Bulletin - United States National Museum

Contributions from The Museum of History and Technology:

Paper 49

Benjamin Latrobe and Dolley Madison Decorate the White House, 18091811

Margaret Brown Klaptbor

DolleyMadisoninAugust1814, as the Britishadvancetoburn Washington.

J\largaref "^rowii KJ^apthor

BENJAMIN LATROBE AND DOLLEY MADISON DECORATE THE WHITE HOUSE

1809-1811

hi 1809 the

Mucinous moved

into

a White House which was

beginningto present

a

dignified outside

appearance

tothe world.

With Dolley Madison's

able help,

Benjamin

Latrohe,architect

and

engineer,

began

to create

an

interior decor in keeping

w!th

the buildings basic iirchitectuval elega)ice.

Yet

the task,

which

occupied the years frof» 1S09 to 1811, proved quite in- expensive by today's standards.

The

descriptions of the

rooms

in this article give the reader

a glimpse

into the Ladies'

Dratving Koom

(the present

Red Room') and

the

Oval Drawing Room

(the present

Blue Room')

of the

Madison

era.

Only

part of the

White House had

been decorated

when

the

Bnt/sh marched

on

Washington and

the

Mansion was

burned.

The Author: Margaret Broun Klapthor

is associate curator of political history in the

Smithsonian

Institution'

s

Museum

of

History and

Technology.

WHEN ^THOMAS

^{JEFFERSON assuuicd Ills duties as other public buildings as}

^may

^{be necessary for the}

Presidentin1801 mostof the

pubHc

buildings

accommodation

ofCongressⁱⁿ their future sessions."

which

were being constructedforthe

new government On

thestrength ofhisbill,Jeffersonthencreated the were in deplorablecondition.

The

Capitol

and

the position ofSurveyor of PublicBuildings

and

offered

White House

were only partially finished

and work

the positionto

Benjamin Henry

Latrobe.

was

atastandstill. Perhaps^as aresultof Jefferson's Latrobe,a native ofEngland,

was

atthattimeliving

own

personal interestin architecture, oneofhisfirst in Philadelphia

where

he

was

successfully practicing actions

was

to get Congress to appropriate $50,000 hisprofession as

an

architect

and

engineer.

He was

foruse "in repairs

and

alterations inthe Capitol

and

a

man

ofability

and had

a wide range ofinterests

P.VPER49:

BENJ.AMIN L.ATROBE

.AND

OOLLEY M.ADISOX DECOR.\TE THE WHITE HOUSE 155

inallphasesof the culturalarts. Hismerits

had

been recognized almostassoonashearrivedintheUnited Statesand, within a fewyears,he

had

establishedhim- selfnot only in his governmental

work on

the state level, but in the

many

important private enterprises with

which

he

was

connected.

When

Latrobe

was

appointed Surveyor of Public Buildings the

White House was

in

much

the

same

condition asit

was

in1800

when

Abigail

Adams com-

plained so feelingly that "there

was

not

one

apart-

ment"

in

what

sheconsidereda "finished" condition.

The

walls of the apartments of the eastern section

were

still unplastered, the grounds

were

rough

and

neglected, temporary

wooden

steps were at all the principal entrances,

and

the roofleakedbadly.

None

oftheoutbuildings so necessaryfor storage

had

ever beenconstructed,

and

the house lacked most ofthe conveniences then looked

upon

asessential.

During

the last six years of the Jefferson adminis- tration, the President

and

Latrobe

worked

together to

make

the house structurally habitable, to supply the missing conveniences,

and

to improve the ex- terior appearance of the building.

No work

seems tohave been

done

onthe interior of thehouse during this period, probably becauseso

much was

required on the exterior that neither funds nor time were available. Thus, President

James Madison and

his

charming

wife Dolley' in 1809

moved

into a house

(fig.3)

which was

at lastbeginningto presenttothe world adignified outside appearance.

And

it

was

a house

which had

been supplied with

many

ofthe necessities^forcomfortableliving,suchaswaterclosets

and

a roof

which

didnotleak. Butit

was

a house with aninteriornot yetdeveloped tothedegree promised by itsarchitectural elegance,a condition soon to be corrected.

