Ground Floor The White House constructed between 1792

——Ground Floor

• The White House, constructed between 1792 and 1800, is the official residence of the President of the United States and a living museum of American history. The White House’s collection of fine and decorative arts includes historic objects associated with the White House and the Presidency and significant or representative works by a variety of American and European artists and craftsmen( 匠) that are consistent with the historic character of the house.

• Since 1800 when the first work of art, the full-length portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, was acquired for the President's House, objects including paintings, sculpture, furniture, and china have been purchased by, or donated to, the White House for the enjoyment of the First Families and their guests in this ever-changing historic structure. The public also is welcomed into the public rooms to learn about the White House - its history, occupants, and collection.

The map of Ground Floor

Ground Floor Corridor(走廊) Library Vermeil Room China Room East Garden Room

Ground Floor Corridor • Until 1902, the Ground Floor in the White House served as utilitarian space used by servants. As a result, by the end of the 19 th century, James Hoban’s original groin vaulting(穹棱拱顶) in the wide corridor of this floor had been cut through in numerous places to accommodate pipes and ducts. The furnace room (now the Diplomatic Reception Room) also jutted into the corridor.

• When Mc. Kim, Mead, & White created a new guest entrance in the East Wing （东厢房） during the 1902 renovation of the White House, they transformed much of the Ground Floor into public space. All intrusions were removed, the vaulting was restored, and the refurbished corridor received rugs and seating furniture. At First Lady Edith Roosevelt’s initiative, two cabinets were purchased for the corridor in 1904 to display pieces of dinner and dessert services used by former presidents. Mrs. Roosevelt also decided to hang portraits of first ladies in this space, inaugurating(开创) a tradition that has been retained to the present.

Painting of Barbara Pierce Bush (Mrs. George H. W. Bush) by Charles A. Fagan, 2005

Coming Through the Rye, Sculpture by Frederic Sackrider Remington, modeled 1902, cast 1918

Daniel Webster, sculpture by Thomas Ball, 1853 Henry Clay, sculpture by Thomas Ball, 1858

Painting of Hillary Rodham Clinton (Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton) by Simmie Knox, 2003

Meat for Wild Men, sculpture by Charles Marion Russell, modeled c. 1920 and cast 1956

Pier Table(矮几) by Duncan Phyfe, 1833

Gift of Mrs. Enid A. Haupt, 1970, c. 1800

Side Chair carving attributed to Samuel Mc. Intire, 1794

Library • Most of the Ground Floor rooms were service areas until the Theodore Roosevelt renovation of 1902; this room was generally used as the laundry. Thereafter it became a gentleman’s anteroom（接待厅） and then a library in 1935. Originally compiled in 1961 and updated in 2005, the official White House Library contains 2, 700 works of American life and thought. In the modern era, the room has been a favorite for media tapings.

• Armchair by William King Jr. , 1818

• Front View（正面图） of the President's House, in the City of Washington by an unknown artist, 1807

• Hayne Hudjihini (Eagle of Delight), Oto by Charles Bird King, c. 1822

James Hoban sculpture attributed to John Christian Rauschner, c. 1800

• Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette sculpture, artist unknown, c. 1930

Monchousia (White Plume), Kansa painting by Charles Bird King, c. 1822

• Mountain at Bear Lake - Taos painting by Georgia O'Keeffe, 1930

• Petalesharro (Generous Chief), Pawnee, painting by Charles Bird King, c. 1822

• Saber by Klingenthal Armory, c. 1799

• Shaumonekusse (Prairie Wolf), Oto, painting by Charles Bird King, c. 1822

Sharitarish (Wicked Chief), Pawnee, painting by Charles Bird King, c. 1822

Vermeil Room • The room takes its name from the large collection of vermeil (gilded silver) received by the White House in 1958 as a bequest of Margaret Thompson Biddle, selections of which have been on display in this room ever since. The 1, 575 piece collection contains examples of work by the most prominent English and French silversmiths working in the 18 th and 19 th centuries. Pieces from the vermeil collection are also on display throughout the house. • Until the end of the 19 th century, Ground Floor rooms were the domain of White House servants, who probably used this room as a bedroom or storeroom. During a complete renovation of the White House for President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, this room became a coat/dressing room for female guests. Later, it was used as an office, waiting room, conference room, and billiard room. Since the Nixon administration, it has served as a sitting room.

• Painting of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt by Douglas Granville Chandor, 1949

• Center Table by Anthony Gabriel Quervelle, c. 1829

• Painting of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis by Aaron Shikler, 1970

• Painting of Claudia (Lady Bird) Taylor Johnson by Elizabeth Shoumatoff, 1968

• Tureen and Stand by James Young, 1779

• Water ewer by Richard Sibley, 1817

• Work Table attributed to Thomas Seymour, c. 1814

China Room • Since 1917, the Ground Floor room known as the China Room has been used as an exhibition space for examples of ceramics, glass, and silver used in the White House or owned by the first families。In the 19 th century. it was used by White House servants. It became a public space in 1902, when it was transformed into a coat/dressing room during the Theodore Roosevelt renovation of the White House. When she became first lady in 1889, Caroline Harrison continued to pursue the Victorian art form of china painting. This hobby and her interest in history (she was the first president of the Daughters of the American Revolution) led her to take an active interest in collecting and preserving White House tableware used in previous administrations. .

Although she planned to have a cabinet built in the State Dining Room to display examples of White House china services, her idea was not executed before her premature death in 1892, while her husband was running unsuccessfully for re-election. In 1901, Mrs. Mc. Kinley allowed journalist Abby Gunn Baker to survey the surviving White House service pieces which resulted in a scholarly article. In 1904, Mrs. Roosevelt had two cabinets made for the newly refurbished Ground Floor Corridor to display samples of White House china chosen for this purpose by Ms. Baker, and together they publicized their search for past White House tableware and actively collected examples to supplement what had survived at the White House. Edith Wilson decided to devote an entire room to display the growing collection of White House china, creating the “Presidential Collection Room” in 1917. Abby Gunn Baker was again asked to select and arrange the china, silver, and glassware installed in built-in cabinets around the room

• Oyster Plate from the Rutherford Hayes State Service by Haviland & Co. , 1880

• Service Plate from the Ronald Reagan State Service by Lenox, Inc. , 1981 Service Plate from the Woodrow Wilson State Service by Lenox, Inc. , 1918

The Farm Landing by Edward Mitchell Bannister, 1892

East Garden Room This room, at the west end of the East Terrace, is the intersection between the Residence and the East Wing. Double doors in the northwest corner provide entry into the Ground Floor Corridor within the original walls of the White House. The glazed south wall is an extension of the East Colonnade facade, with a door opening into the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden. Coming down the colonnade, guests first see an enormous bronze bust of Abraham Lincoln by Gutzon Borglum in a niche in the west wall, to the right of which hang display panels - historic photographs most of the year, official Christmas cards during the holiday season. Large portraits of four former presidents hang on the other two walls.

• Abraham Lincoln by John Gutzon De La Mothe Borglum, 1908

• Calvin Coolidge by Charles Sydney Hopkinson, 1932

• Millard Fillmore(第 13任总统) by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1857

• Grover Cleveland by Jonathan Eastman Johnson, 1891