from
the windows the beauty of The treasury
luildiug 20 the east or ihe impressive
/ Landscape 20 the south. irrluding the
I towering shaft Of the Washington mcn-
umcnt and lCyCnd the ever ohuniLg
/ Potomac, Spreading viih mlargiug
curves toward Noun. Vernon, and in
the private garden under the windows
he may chance to see q merry band Of
| little Cnes.
From the small hall between the YES
thule and the cast room O stairway as-
conds toward the medal line of the
building to a wide middle hail. cn each
side of which are the Offices Of the pres
idcut. The arrangement is simple, and
in the floor plan covers the space occu-
pied below by the east rccm and the
green room. the latter being the Coun-
teIpart of the small hall with the public
stairway just mentioned. AT the head
of these stairs, over the green room, is
the cabinet room, which is the first
apartment in the south side of the hail,
a jog of two steps, at the private door
into the president room, marking the
raised ceiling of the cast room below.
The president reaches his Office through
the cabinet room, entering tho latter
from the library, which corresponds ON
the second floor with the blue room Of
the state apartments. President Arthur
indeed used the library as his Office and
the cabinet chamber for an antercom,
while his private secretary was domi-
cilcd ia the traditional Office of the pres.
ident During his first torn Mr.. Clovc
land preserved the same arrangement
But General Harrison went back to til,
Office hal.oN,l by Lincolu's occupancy,
and Mr.. icycimd, On his return, founO
the arr,I scr.cnt so satisfactory that d,
: continued IT,
Beyond the Presidents large, square
Office is the corner room where Private
Secretary Thurber is always eithei
wrestling with the details Of cxocutiv,
business or standing with his shoulder
braced against the crowd struggling {,
see the president 1t is a narrow apart
ment and might be called Appropriated,
the hall of the disappointed, the sug
/ gestion being emphasized by portrait
! OF the greatest of presidential aspirants
t Clay and Webster, TO which Mr. Thurhe
added as his private property, an on
. | craving of the closest contestant for TIN
Office. Governor Tilden
On the north side of the hall thor'
Z arc two rooms which correspond to thos
i ca the south side just described, th
r small one being occupied by Mr. o. l.
Pruden, the assistant secretary since Gen
eral Grants time and the custodian o
the Office books as we'll as Of the tradi
tions which govern the public sooia
routine of the executive mansion. Ii
: his room sits the telegraph clerk at hi
+ instrument, and by the window is a tel
O ephone, which saves a great amount o
r. messenger service between the presiden
a and the departments Occasionally
u congressman, with less ceremony thai
discretion, attempts TO get an appoint
ment with the ear of the president owe
the telephone, and there is a.record Of
!. stage earthquake produced in the Irivat
secretary's room by a furious congress
man who found the telephone inoffcci
% i've and his Clympian style even les
d So Notwithstanding that il is alnos
9 the sole modern improvement in III
White House, President Cleveland wa
Ss seen at tho telephone but once, aud theI
4. vecdscsS 20 saJ pot ogcalA