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Chapter Eighty-One: Transforming the Presidency
Chapter Eighty-One: Transforming the Presidency
The presidency was over a hundred years old by the time Ada Lovelace came to office. despite being new herself, the office wasn’t. While European monarchs and prime ministers lived in the newest homes of the 1880s with the newest in technology the president of the united states lived in the Whitehouse, no major renovations or changes had happened since the early 1800s and because of this it was outdated. Cables had been installed for the telegraph but that was all. As time had passed the White House had become more overcrowded. The location of the White House was questioned, just north of a canal and swampy lands, which provided conditions ripe for malaria and other unhealthy conditions. It was not the only problem the president faced, while the rich of America had begun the slow transition to motor cars the presidency continued to use horse and carriage which was slower. There were plans to leave the Whitehouse behind and build a new mansion away from the city but president Lovelace vetoed it. instead, the president would move to a smaller home while a new white house was constructed. Keeping the outer structure but improving and expanding the inside. About twenty wagonloads of furniture and household items were removed from the building and sold at a public auction. All that was saved were bust portraits of John Quincy Adams and Martin Van Buren. Afterword’s the inside was gutted completely, revealing the rotting sinking structure within, had it been left the Whitehouse could have collapsed into the swamp in under thirty years.
The white house was reinforced with new steel and iron then it was raised under a new foundation to protect it from the swamp. A National Wing on the east was built for a historical art gallery, and a wing on the west was constructed for the official duties of the president. By moving the president’s office into the new west wing, the renovators were able to remove a staircase expanding the space of the first family allowing for new bedrooms. A larger basement was added for the Whitehouse staff. Different periods of the early republic and world history were selected as a theme for each room: The Federal style for the Green Room, French Republic for the Blue Room, America n Empire for the Red Room, Louis XVI for the Yellow Oval Room, and German for the president's study, renamed the Treaty Room. Antique furniture was acquired, and decorative fabric and trim based on period documents was produced and installed. Lovelace wanted the Whitehouse to remain in the image of the old while also being new. The old stables were converted into a new garage for cars and a swimming pool was also added into the Whitehouse. The garden, the first lady’s office and the meeting rooms were all shifted to the former location of the president’s office. telephones were also installed in the Whitehouse and a guard’s break area was introduced. The construction on the new white was would be complete in 1893 after Lovelace’s term but it would establish a new strong Whitehouse that would remain for another long period of time.