New front page – seal

I’ve changed the front page to an artsy pic of the Seal of the President of the United States over the door of the West Wing by Flickr user Kyle Taylor.

Bush WhiteHouse.gov archive

Found the location of the archived Bush 2 WhiteHouse.gov site.

I’ve known for a while about the archived Clinton WhiteHouse.gov sites.

Expert needed

A Georgetown University film class group is looking for a DC-area WH expert to do an on-camera interview about the recreational features of the WH grounds (tennis court, b-ball court, pool, etc.). E-mail me if you are interested in being put into contact with them.

The East Wing

Peter Sharkey has come thru again with a beautiful floor plan of the East Wing second floor. To accompany it, I have posted pics of the Calligraphy Office.

Press secretary area revealed

Joe Scarborough toured the West Wing press staff area today accompanied by an out-of-control nine-year-old girl and conducted by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. It’s a great look at a seldom-seen part of the White House.

Meanwhile, their friend Willie Geist poked around the old swimming pool and also the Press Briefing Room.

While I’m at it, here is a tour Bill Plante did a few months ago (that includes the Kitchen, Pastry Kitchen, Family Theater, and Bowling Alley) that you may have missed (introduced by Chris Presumestoomuch).

Thanks to everyone who sent links.

Nooks and crannies

I’ve added some new pics of those nooks and crannies I love so much, including the sub-basement Dressing Room, West Wing stairs, Navy Mess, and a photo of a photo of GWB bowling.

Also, I’ve added a disappointed review of Oliver Stone’s W, a lackluster film which makes little attempt at portraying the White House accurately.

Ford Museum roadtrip

I managed to drive up to Grand Rapids, Michigan yesterday to visit the Ford Presidential Museum. I’m still processing the photos, including some I shot in 3D (you won’t need glasses).

UPDATE: Pete’s floor plans look great and are a terrific addition to the White House in Miniature exhibit; they provide some context that is a little lacking. Find the photo gallery here.

Pete goes to a presidential museum

I’m very pleased to announce that Peter Sharkey is:

…very excited and honored to announce that my work will be on display from February 9th to May 24th, 2009 at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.

Check the pics and details one Wingnut’s Workings! Weather permitting, I will make a hasty trip up there on Friday. Pete, I’m mortified that I haven’t been checking Wingnut’s Workings every day! (In my defense, I’ve been busy shortening Hamlet).

Speaking of which, check out the recreation of the Cabinet Room rug!

Map Room new rug?

Mid America Mom sent along a link to this article on a CBC interview with the president in the Map Room. But is that a new rug?

Slide show

Hey, we’ve got photos. I had pretty much stopped even looking at the slide show page of the new WhiteHouse.gov site, but Marianne and Colten both pointed me to the new stuff, including a great one of the president in his tiny study off the Oval Office.

UPDATE: It’s been 1 day and this link is already broken because the material has been removed. Come on WhiteHouse.gov, get your act togther.

Press corps-nucopia

I added several more photos from Corbis of press-related areas thru the years, including some great ones of the Press Corps Offices in the old days.

Also, visitor Sandy sent a link to a WaPo article that allows us to speculate that the first mother-in-law is staying in room 327, the large bedroom on the south side of the third floor (bright yellow on the map).

A renewed pursuit of a real museum

I’ve uploaded an updated version of my proposal (Powerpoint) for a real museum of the White House, using better photos and . I plant to distribute this again now, since now seems like a better time try to gain interest among legislators.

Also, President Obama came to my neck of the woods today. Unfortunately, I was off in another neck of the woods, starting a new project for my real job.

Gigantic pics

After scouring the Web for White House photos a measley few hundred pixels across, it’s a breath of fresh air to find John Bailey’s Flickr photostreams for White House Events and Washington DC available at more than 4000 pixels across. There are also marvelous photos of the interior of Blair House, Air Force 1, Marine 1, and various other subjects.

For the largest images, click the ALL SIZES icon, then click the Original link.

And remember to keep an eye on the Flickr White House photostream.

