White House

HISTORYCOLLECTION 4, NUMBERS 19 THROUGH 25

White House History (ISSN 0748-8114) features articles on the

historic White House, especially those related to the building itself and

life as lived there through the years. The views presented by the authors

are theirs and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy

of the White House Historical Association.

The White House Historical Association is a nonprofit organization,

chartered on November 3, 1961, to enhance understanding, appreciation,

and enjoyment of the historic White House. Income from the sale of

White House History and all the Association’s books and guides

is returned to the publications program and is used as well to

acquire historical furnishings and memorabilia for the White House.

Address inquiries to: White House Historical Association,

740 Jackson Place, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006

www.whitehousehistory.org

Opposite: Plasterwork (detail) at Belcamp House in Dublin, Ireland. Its owner,

Sir Edward Newenham, was inspired by the American Revolution, and built the first monument to

George Washington on the Belcamp House grounds in 1778. Sir Edward corresponded with both

President Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

C Copyright 2010 by the White House Historical Association.

ISBN 978-1-931917-09-4

Library of Congress Number 2009939895

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission

of the White House Historical Association.

Printed in China.

Foreword

The fourth volume in the collections of articles from White House History,

the journal of the White House Historical Association includes thirty-nine articles from

seven issues. They vary from biographical articles to various focus pieces on aspects of

life in and the operations of the White House.

Our celebration of President Lincoln’s 200th year is in our two issues on his life

and presidency. Both are included here. Notable in these issues are heretofore unpub-

lished—and only recently found—photographs of the White House in Lincoln’s time.

They are very rare, giving us glimpses as through windows heretofore unknown, on the

presidential enclave during the Civil War. Not always easy to pin down as to their

precise dates, they fascinate us because of the details they show of a particular time

while in the midst the White House is so unchanged.

The biographical articles also surround the White House years of President

Eisenhower, who maintained a White House painting studio and pursued his oils

devotedly. We also visit his childhood home, which was restored and made central to his

presidential library in Abilene, Kansas, with his approval. The original architect of the

White House, James Hoban, was given an entire issue, which is reprinted here. His role

in the creation of the White House for George Washington was celebrated in Ireland

and America, on the 250th anniversary of his birth. Articles from both countries explore

his architecture and the architecture of Ireland that may have influenced him.

We visit the White House stables, which flourished during the first century of

the White House. The kitchens are not overlooked in seven articles on the kitchens and

presidential appetites. And we offer a series of articles on flowers, flower gardens, and

floral decorations for state dinners and White House weddings, a special subject in

White House life that began in about 1859, when the then-customary artificial wax

flowers were removed and fresh flowers first introduced to White House vases. Old

worries about flowers thinning the oxygen in the air and causing sickness seem at that

time to have been discarded. The White House has been filled with flowers ever since.

William Seale

Editor, White House History

Opposite:

The Monroe

Plateau (detail)

in the State

Dining Room is

surrounded by a

balustrade featur-

ing classical

figures balanced

on spheres atop

plinths, with

reclining

Bacchantes on

either side.

Denière et

Matelin, Paris,

c. 1817.

WHITE HOUSE

H ISTORYCOLLECTION 4, NUMBERS 19 THROUGH 25

PRESIDENTIAL HORSES • NUMBER 19

8 Foreword William Seale

10 Presidents as Horsemen William B. Bushong

26 Arlington’s Ceremonial Horses and Funerals at the White House Claire A. Faulkner

46 Andrew Jackson’s Constitution Carriage Marsha Mullin

56 Ten Notable Horses Gwendolyn K. White

WHITE HOUSE KITCHENS AND COOKING • NUMBER 20

64 Foreword William Seale

66 Kitchen Past: Thoughts on Open Hearth Cooking for the Presidents Alice Ross

72 A Look at the White House Kitchens Lydia Barker Tederick

92 My White House Years Roland Mesnier

112 Preparation of the Menu for the Prince of Wales Dinner in 2005 Cristeta Comerford

126 White House Wines Daniel Shanks

134 Home Cooking in the White House Barbara Haber

146 A Bit of Architectural History Comes In from the Cold William G. Allman

PRESIDENT EISENHOWER’S WHITE HOUSE • NUMBER 21

154 Foreword William Seale

156 Dwight David Eisenhower: The First Television President Martha Joynt Kumar

170 “She’s Making Maturity Glamorous”: Edith Mayo

Mamie Eisenhower’s White House Style

182 President Eisenhower: Painter Sister Wendy Beckett

192 The Eisenhower Family Home in Abilene, Kansas Dennis Medina

202 “Proud Housewife”: Mamie Eisenhower Collects for the White House Melissa Naulin

220 “In the Goodness of Time”: Creating the Dwight David Eisenhower Room Candace S. Shireman

at Blair House

230 Discovered: An Unknown Brady Portrait of President James K. Polk Clifford Krainik

and Members of His Cabinet

JAMES HOBAN: ARCHITECT OF THE WHITE HOUSE • NUMBER 22

236 Foreword William Seale

238 James Hoban: Builder of the White House William Seale

252 “The Second City in the British Dominions”: Dublin in the Holger Hoock

Later Eighteenth Century

266 White House Irish Counterparts Desmond Guinness

282 Imagining James Hoban: Portraits of a Master Builder William B. Bushong

292 George Washington’s Bow Window: A Lost Fragment of White House Edward Lawler Jr.

Precedence Comes to Light in Philadelphia

296 Four Places in Hoban’s Dublin: A Twenty-First Century Photographer’s View Bruce White

WHITE HOUSE FLOWERS: EMBELLISHING THE PRESIDENT’S TABLE • NUMBER 23

324 Foreword William Seale

326 First Lady Edith Kermit Roosevelt’s “Colonial Garden” at the Mac Keith Griswold

White House

340 James Monroe’s White House Plateau: Melissa Naulin

“A perfect riot of festooned railings and graceful figures”

356 Flowers for the President’s Table: State Dining Room Splendor Nancy Clarke

370 White House Brides and Envisioned Flowers: Margaret Huddy

Two Nineteenth-Century White House Weddings

With an Album of other White House Brides

382 “The Most Beautiful Things”: Gifts from France in the Roosevelt

White House Amy Verone

LIFE IN THE LINCOLN WHITE HOUSE: PART ONE • NUMBER 24

390 Foreword William Seale

392 Tad Lincoln and His Tutor Alexander Williamson Elizabeth Smith

Brownstein

402 Music in Lincoln’s White House Elise K. Kirk

414 Photographs of the Lincoln White House Lydia Tederick

432 A Gallery of Individuals, Major and Minor, from

Lincoln’s Time in the White House

444 The Locomotive Tea Set: A Gift from France John H. White Jr.

LIFE IN THE LINCOLN WHITE HOUSE: PART TW0 • NUMBER 25

450 Foreword William Seale

452 Abraham Lincoln’s White House Harold Holzer

466 The Other White House William Seale

490 The White House and Lincoln’s Assassination Anthony S. Pitch

504 The Lincoln Bedroom: Refurbishing a Famous William G. Allman

White House Room

512 Photographs of Indian Delegates in the Clifford Krainik and

President’s “Summer House” Michele Krainik

518 About the Authors

520 Index