Evening star., 1909-07-01
WHITE HOUSE CHANGES
Work Started on Renovation
and improvements.
TENNIS COURT IS DOOMED
Famous Playground to Make Way
for New Offices.
MUCH PAINTING TO BE DONE
Furniture Also Is to Be Reuphol-
stored, But No Extensive Altera-
tions Are Planned
MUCH PAINTING TO BE DONE

| Destruction of the farfamed White
House tennis court where played the So
| called Roosevelt tennis cabinet, to
| make room for the additional working
! quarters for the executive clerical staff.
| began today when the excavators marked
| off the ground for pick and shovel.
| This is the beginning of the renovation
| of the White House and the further i'm
| provements ordained by President Taft.
| Only few hours now, and the stentorian
| tones of the buffers and the other evil
dences of the normal life of the execu-
tive residence will have given place to
| the splash of the whitewash brush, tine
| odor of new paint and the rasp of the
| carpenters saws.
| Mrs. Taft and the young people will
| leave Saturday evening for the summer
| quarters at Beverly, and in the absence
of the family will be pursued the task Of
concealing with fresh paint and paper
| and new upholstery the age of the old
| mansion which has sheltered every Presi-
| Dental family since John Adams day.
To Cost About $4,000.
Each succeeding administration orders
| renovation of the executive residence.
| Sometimes thechanges are radical and
| elaborate; the Tafts, however. have de-
ClueO 10 have 1t uOHe On a. less SXISn-
| sive scale The cost of the present i'm
| proVements will be but a little more than
| one-tenth of that of the changes made
| by the Roosevelts during their first year
| in the White House.
Seven years ago about half million
dollars was spent in remodelng the in
| terror of the White House proper and in
erecting the east and west wings, includ-
| ing the present executive Office building.
| President Taft will expend not more than
$4,000 for extraordinary improvements in
1 the main building and $4,000 in increas-
| ing the size of the Office. 1t was this en-
| largement that doomed the tennis court.
| The remodeling done during the Roose-
| welt term will be accepted by the new ad-
| ministration, unaltered. Operations will
| be limited largely to the recovering of
walls, the reupholstering of furniture,
| painting, decorating and the purchase of
| draperies. Repainting of the exterior in
the characteristic white will be confined
1 to patches.
Special Waiting Room.
| Both in the White House proper and in
the new Offices no attempt at grandeur
will be essayed. Provision will be made,
| however, for better accommodations for
the scores that flock to the White House
daily to see the President. A special
| waiting room will be provided for repre-
sentatlves and senators, but it will be in
marked contrast with the goidtadorned
chamber that Congress provides for the
Presidents use when he goes to the Cap
| itol at the end of each session.
| The Presidents efforts at public econ
omy are shared cheerfully, it Is said, by
Mrs. Taft. So far in the direction Of sim
| plicity and economy Is she willing to go
that her present intention is not to avail
| herself of the customary privilege of
purchasing china of new design, to be
handed down to posterity as "the Taft
| set" She believes she is able to get
along we'll enough with the dishes al
| ready at the White House.