Evening star., 1946-01-20
White House Changes e
Are an Old Problem
Rare Book Tells How Architects
Regarded Difficulties in 1902
Bu James waldo Fa,ucett

hASOlNCh al ally dbtCLlpJ 10 dltEIF OI
remodel the White House, recourse must
be had to volume which was widely
circulated some 40 years ago, but which
now is a collectors item, difficult to
find outside the Library of Congress
the book, entitled Restoration OF the
White House: Senate Document No.
1877, 57th Congress, I'd Session: Govern
ment Printing Office, 1908"
President Theodore Roosevelt was the
sponsor of the renovations and addi-
tions of the period indicated When he
became tenant of the Executive Man
sion in the autumn of 1901, he found
the living quarters assigned for the
accommodation of his family limited to
half dozen rooms on the second floor.
The other portions of the building were
state apartments through which the
tourist public moved in an unending
procession and offices crowded to ca
pacity with secretaries, clerks, ushers
and messengers almost literally falling
all over each other An obvious need
was that of clearing business routine out
of an edifice never intended to be any
thing but the official residence of the
chosen leaders Of the people.
The solution adopted was the con-
struction of temporary" Office build
ing to the west of the White House.
Nobody pretended that such a struc-
ture, costing only $65,O00, was an ideal
answer to the question raised by Mr..
Roosevelts expression of a wish for
space enough to turn around. Congress
seemed anxious to make more money
available for a proper administrative
headquarters for the President, and The
Star advocated "a large, permanent, ade-
quate executive building" on zone of
the squares north of the White House
park Other counsel, however, pre-
vailed, and the temporary" Office build
ing was completed and occupied in No.
vember, 1902-"a squatty little affair"
which The Star regarded as "a positive
reflection on the Government"
Meanwhile, as told in Senate Docu-
ment No. 1877, the famous architectural
firm of McKin, Mead g. White had
carried through valiant attempt to
restore the Executive Mansion accord.
ing with the provisions of this schedule:
First, to make the White House struc-
turally sound; second to relieve the
White House of the executive Offices,
which had so encroached upon the space
as to diminish the residence portions of
the house to an unreasonable and alb
normal extent third, to make a rear
rangement of the White House space so
as to permit the comfortable and dig
nified entertainment of such number
OF guests as home of that size might
reasonably be called upon to accom-
modate; fourth, to provide the White
House with a state dining room Of
dimensions sufficient to enable the
President to entertain at table on occa-
sion about 100 guests; fifth, to remove
such excrescences as had been allowed
to accumulate about the White House
to the detrtment Of its fine architectural
features and its dignity as the home of
the President Of the United States"
r
President Roosevelt personally was
| credited in the text of the architects
report with recognizing the feeling
prevalent among the people" concerning
| the Executive Mansion and stipulating
that none of the essential features Of
the White House should be sacrificed in
the restoration; that the Nations his
toric house should be left intact and
that even the state rooms should con-
tinue to be known by the names made
| familiar by long usage" These limita-
| tions, the architects declared, were
| welcomed, because among no class of
the people was the feeling for the his
| toric White House stronger than among
the members Of the profession of archi-
lecture. The first aim, therefore, was
to discover the design and intention of
the original builders and to adhere
strictly thereto insofar as the public or
State portions of the house were con-
| cerned; and then to make the apart
ments reserved for private or family
uses comfortable, according to modern
requirements and Standards
Obviously. "the first step was to find
some place other than the White House
for the executive Offices" The architects
wrote: Every suggestion for the loca-
| tion of a permanent Office building was
open to some objection that seemed in
superable No location outside the White
House grounds could be decided upon
and secured in the short time-three
months-available To construct within
those grounds building sufficiently
large and imposing to stand as perma-
nent Offices would be to detract from the
White House itself so seriously as to be
absolutely out of the question. The one
possible solution, therefore, was to oc-
cupy the only available space with a
temporary building. which should be
comfortable within and inconspicuous in
appearance, leaving Congress at its leis-
ure to take up seriously the question of
permanent, adequate and thoroughly
dignified Office for the Chief Executive"
Messrs. McKim, Mead and White in
this way made clear their opinion that
the temporary" building within the
White House grounds was a mistake.
| They could not be sure but they seem to-
have had foresight enough to fear that
the word temporary" might mean, in
effect, permanent and that the Office
expedient which they reluctantly con-
structed not only would endure for half
a century, but actually be added to
during that period. 1t was their intention
in 1902 to: Make the changes Gin the
Executive Mansion ITSELF in such man
ner that the house will never again have
to be altered-that is to say, the work
would represent the period to which the
house belongs architecturally and there