Red Room (White House)

The Red Room is one of three state parlors on the State Floor in the White House, the home of the President of the United States in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The room has served as a parlor and music room, and recent presidents have held small dinner parties in it. It has been traditionally decorated in shades of red. The room is approximately 28 by 22.5 feet (8.5 by 6.9 m). It has six doors, which open into the Cross Hall, Blue Room, South Portico, and State Dining Room.

Benjamin Latrobe's 1803 drawing of the White House's first floor indicates that the Red Room served as "the President's Antichamber" (sic) for the president's "Library & Cabinet" next door in the location of the present State Dining Room. During the administration of John Adams, it served as a breakfast room. Jefferson kept a caged magpie in the room. During the James Madison administration, the antechamber became the "Yellow Drawing Room" and the scene of Dolley Madison's fashionable Wednesday night receptions. Dolley ordered a piano she particularly wanted, along with red velvet curtains for the room.

The White House was gutted in 1814 when the British set fire to the structure during the Burning of Washington. It was largely reconstructed during the administration of President James Monroe, and the door and window frames and doors themselves date to this era. Monroe purchased furnishings for the Red Room in the Empire style, as he had for the Blue Room, to furnish the rebuilt White House.

Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington originally hung in the Red Room, providing the colloquial name the "Washington Parlor." Stuart's 1804 portrait of Dolley Madison also was hung here.

...
Wikipedia