Lengthways of the house, and thro' the hall is a walk 

 which extends on a terrace on each end for some way. 

 A staircase arched to admit of this walk ascends at one 

 end and this is the grand staircase. It is in the form 

 of a U and has stairs on each side meeting in the centre. 

 Thro' the second story is a hall or entry and this opens 

 into all the rooms, which are more numerous and smaller 

 than the lower rooms. The President's communicated 

 with others and this is all the information I can give of 

 the inside of the house. -- 



In August of the year following young Elbridge 

 Gerry's visit came the heartbreak of having all this 

 work literally go up in smoke. As Dolley tells it in 

 a letter to Mrs. Latrobe, "Two hours before the 

 enemy entered the city, I left the house where Mr. 

 Latrobe's elegant taste had been so justly admired 

 and where you and I had so often wandered together; 

 and on that very day I sent out the silver (nearly all) 

 and velvet curtains and General Washington's 

 pictures, the Cabinet papers a few books and the 

 small clock and left everything else." ^' 



Figure 9 shows the devastated mansion. The hou.sc 

 was gutted, and of the elegant drawing room created 

 by Dolley Madison and Benjamin Latrobe only the 

 crimson velvet curtains were saved. However, in 

 the view of the White House in figure 10 we can see 

 still standing outside the ruins the fence designed by 

 Latrobe. 



The Diorama 



On the basis of this research on the Oval Drawing 

 Room, a diorama of the room has been created and 

 is displayed in the First Ladies' Hall of the Museum 



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

 180-181. 

 ■'■' Hamlin, op. cit. (footnote 2), p. 304. 



of History and Technology. Some of the details of 

 the diorama were decided on the basis of the evidence 

 at hand. For example, the colors used on the furni- 

 ture and on the mirror frame are those found on the 

 watercolor drawings by Latrobe. These dictated the 

 use of the other colors seen in the room. 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 ! Their effect will ruin me entirely so brilliant 

 will they be." The Latrobe letter book states that the 

 President's Drawing Room was painted by Mr. 

 Bridgeport of Philadelphia, but leaves no clue to the 

 color he used or what portions of the room were 

 painted. None of the contemporary descriptions of 

 the room mentions the 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 of decorative 

 touches rather than an overall wall treatment. 



For the floor covering described in the Archives 

 Records as "169 yards of Brussels carpet and 30 

 yards of border — plus a large hearth rug to 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's Collection of Ornamental 

 Design after the Manner of the Antique, published in 

 London in 1812. It has an anthemion motif echoing 

 that on the Latrobe furniture and gave the room an 

 ensemble type of decor — the kind of setting for which 

 Benjamin Latrobe seemed to be striving and which 

 he apparently achieved. 



For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

 Washington, D.C. 20402 — Price 25 cents 