The

election of

James Madison

^to the Presidency

must

have given

Benjamin

Latrobe great pleasure.

To

his brother Christian, in England, he wrote shortlyafterthe election "Ihavefor

many

yearsbeen on

an

intimate footing with him.

Mary

[Latrobe's wife]has

known

hisveryexcellent

and

amiable wife from a child."^{^} Indeed the friendship of Dolley

'ThefactthatMrs.MadisonspelledhernameDolleyiswell documentedbyher personal signatureonletterswhichsurvive in theLibraryofCongressand othermanuscript collections.

Thesalecatalog of herestate,sold in1899,isentitled "Impor- tant Sale

—

^{Estate of} Dolley P. Madison." The spelling

"Dolly" seemstobea20th-centurysimplification.

2TalbotHamlin,BenjaminHenryLatrobe(New York,1955), p.333.

Figure 2. Benjamin

Henry

Latrobe

—

Surveyor of Public Buildings, administrations of PresidentsThomas Jeffersonand JamesMadison. {PhotocourtesyMaryland

Historical Society.)

Madison and Mary

Hazelhurst Latrobe dated

from

the days in Philadelphia

when

Dolley

was

a

young matron and Mary

Hazelhurst

was

a childinthe

same

social circle.

The

newly elected President, even before his inauguration,turned over the entire direction of the

work

to be

done on

the interior of the Executive

Mansion

to his capable wife (fig. 4). In February, hedirectedLatrobetotakehisinstructionsfrom Dolley

and

present his accounts to her. Together Dolley

and

Latrobe were to assemble astage setting singu- larly appropriate to heroutstanding performance in the roleofFirstLady.

The

firstglimpse giventothe public of theresultsof thissuccessfulcollaboration

came

almostthree

months

afterMrs.

Madison became

FirstLady.

On May

31, 1809, she gave the first ofweekly

"drawing rooms"

which

sheheld each

Wednesday

night

when

she

was

in residence.

No

written invitationswereissued

and

none

were

needed. Forsocial Washington,

Wednes- day

night at the

White House became

the focal point

156 BULLETIN

241:

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

FuiiRE3.

—

Exterior ofthe

White

House,ca. 1810,showingthesloncwall, fence, and ornamentalgate postsdesigned byLatrobe duringthetimehe served as Surveyorof Public Buildings in the JefTerson administration.

(PhntncourtesyLibrary of Congress.)

'->m

around which

allof thecity's officialsociety revolved.

On

thatfirstevening, the

Oval Drawing Room was

notyetready tobe opened to thepublic

and

guests werereceivedintheroom,calledthe ''Ladies

Drawing Room"

or "Mrs. Madison's Parlor," that is today

known

asthe

Red Room.

Contemporarieshave left us graphicdescriptions of the room,

which was

said to be

done

in the "very latest Sheraton style."

Latrobe's architectural talents are suggested in the treatmentof the draperies.

The

curtainsinthe

room

were

made

ofsunflower yellow

damask

withavalance ofswags

and

draperies toppingeach

window.

This valance continued all around the top ofthe room, thestifffestoonslooping

up

^to a poleplacednearthe ceilingline.

The

fringewith

which

all the draperies

and

valances were

trimmed

caused a mild furor; it

was made

oflong

and

short drops, silkover bits of

wood, and

must have

enhanced

the elegance ofthe room.

Infrontofthe fireplace,

"on

afireboard" beneath the mantle the .sameyellow

damask was

arranged in aflutedpattern

known

asa "rising sun."

The

furni-

ture of the

room was

upholstered in bright yellow satin: thehigh-backed sofas

and

stiffchairswere ele- gant with no pretense of comfort.

The

room's furnishingswere completed with a

new

carpet, afew piertables

and

card tables,plus a"pianoforte"

and

a fine guitar ordered expressly by Mrs. Madison.^

In thissettingthe First

Lady

received, often dressed in blending buff oryellowsatin, or in a contrasting crimson.^{^}

A number

ofletters havesurvived that give details ofthe so-called "domestic arrangements"

and

attest to close collaboration between the First

Lady and

Latrobe

on

every phase ofthe interior

work done

at the

White

House.