Nooks and crannies

I’ve added several new photos of various nooks and crannies around the Residence and West Wing: the cold storage room in the Basement Hall, the Kitchen Pantry and Kitchen walkway, and the Press Corps Kitchen in the West Wing.

I’m also in the process of rearranging things a bit, so I haven’t added the new pics to the main site; only the mirror. It shouldn’t result in any broken links, but eventually most photos will move into subfolders, so any hotlinked image links from outside websites will be broken. Outside websites should be linking only to pages, tho. Anybody linking directly to images is using WHM as an anonymous image server, which is unkind.

Air Force One and other 3D

I added a page for a fine Air Force One model created by alphaMedia Models and posted to Google’s Sketchup forum.

I’ve also added several other images, including 3D views of the West Wing and East Wing from the Life special issue on the presidency in 1968.

16 Things About the White House

There is a questionnaire going around the Facebook White House Fanatics group. I you’re reading this, you should consider going the group; it’s the place for all manner of non-political discussions about the White House.

Anyway, here are my answers:

1. You first became aware of the White House when:
Probably the Bicentennial celebrations in 1976, when I was 9. I was very interested in the presidential election. And I’ve stayed interested ever since.

2. You became extremely fascinated with the White House when:

I always loved the White House as both history and architecture, but I only studied it as much as I studied other pieces of great architecture (the skyscrapers of New York, castles of Europe, etc.). About 2004, I started thinking how great it would be to recreate great and/or ruined architecture at full scale, like a complete and painted Parthenon. But I was more attracted to the White House (and also 10 Downing Street) than I was the Parthenon and found a huge amount of detail available about it (less so about 10 Downing Street). And the more I found, the more I wanted to know.

3. Your favorite room at the White House is:
The hiddenest nooks and crannies.

4. If I could have an extremely accurate copy of any object in the White House it would be:
The Reagan Oval Office rug, altho Lord knows what I’d do with it.

5. If you were to save 3 objects from a fire, they would be:
1) The Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington.
2) The Monroe Bellangé sofa.
3) Lincoln’s hand-written Gettysburg Address.

6. If you could visit the White House in any 2 periods in history, you would choose:
I’d love to see the fresh young Jefferson White House and the stuffy late-Victorian White House, say 1893, so I could follow Frances Benjamin Johnston around as her photo assistant.

7. The room you would most like to change is:
I would turn the Queens’ Bedroom suite in a Washington Bedroom suite.

8. How many times have you visited the White House?
Just once from the outside. I should have gone when getting a tour was easy!

9. Your favorite story about the White House:
LBJ demanding an absurd, high-pressure, multi-nozzle shower. That guy was America’s crazy uncle.

10. Your least favorite object in the White House:
Probably the new Green Room rug or else the gold dining chairs.

11. Do you favor the North Portico or the South Portico:
South Portico; it gets all the sun. I have a 16×20 photo I shot of it hanging in my study.

12. You’re an invited overnight guest, where do you hope to dine and sleep?
I’d like a dinner in the Blue Room and a sleeping bag in the Solarium. Who am I kidding? I wouldn’t sleep. I would creep around the basement all night with a sketchbook, tape measure, and camera.

13. If you could give a gift to the White House it would be:
A lost set of early Daguerreotypes, documenting all the interiors, hand-tinted by artists working inside the mansion for accuracy.

14. Your favorite state china service is:
Wilson, with Roosevelt a close second.

15. The best you remember the White House looking in photographs or in video:
I like it in night shots, especially with the West Wing burning the midnight oil.

16. First reactions to visiting the White House:
There’s a lot of junk hidden in the trees on the east side. I think I saw Susan Ford’s Mustang up on blocks.

New front page – Obama Oval

I’ve changed the front page to one featuring the new president entering the Oval Office on day 1. As usual, you can peruse old front pages in the gallery.

New floor plans

Pete has completed the revisions to the floor plans and forwarded new versions with white wall tops, including the overview of the grounds which looks amazing. I’ve uploaded most of them now and the rest are coming soon.

Still to come: East Wing floor 2, Residence sub-basements.