A Historic Tour of the Oval Office
The workspace of the President of the United States — better known as the Oval Office — has undergone several changes over the last century or so. President William Howard Taft is credited for having the first Oval Office built in 1909, and in 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt constructed the modern office. Since then, while the overall layout and architectural features have remained relatively consistent, the color scheme, the paintings that adorn the walls, the furniture, and more have been changed to reflect the taste and, often, the ideals of each incoming President. Some items, such as the Resolute Desk, have found their way into the room more often than not, serving as a symbol of grandeur and authority. Here are seven pieces of Oval Office history that not only tell a story of their own, but also contribute to the larger narrative of American history.
The Resolute Desk
The Resolute Desk is one of the most storied pieces in the Oval Office. Crafted from the oak and mahogany timbers of the HMS Resolute — a British ship abandoned in the Arctic in 1854 and later recovered by the United States — the desk was gifted to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria in 1880. Despite its significance, the desk wasn’t always used in the Oval Office — it lived instead in the President’s Office, the President’s Study, and even the broadcast room for TV and radio addresses. In 1961, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy undertook a restoration and redecoration of the White House, and moved the ornate desk into the Oval Office; since then, all successive leaders except Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford have used the Resolute Desk (though President George H.W. Bush used it for only part of his presidency). The artifact has had just two notable modifications since it was originally made: A hinged panel featuring the presidential coat of arms was added to the front in 1945, and a base was added to heighten the desk in 1961.
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The Seymour Tall Case Clock
Since 1975, an imposing grandfather clock has stood in the room’s northeast corner. According to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum, the clock was part of a furniture lot acquired by First Lady Pat Nixon two years before its Oval Office debut during Ford’s presidency. Made sometime between 1795 and 1805 by father and son cabinetmakers John and Thomas Seymour of Boston, the clock — known as the Seymour tall case clock — is made of mahogany and stands 8 feet, 10 inches tall. A very similar clock, from the same time period, is described by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as “among the finest and most aesthetically significant examples produced in North America during the Federal period.” In 2017, the stately piece unexpectedly appeared in the news when former FBI director James Comey mentioned it repeatedly when detailing his meetings with President Donald Trump.
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The White Marble Mantel
While some Oval Office decor comes and goes, the white marble fireplace mantel hasn’t changed for any administration since 1909. After the 27th President, William Howard Taft, took office, he held a competition to find an architect to renovate the West Wing and create the first Oval Office. The winner, architect Nathan C. Wyeth, selected a neoclassical mantel that has survived more than just time: In 1929, a fire in the West Wing gutted the Oval Office, and while the mantel suffered visible damage, it was salvaged and remained a fixture of the room. Five years later, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt expanded and relocated the Oval Office to the West Wing’s present southeast corner location, overlooking the Wilson Rose Garden, the mantel also moved, and has been in place ever since.
George Washington Portraits
Among the many former Presidents whose portraits regularly appear in the Oval Office is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the first U.S. President, George Washington. Two specific portraits of the founding father have appeared time and again over the years: Charles Willson Peale’s three-quarter-length portrait, painted in 1776, and one by his son, Rembrandt Peale. Rembrandt Peale’s famous 1823 “Porthole” portrait was created as a replica of the artist’s original Washington portrait — which itself was purchased by Congress for $2,000 in 1832 — and is often given prominent placement over the mantel in the Oval Office.
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The Presidential Seal in the Rug
The presidential seal is a familiar emblem, featuring an eagle, arrows, an olive branch, and a shield, and is famously featured in the Oval Office’s central rug. The seal’s prominent carpet placement was first used by President Harry Truman and has been replicated by nearly every President since. Truman’s carpet wasn’t only the first time a President featured the seal on the Oval Office rug, but it was also among the first uses of the newly redesigned symbol. Before his death, President Franklin D. Roosevelt worked on revamping the image, which added stars to represent the states and, most notably, turned the eagle’s head away from the arrows clutched in its claws, and toward the olive branch of peace.
Swedish Ivy
The Oval Office’s white marble mantel isn’t only regularly adorned with paintings: Since John F. Kennedy’s administration in the early 1960s, a Swedish ivy plant has often appeared perched on the ledge. The plant originated as a gift to Kennedy from Irish ambassador Thomas J. Kiernan. Its endurance warranted its own TIME magazine feature in 1984, and it has many progenies, originating as clippings from the main plant and passed around to friends and colleagues by White House staffers through the years. The famous greenery still lives in the Oval Office, rooted from Kennedy’s original plant. — advertisement —
The “Bronco Buster” Sculpture
“The Bronco Buster” is one of artist Frederic Remington’s most famous pieces. The bronze sculpture shows a cowboy on horseback, and its endurance as a symbol of the American West has been a fixture in the Oval Office since around the time it was gifted to the White House in 1973. Initially crafted in 1895, the sculpture was inspired by one of Remington’s own early illustrations, accompanying an article written by Theodore Roosevelt in an 1888 edition of Century Magazine. Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump included it in their decor, but President Joe Biden removed it when he took office in 2021. Biden opted for a different horse sculpture: “Swift Messenger,” featuring a horse and rider, was made by New Mexico-based artist Allan Houser of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, and once belonged to Hawaiian Senator Daniel Ken Inouye, the first Japanese American person elected to both houses of Congress.