Most

of theselettersdate fromthe spring

and summer

of 1809.

They

were written to Dolley

Madison

by Latrobe

when

he

was

in Philadel- phia or

New York

on official business acquiring materialforthe

White

House.

'National .Xrchivcs. .XccouiU ofBenjamin Henry Latrobe, furniture of President'sHouse(

May

29.1809).

•Ethel Lewis, Thr Uhilr House(New York.1937),p. 69.

PAPER

4 9:

BEN

J.A.NUN

L.ATROBE

.\ND

DOLLEY >L\DlSON DECOR.\TE THE WHITE HOUSE 157

One

such letter,

now

unfortunatelylost,isreferred to in a letter from Latrobe to

Madison on

July 7, 1809, in

which

he^statesthathe has taken "thelibertyto write to Mrs.

Madison"

since the President

had

"formerlyreferred

me

toherforthedomestic arrange-

ments

ofthehouse."^"

The room

that Latrobe wished to

make

his masterpiece

was

the

handsome Oval Room, which James Hoban had

designed to be the most elegant oftheformal

rooms

in the

White

House. It

had

not been furnished during the

Adams

or the Jefferson administrations,

and up

to this time

had

been used as an

anteroom

or vestibule.

Work on

the

Oval Room

continued all that first

summer,

as Latrobe proceeded to design not only the architectural fea- tures

and

the decoration, but even the furniture, in orderto insure the^effecthewished to create. (For- tunately, Latrobe's drawings for the furniture have been found

among

the

Maryland

Historical Society's Latrobe papers by Robert Raley,

whose

articleabout

them

appearedinAntiquesMagazine,

June

^1959.)

The

furniture

was

in the

Greek

style so

admired

by Latrobe

and

follows closely designs

which had

appeared in Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, published in

London

ⁱⁿ 1807.

On

the backofoneofthedrawings, Latrobe wrote:

"Within

aredrawingsof the chairs [seefigs. 5

and

6]. ^Ihope

you

will be able to

bend

your whole force to

them

immediately.

They come

a few days later than I

could have wished but

my

time is so occupied that Icould not send

them

sooner.

The

drawingsof the sofas [see fig. 7] will followin a

day

or two."

The

letterisaddressedto

Mr.

Finlay,

renowned

for

making

the

handsome

painted furniture for

which

Baltimore

was

thenfamous.''

The

National Archi\cs contain a record of the account of

Benjamin

Latrobe with

John and Hugh

'

No

copyof the missingletterisintheMarylandHistorical Society's large collection ofLatrobe papers (wheretheonejust quotedislocated),buta cluetoitscontinuingexistenceistobe foundinthecatalog of asaleofMadisondocuments,heldin Philadelphiaby.StanV. Henkels,Jr., in1933. Item 34isan autographletter signed by Latrobeand addressed to Mrs.

Madison,described as"Hisproposals toarrangethe various roomsof the White Housetosuit thenewoccupants. Also detailed accounts ofexpenditures for china, papcrhanging.

changes,etc." Thepricedsalecatalog notes that theletterwas sold for S25to someone whousedthe name

"Tom"

as his identification.

8Benjamin HenryLatrobeCollection ofPapersandDraw- ings(MSS, MarylandHistorical Society, Baltimore). Herein- aftercited asLatrobepaper's.

Figure4. Dollev Pavne

Todd

Madison(Mrs.James Madison) by Ezra Ames. {Photo courtesy New-York Histnrirat Society,

New

YorkCity.)

Finlay of Baltimore."

A

bill dated .September 16, 1809, requests

payment

as follows:

To 36 Cane Seat Chairs

made

to a Grecian Model, painted, gilded

&

varnished, with the Lfnited .States arms painted on each (S

20 720.

lopackingthesame 6.

To 2 Sofas tomatch thesame, double fronted.

4extra large casters toeach,

@

^{80 160.}

io 4 ^{Settees as} above, double fronted, 4 extra

large casters toeach,

©40

^160.

