The Colorado statesman., 1913-03-15

,f wI/cl and the fam3us 2 ,rtrait
lington which Ms. Madison
Is2eed from the barbaric fl;,rIes ,f the
G',tish in 1914, there is 10th lg in
the furnishings of the White House
which ante-dates that disa. trous
event.
After its destruction at that time
rebuilding operations were begun the
next year, in 1915, and many - the
inco npleted plans of the i.Final
structure were then carried irto eff
feet. The imposing north nd south
porclles were begun, the VII gs ~ the
east and west Of the house Eert add
ed, and storerooms were made luder
the torches and in the wirgJ. Before
the days OF mammoth r.,fligei ators
the early presidents utilized The SPACE
under the north porch as a. ,old stor-
age wine cellar. The classic, colt nial
whit, marble mantles, which low
gracI the green and blue paflors and
whicn the architect, McKin, returned
wheI remodeling the building dl.ing
the Roosevelt administration, @ere
set in the fireplaces OF the old late
dinir room and the blue .5arlor 5!.en
the house was rebuilt In lS1i. '.They
replf ced pine mantles wGich, rom
want of funds, were used n the orig
inal building.
Tt g first floors were of solid mllOg-
any, for both Washington and Jefar-
son, to whom the stately beauty OF the
pres dents house, as well as thu Of
fbf tN1 10 tA ho rori,, Nv
had 4 fitting sense of the dignity OF le
resit ence which was to be occupied Ivy
the chief executive of the young re-
public and planned accor 1ingly, al-
though the records NOW CT fla - the
hurt au of public buildings and
gror nds at Washington shoT5 that they
were almost hoplessly han rered b.
congress- lack of appreciatinl of tbs
need of money for the construction af
these as well as that of all tie other
public buildings. The floors Of '.be
pres sident's house were burned bey)rd
repair by the British soldiers, as ere
many of the doors. and in the reblild-
ing oak doors had to take the place of
the original material, but tie d1ors
and window frames we're made OF he
handsome mahogany which we ee
there today
When Mrs. Wilson became mistress
of the White House she did not
find very much in the mansion OF ong
historic lineage. OF course, The por-
traits Of the presidents, whi h Lave
been painted usually by the order of
the incumbent executive and preaent-
ed to the mansion, are of 81 eat his
toric value, even though some # them
are not of much artistic merit While
the pictures of all the presideI is lang
upon the White House walls, In the
main corridor and rooms of st lte but
eight of those of the women W 10 rave
been mistresses in the executive man.
sion have been similarly honored Six
of these are in the ground fl,Ior cor
ridor, where Mrs. Roosevelt had them
hung that they might be seen By all
visitors. The life-sized paintings Of
Martha Washington, by AildI ews,
hangs in the red ROOM and the picture
of Dolly Madison, presented last year
by the Colonial Danes, stands on an
easel in the blue parlor.
Seemingly in our earlier ilis tory
each administration was marked with
a zeal to throw out the old-at public
auction-and to fill the houss with
the new. Consequently there is l OF
vestige of anything within thu four
walls which could in any wa!' be
connected with the far greater lart of
the distinguished families who nave
lived in the presidents house.