Family Dining Room

The Family Dining Room is a dining room located on the State Floor of the White House, the official residence of the President of the United States. The room is used for smaller, more private meals than those served in the State Dining Room. Used in the 1800s as a space for the First Family to have their meals, the Family Dining Room was used less for family meals and more for working lunches and small dinners in the 20th and 21st centuries. (Family dinners are now more often served on the Second Floor in the President's Dining Room.)

Architect James Hoban's 1792 design for the White House featured a Grand Stair in the western part of the mansion on the State Floor. Not completed when the White House was occupied in 1800, the Grand Stairs were probably finished by architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe in 1803 or shortly thereafter. To the north of this wing was a Public Dining Room and (between the dining room and the entrance hall) a Porter's Lodge and a narrow, winding Private Stair. To the south of the Grand Stair was a smaller room, to be used as a Cabinet Room or President's Library. To the east of this room was a President's Antechamber (later known as the Red Room). An oval-shaped Drawing Room (now the Blue Room) and a Common Dining Room (now the Green Room) served as additional dining and living space.

During the presidential administration of Thomas Jefferson, the Common Dining Room rather than the Public Dining Room was used primarily for family meals. At Jefferson's request, Latrobe drafted plans for altering the State Floor. In 1807, he proposed turning the Porter's Lodge into a sitting room, and partitioning the Public Dining Room. The eastern part of the room would contain a toilet and dressing room, while the western two-thirds of the room would become a bedroom. Latrobe envisioned this as private space for the president to use during the day, or as quarters for a high-ranking presidential aide. Latrobe's changes, however, were never implemented.

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