To

packing Sofas

&

Settees 'b.50 To transportingthesameby landfromBaltimore

loWashingtoninawaggon

&

cart 22.

To freightofthe Chairs by water [remainderof entry obliterated by tear in manuscript; as ischargeforthisservice] [18. ]

Toinsuranceof thesame 8.50

"National .Archives,recordgroup217,General Accounting

Ofiice. Miscellaneous Treasury Accounts, account 28.634,

\-oucher2.

158 BULLETIN

241:

CONTRIBl'TIONS FROM THE MUSEUM UF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

r •*i«f^3g

^'^^'^i'^*^*^**^*- ^ ^

:

WM§ V

Figure 7. Sofa and setteedesigned by Latrobe for the Oval Drawing

Room.

{PhotocourtesyMarylandHistoricalSociety.)

26, 18KI,justfour

months

afterthe

room was

opened tothepubhc,in

which

hesays that"threechairswere broken by a

man

weighing 3 cwt. leaning back in them,"'"

presumably

oneata time.

We know

that thewalls of the

room

were painted, because Latrobe's letter book for

June

6, 1809, mentions that the "President's

Drawing Room was

painted by

Mr.

Bridgeport.""

The same Mr.

Bridgeport, a craftsinan

from

Philadelphia,

had

dec- coratedthe ceiling of the

new chamber

forthe

House

ofRepresentatives.

The

curtains for the

room had

been a cause for concern.

On March

22, 1809,

Benjamin

Latrobe wrotetoDolley

Madison: "There

is

no

Silk

Damask

to be

had

either in

New York

or Philadelphia

&

I

am

thereforeforced to give

you

crimson velvet cur- tains of

which

I can get plenty

and which

to

my

astonishment will not be dearer than

Damask."

^'-

On

April 12, Mrs. Latrobe advised Dolley that

"Mr. Rea

hasbeenfortunateinprocuringasufficient quantity of velvet for the

Drawing room

curtains, sophas, chairs

&

etc.

and

they willcertainly bevery

elegant."" Latrobe,

when

he

saw

the velvet obtained by Rea, wrote Dolley

Madison on

April 21:

"The

curtains!

Oh

the terrible velvet curtains! Their effect will ruin

me

entirely so brilliant will they be." "

And

on

June

6, Latrobe wrote to Captain

John Meany

in Philadelphia;

Itistrue thatIhave been very

much

atalossformaterials for curtains for the President's Drawing

Room. The

quantity wanted is, however, so unusually large that I have been obliged to have recourse to plain velvet.

There are fivewindows

—

6 yardshigh. Five breadth ineachis30 yardsandfivewindowsthereforerequirei50 yards exclusive of draperies, chairs, and sofas

—

Your

sixpiecescontainonly108 yards."^'*

Latrobe's specification of five

windows

in the

room

isevidencethat the

two

alcoveson the inside of the

Oval Room

weretobetreated aswindows. Fourof thesetsof curtains

and

the four

window

seats, orset- tees, were placedinthe

two windows

overlookingthe southterrace

and

inthe

two

alcoves

on

thenorthwall.

The

fifth set of curtains

was

for the double door, which opened ontothesouthportico.

'"Latrobepapers,letterno. 149.

IILatrobepapers,letterno. 135.

-'M.S.inNew-YorkHistorical.Society.

" MS,inVirginia Historical.Society.

'MS,in

New

YorkPublic Library.

I''Latrobepapers,letterno.138.

160 BULLETIN

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CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY

.\ND

TECHNOLOGY

The

material having been fourd hy

John Rea

of Philadelphia,Latrobe

had him make

itup. Hisbill records the following servicesunderthedateofOctober

1, 180'):"

To making,lining,and trimming5Draw- ing

Room

curtains

&

draperiesat$40 Each

To

2Sophas

To

making

&

stuffing36 Chairs

" " "

5 Settees

" "

"12

Bolsters

" " " 57 muslincases in- cluding the muslin

$200.00

16.00 72.00 20.00 24.00 45.60

It has been thought that the crimson ^\-cl\'ct cur- tainswere

made

by Mrs. Sweeney,a fashionable lady

who was

the proprietress of themostelegantupholstery shop in Washington, but the account with

Rea

in- dicates clearly that the curtains he

made and

the upholstery

done

by

him

werefor the

Oval Drawing Room.

