Many of our most celebrated national figures have participated in
historical events that have taken place within the EEOB's granite walls.
Theodore and
Franklin D. Roosevelt,
William Howard Taft,
Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Lyndon B. Johnson,
Gerald Ford, and
George H. W. Bush all had offices
in this building before becoming President. It has housed 16 Secretaries of the
Navy, 21 Secretaries of War, and 24 Secretaries of State. Winston Churchill
once walked its corridors and Japanese emissaries met here with Secretary of
State Cordell Hull after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
President Herbert Hoover
occupied the Secretary of Navy's office for a few months following a fire in
the Oval Office on Christmas Eve 1929. In recent history, President
Richard Nixon had a private
office here. Vice President
Lyndon B. Johnson was the
first in a succession of Vice Presidents to the present day that have had
offices in the building.
West Rotunda, restored in 1987. Extensive research was conducted to
determine the colors of the stained glass that was removed in 1950. Walter Smalling, Jr.
Gradually, the original tenants of the EEOB vacated the building - the
Navy Department left in 1918 (except for the Secretary who stayed until 1921),
followed by the War Department in 1938, and finally by the State Department in
1947. The White House began to move some of its offices across West Executive
Avenue in 1939, and in 1949 the building was turned over to the Executive
Office of the President and renamed the Executive Office Building. The building continues to
house various agencies that comprise the
Executive Office of the President, such as
the White House Office, the Office of the Vice President, the
Office of Management and Budget and the
National Security Council.
The Executive Office of the President Law Library was originally the War Department Library. This room mixes motifs derived from several architectural styles and, although it looks like a mixture of different metals, is composed entirely of cast iron. Walter Smalling, Jr. Theodore Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under John D. Long prior to the Spanish-American War. Library of Congress. North wing dome. Paint analysis revealed differences in coloration corresponding to the differences in design in the two pairs of domes and led to their restoration in 1984. Walter Smalling, Jr. Original painted decoration on the coved ceiling in the office of the Secretary of the Navy. Walter Smalling, Jr. Office of the Secretary of the Navy restored 1987. Restoration included partial replication of original marquetry floor. Walter Smalling, Jr. Since 1981, the Office of Administration of the Executive Office of the President has actively pursued a rigorous program of rehabilitation of the EEOB. The entire structure has benefited from an upgraded maintenance program that has also included restoration of some of the EEOB's most spectacular historic interiors. Office of the Secretary of War, 1888. It is typically victorian in style, with a parquet floor, heavy wall coverings, and an intricate ceiling mural. Library of Congress. |