Meja Theodore Roosevelt
Sejarah > Renovasi Gedung Putih 1902

Pada tahun 1901, Wakil Presiden Theodore Roosevelt menjadi Presiden Amerika Serikat setelah pembunuhan presiden petahana William McKinley. Setelah pindah ke Gedung Putih, keluarga Theodore menemukan interior Victoria penuh sesak dan suram serta umumnya terlalu kecil untuk keluarga besar mereka Renovasi besar-besaran Gedung Putih dimulai pada tahun 1902 untuk menghilangkan nuansa Victoriana dan sebaliknya membawa bangunan ke standar modern. Istri Theodore, Edith Roosevelt, bekerja dengan Charles Follen McKim dari McKim, Mead, dan White untuk mencapai renovasi ini yang mencakup pembangunan Gedung Kantor Eksekutif baru, yang sekarang dikenal sebagai Sayap Barat. As part of this renovation, all furniture in the White House was replaced with new pieces, including this desk. This refurnishing was done with the stated aim to "design and furnish the interior in harmony with its neoclassical exterior architecture, in order that it would not be subject to changing fashion."
These new furnishings were part of a widespread attempt to develop a national design identity which had been growing since the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Betty C. Monkman explained through the White House Historical Association that at this time, "Americans looked back to the nation's origins and an idealized past and sought representative antiques or reproductions of furnishings from the earliest periods of the country's history. Colonial Revival furnishings and copies of English and French neoclassical styles were selected for rooms at the same time that a growing emphasis on lighter spaces and a reaction away from pattern in wallpaper, fabrics, and carpets—and from a certain busyness and 'artistic' clutter". A pamphlet explaining the renovations of the White House from the time claimed that before this new set of furniture was purchased there was "an inequality in the furniture of the whole house (owing to the unwillingness and piecemeal manner with which Congress votes any moneys for its decoration) which destroys its effect as a comfortable dwelling." The pamphlet continued extolling the new furniture and interiors with, "It is to be hoped that Congress will not always consider the furniture of the President's House as the scapegoat of all sumptuary and aristocratic sins, and that we shall soon be able to introduce strangers not only to a comfortable and well-appointed, but to a properly served and nicely kept, Presidential Mansion."
Planning for the interiors began in earnest in 1902 for the executive offices, state rooms, and family spaces. Because of delays in funds appropriation from Congress, the project had less than six months for the interiors to be designed, built, and installed. The goal was to finish the spaces for the Winter 1903 social season. Mrs. Roosevelt was very hands on with the redesign of the White House and new office building and all fabrics and furniture had to be approved by her. The budget for all of the furniture was $10,000 setara dengan $290 pada 2022, though a total of$14,054.77 setara dengan $407 pada 2022 was actually spent on "furniture, carpets, rugs, electric lighting and other fixtures". Construction began on June 20, 1902, wrapped up on September 29, and this building was eventually occupied in the middle of October.
The desk, as well as all other furniture in the Executive Office Building, was designed by McKim and built by furniture-maker A. H. Davenport and Company in Boston, Massachusetts in 1903. Davenport worked closely with McKim to create furniture that worked within their concept and may have contributed design ideas as well.