Moreover, there is

no

account with Mrs.

Sweeney

that can be identified with this room, althoughshe

was

doubtlessdoing

work

attheExecu- tive

Mansion

at this time, as she

was

the source of gossipconcerning Latrobe's extravagances

and

Mrs.

Madison's disapproval of his absence from

Wash-

ington. It is reportedthat

when

Latrobe heard the gossip, in several

anonymous

letters, he wrote immediately ^to Mrs.

Madison

concerning it. Mrs.

Madison's reply to Latrobe

was

reassuring on every point.

She

called the gossip"a variety of falsehoods framed but to play on his sensibilities"

and

assured

him

that

among

other things

"My

^{affection forMrs.}

Latrobe

would

in itself prevent

my

doing injustice to her husband,"

and added

that shesupposed Mrs.

Sweeney was

offendedatbeingleftbutlittleto

do

in the house.'" Perhaps Mrs. Sweeney'schiefgrievance

had

been the fact that she

was

not

employed

to

do

the curtainsfora

drawing room which

could hardly

failtobe

much

discussedinWashington.

By

fall the

room

began to assume its final appearance. Unfortunately, the glass for the great overmantel mirror, ordered from

Jacob Mark

in

New

York,

was

broken in transit. It could not be replaced, so

two

smaller mirrorshadtobesubstituted inthe frame(seefig. 8).

i«National^{Archives,record}group 217,General Accounting Office, Miscellaneous Treasury .Accounts, account 29.494, voucher11

.

1;Hamlin,op.cit.(footnote2),pp.328-329.

Figure 8.

—

Looking-glass frame designed by Ben- jamin Latrobe for the Oval Drawing

Room.

{P/wlocourtesyLibrary of Congress.)

In

November

Latrobe

was making

inquiry of Bradford

and

Inskecp of Philadelphia for 12 patent lamps with spiral burners

and

double ^lights of a

handsome

patternfor the President's

drawing

room.

He

specified

:

Iwould preferhandsome bronze 10brass and I think either tocutglass unless the lattercan behadofa very handsome pattern at the above price.

Lamps

orna- mentedwithdropsandfestoons ofcutglasswouldsoon be demolishedby clumsy and careless servants of this part of theworldandthereforeIshould wishthatwhat- ever is sentshould be of a kindto bear handling."

Latrobepapers,letterofNovember21,no.352.

PAPER

49:

BENJAMIN LATROBE AND DOLLEY MADISON DECORATE THE WHITE HOUSE

161

lli.lKL ^I-). .Si.JuIl.Nb.C.IHRLH.^SSkKTC.IlI.Uin BiNI.VMI.N L.MRlilU l.i ,w;Ij

showing inthe background tlieruins of the While House. (Phutu courtesy Library of Congress.)

On December

23, Latrobe wrote that the lamps received "give great satisfaction to

Mr. and

Mrs.

Madison and

permit

me

to

add

ataproper distance to myselfalthough I cannot say that I admire the mixtureofEgyptian, Grecian,

and Birmingham

taste

which

characterizes them." " Here, he

must

refer to those forthe

new drawing

room, as he adds that oneof the

two

branchlamps''leakssoexceedinglyas to have spoiled a crimson velvet cushion ofone of thesofas."

Now

allthat

was

neededtocompletethe

room was

thefloorcovering. That, too,

was

provided by

John

Rea,

whose

bill toLatrobe under date of

December

27,1810, records the following:^-"

Tomaking upiGq ydsof Brussels carpt.

To

169 ydsof carpi. Brussels 2 75

33-80

4*H-75

'"Latrobepapers,letterno. 389.

-"NationalArchives, recordgroup217,GeneralAccounting Office, Miscellaneous Treasury Accounts, account 29.494, voucher11

To

30 ydsofBorder2 75

82.50

To

I LargeHarthrugetomatch 24.00

The room was

furnished intimefor the President's receptionon

New

Year'sDay, IHld.

The

finaleffect

was

apparently worth the time

and money

lavished onit,for

contemporary

accountsspeakoftheelegance

and

beauty of the room.

With

completion of the

Oval Room,

the collaboration of

DoUey Madison and Benjamin

Latrobe in furnishing the

White House drew

to a close.

They

never

had

the fundstodeco- ratethe East

Room;

it is left to our imagination to visualize this great ballroom

done

in the classical style.

Other

interior

work

in the house during the

Madison

administration

had

includedconverting the oflice, formerly used bythe private secretary, into a

room

to beusedfor Cabinet meetings. Latrobe also closed off thewest

windows

in thelibrary,converting

it into a large diningroom,

which

it remainstothis day. It

was

inthedining

room

thatLatrobe placed theGilbert Stuart portrait ofWashington, oneofthe fewthingssaved from the Wliite

House when

it

was

burned.

The

costof the rclurnishing project undertaken by

162 BULLETIN

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CONTRIBUTIONS p-ROM THE MUSEUM OF

HISTCJR^' ANIJ

TECH

X()I.O(;Y

Figure io.

—

Biirnkd-outsmkii.of thk

White

House, sketched in 1814by Strickland. (/'//»/»(nurhsy Library of Congress.)

Dolley

and

Latrobe

was

not exorbitant.

The

Mis- cellaneous Treasury AccountsintheNational Archives give as $12,669.31 the

amount

of the expenditures

from

April2,1809, to

January

31, 1811,for looking glasses, silver, china,

and

crockeryware, house

and

table linens, "piano forte"

and

guitar, books for the Presidential library,cabinet

and

upholsterywork, ironmongering,

and

kitchenfurniture. Thisincludes Latrobe's commissionat 2percent.-'

In1811,

when war

with

England seemed

imminent.

Congressfailedtoappropriate

any

fundswith

which

to continue construction of the Capitol or

work

on the President's house. Thus, Latrobe's position as Surveyorof Public Buildingsin

Washington came

to anend.

A

graphic account of the interior ofthe house is

recorded in the diary of a

young man

from Massa- chusetts,Elbridge Gerry,_Jr.

While

visiting hisfather, then Vice President,duringthe

summer

of 1813, the

young

Gerry

was

atthe

White House

on July9

and

10.

He

hasleftus averycompletedescription ofthe

work done

by

Benjamin

Latrobe

and

the FirstLady:

The

President'shouseisaperfect palace.

You

enter the frontdoor, and areatonceina largehall,which

isanentry, etc. Pillarsofimmensesizeare dispersed thro'this, and itishandsomelyfurnished etc,and has lar^elampsforthewholelength.

On

the sideopposite

til ihccnirance are doorsopeningtofourrooms. The

It24.181.voucher1.

corner is the dining room and is very spacious, and twice the height of modern parlours and 3 times as large. Thisisfurnishedin themost elegantmanner and thefurniture isso large,thatMrs. Cuttssays,theside board would coverthe wholeside ofalarge parlour.

Attheheadoftheroom,GeneralWashingtonisrepre- sentedaslarge aslife. This

room

opensbyasingledoor intoMrs. Madison's sitting-roomwhichishalf as large.

This furnished equallyas wellandhasmoreelegantand delicate furniture. Herportraitishereseen. This

room

inthesameway,enters into thedrawing room, which

isan immense andmagnificent room,inanovalform, and which formispreservedinthoseaboveandevento the cellar.

A

door opensateach end,oneintothe hall and opposite, one into the terrace, from whence you haveanelegantviewofallthe rivers,etc.

The

windows are nearly the height of the

room

and have superb redsilkvelvet curtainswhichcost$4 a yard.

The

chairs are

wood

painted withworked bottoms and each has a redvelvet largecushion.

They

are arrangedonthe sideandare dividedintofour divisionsbysofas. These threeroomsareallopenonlevee nights. Nexttothe drawingroomisthe President'ssitting-roomwhichhasno communicationwiththe formerand opens tothehall.

This corresponds to Mrs. Madison's parlour, and is

handsomelyfurnished. Thisopensto hiscabinetwhich

Idid notsee.

The

cabinetisdividedbyatemporary petitionfromthegrandcouncilchamber whichruns the wholebreadthof thehouseandis morethan twice the breadth of

common

halls. This

room

is unfinished.

Oppositeto thediningroomisoneof thesamesizefor theprivate secretaryand between that and the door, onesmaller fortheporter

who

is alwaysat the door.

P.\PER 49:

BKN

J.\-\1I.\

L.\TROBE

.\NU

DOLLEY ALVWISON DECOR.\TE THE \VHITE HOUSE 163

endand this isthegrandstaircase. Itisintheform ofa Uandhasstairsoneachsidemeetinginthe centre.

Thro' the secondstoryisahallorentryand thisopens intoalltherooms,whicharemore numerous andsmaller than the lower rooms.

The

President'scommunicated with othersandthisisallthe informationIcan giveof theinsideof thehouse.^--

In August of the year following

young

Elbridge Gerry'svisit

came

the heartbreak of having all this

work

literally go

up

insmoke.

As

Dolley tellsit in a letter to Mrs. Latrobe,

"Two

hours before the

enemy

entered thecity, I left thehouse

where Mr.

Latrobe's elegant taste

had

been sojustly

admired and where you and

I

had

sooften

wandered

together;

and on

thatvery

day

Isentoutthesilver(nearlyall)

and

velvet curtains

and

General Washington's pictures, the Cabinet papers a few books

and

the small clock

and

lefteverythingelse."^{^'}

Figure 9 showsthedevastatedmansion.

The

hou.sc

was

gutted,

and

ofthe elegant

drawing room

created by Dolley

Madison and Benjamin

Latrobe only the crimson velvet curtains were saved.

However,

in theviewof the

White House

infigure 10

we

cansee stillstandingoutside the ruins the fencedesigned by Latrobe.

The Diorama

On

the basisofthisresearch onthe

Oval Drawing Room,

a

diorama

ofthe

room

hasbeen created

and

isdisplayedin theFirstLadies' Hall of the

Museum

'-I'lie Dia,v of ElbridgeGerry, Jr. (New York, 1927), pp.

180-181.

''Hamlin,op.cit.(footnote2),p.304.

used onthe furni- ture

and

onthemirrorframe are thosefound

on

the watercolordrawings

by

Latrobe.

These

dictated the use of the othercolorsseenintheroom.

We

can only

wonder how much

the red color seen in the

drawing

of the sofa

and

chairs

may

have faded in view of

Mr.

Latrobe's

comment

on "the terrible velvet curtains! Theireffectwillruin

me

entirely sobrilliant willtheybe."

The

Latrobeletter

book

statesthatthe President's

Drawing Room was

painted

by Mr.

BridgeportofPhiladelphia, butleaves

no

cluetothe color he used or

what

portions of the

room were

painted.

None

of the

contemporary

descriptions of the

room

mentionsthe

way

it

was

painted;one

must assume

that to those

who saw

it, the paint

seemed

completely in

harmony

with the furnishings,

and

that such painting probably consisted ofdecorative touchesratherthan

an

overallwall treatment.

For the floor covering described in the Archives Records as "169 yards of Brussels carpet

and

30 yardsofborder

—

^{plus alargehearth rugto} match,"

investigation revealed that Brussels carpeting in 1809

would

have been

handwoven on

a

draw

loom.

An

early description says that Brussels

was

distinguished

from

ingrain carpeting

by

having "a raised pile with figures

and

colors produced from the warp."

The

design for the carpet

was

chosen from those illustrated in

George

Smith'sCollection ofOrnamental Design after the Manner of the Antique, published in

London

in 1812. Ithas

an anthemion

motif echoing thatonthe Latrobefurniture

and

gavethe

room

an ensemble typeofdecor

—

^thekindof settingfor

which Benjamin

Latrobe

seemed

to be striving

and which

he apparentlyachieved.

ForsalebytheSuperintendentofDocuments, U.S.GovernmentPrinting Office Washington, D.C. 20402

—

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