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Digital Artists Recreated The Changes The Oval Office Went Through Over The Last 100 Years
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Digital Artists Recreated The Changes The Oval Office Went Through Over The Last 100 Years

Here Are 3D Renditions Of The Oval Office Of The Past 20 US Presidents3D Artists Rendered The Evolution Of The Oval Office Decor Over The Past 100 Years And 20 PresidenciesDigital Artists Recreated The Changes The Oval Office Went Through Over The Last 100 Years3D Artists Recreated The Oval Office Changes Over The Last 20 Presidencies3D Renders Of The Oval Office Of The Past 20 US PresidentsHere Are The 3D Renders Of The Oval Office Over The Reign Of Past 20 US PresidentsDigital Artists Rendered The Evolution Of How Oval Office Looked Over The Past 100 Years And 20 PresidenciesHere Are 3D Renditions Of The Changes The Oval Office Went Through The Last 100 Years3D Artists Recreated The Oval Office Evolution Over The Last 20 PresidenciesDigital Artists Recreated The Changes The Oval Office Went Through Over The Last 100 Years
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The Oval Office became the central place of every American president since the beginning of the 20th century. It’s a tradition for every incoming president to change the décor in the Oval Office, from the upholstery to the wallpapers. The process is meant to reflect a president’s individual personality and intentions in office, as well as putting their own stamp on the world’s most illustrious room.

It also reflects how the president sees and represents their own country and how they display the sovereignty of the US to the dignitaries of other countries, as the room is used to meet them and share important messages with the citizens. The Oval Office isn’t just for show. Just like any other office, the presidents also use it for day-to-day work and meetings with the staff.

As part of their 50th-anniversary celebrations, American Home Shield decided to look back at the Oval Office’s evolution from 1909 to 2021. In 1909, during the West Wing expansion, William Howard Taft decided to move his office from the Roosevelt Room into what’s now arguably the most iconic seat of power in the world.

More info: ahs.com | Facebook | twitter.com

William Howard Taft (1909-1913)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Taft made the decision to move the executive office from the Roosevelt Room to the room of the president’s secretary (now known as the Chief of Staff) during his expansion of the West Wing. The office had previously been rounded at just one end, but Taft had it remodeled to a more democratic oval shape.

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Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Following a period of reinvention in the West Wing, Taft’s immediate successors made only minor changes to the new Oval Office. President Wilson preferred to work in the Treaty Room (which would later become Obama’s “man-cave”), missing out on Oval Office features such as silk velvet curtains and mahagua wood floor.

Warren Harding (1921-1923)

Image credits: American Home Shield

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Harding died two years into his administration. A poignant photo of the Oval Office in August 1923 shows Harding’s leather desk chair and famous blotter adorned with mourning crepes.

Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Coolidge’s Oval Office still reflects the work that designer Nathan C. Wyeth did for William Taft. A marble mantel in the neoclassical style adds gravity and authority to the scene, while the fixtures are by celebrated lighting and metalwork company E. F. Caldwell & Co.

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Herbert Hoover (1929-1933)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Wyeth and Taft’s Oval Office was ruined by the White House fire of Christmas Eve, 1929. Sitting President Hoover repaired and expanded the office in a colonial style, with butternut wood-paneled walls.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Despite Hoover’s renovations, Roosevelt soon relocated the Oval Office to the southeast corner of the West Wing, where there was better natural light. He also expanded it by two feet. However, he kept Hoover’s 17-piece suite, with which the Grand Rapids Furniture Manufacturers Association had refurnished the old Oval Office. It included a desk, “davenport, club chair, two large and one smaller wing chairs, two tables, swivel desk chair, two armchairs, two bookcases, a small table and three smoking stands of two sizes.”

Harry S. Truman (1945-1953)

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Image credits: American Home Shield

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Truman was the first to have a rug with the Seal of the President. It was a continuous blue-green color, with the crest implied by cutting the pile to different lengths. The rug would not be replaced until the day that JFK was assassinated. (This was a coincidence; Jacqueline Kennedy planned for the office to be redecorated while they were away in Texas.)

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Eisenhower is one of just two presidents not to have made significant changes to the décor of the Oval Office. However, he reportedly destroyed the floor with his golf spikes, which he neglected to take off when returning from the putting green he established on the back lawn.

John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)

Image credits: American Home Shield

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy invited French interior designer Stéphane Boudin to renovate and restore the White House. Boudin introduced a new red rug, white sofas, and pale curtains, but the Kennedys never got to see the finished job. Prior to the renovation, John Kennedy had personalized the space with items including a paperweight made from a coconut shell that saved his life in World War II.

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Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Johnson covered up Eisenhower’s spike-prints with wood-grain linoleum. He also brought the Oval Office into the media age, installing a teletype cabinet and banquette with three television sets. Johnson even had his own TV remote complete with LBJ monogram—so there was no fighting over who controlled the channels!

Richard Nixon (1969-1974)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Nixon chose a bold combination of blue and gold for his Oval Office—perhaps anticipating that guests would include Elvis Presley. Nixon also brought the Wilson desk (currently used by President Biden) into the office, wrongly believing it to have belonged to his idol, Woodrow Wilson.

Gerald Ford (1974-1977)

Image credits: American Home Shield

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Ford dialed down Nixon’s gold and royal blue to a bright but mellow color scheme of yellow, baby blue, and terracotta. It is Ford who installed the Seymour tall case clock that remains in the Oval Office today. This mahogany timepiece was built around 1800 and is considered a “treasure” of the White House.

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Carter kept Ford’s décor, but added some personal effects. He also brought back the famous Resolute desk first used by JFK and favored by every president since Carter, with the exception of the Bushes.

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)

Image credits: American Home Shield

The 40th President of the United States waited for his second term before redecorating. Of note is the new rug with sunbeam design atop a new floor in walnut and quartered white oak. Reagan also had a 2” base added to the Resolute desk to fit to stop him banging his knees on the drawers.

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George H. W. Bush (1989-1993)

Image credits: American Home Shield

The first President Bush modernized the Oval Office with a steel blue and cream color scheme. He also displayed numerous family photographs. Bush Senior is the only president to have used the C&O desk in his Oval Office—he had grown fond of using it while serving as Reagan’s vice-president.

Bill Clinton (1993-2001)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Kaki Hockersmith decorated Bill Clinton’s office in a scheme that can’t help but recall the Nixon era. Hockersmith’s eye-catching blue seal rug has recently been brought back into the Oval Office for the Biden administration.

George W. Bush (2001-2009)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Bush Junior echoed Ronald Reagan with his choice of a sunbeam-themed rug, which designer Ken Blasingame paired with antique gold drapes. The rug itself was designed by First Lady Laura Bush, and was intended to evoke the optimism of sunrise.

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Barack Obama (2009-2017)

Image credits: American Home Shield

President Obama was the first to choose patterned walls, opting for golden tan and light-beige striped wallpaper. The room’s cool fawn-colored velvet sofas and neutral tones reflected the fact that Obama genuinely used the office to sit down and work. “Someone said that Bush’s looked like the kind of room you’d have tea in, and that it was very genteel, but that Obama’s looked like a place you’d have a quick espresso and get down to work,” according to Obama’s designer, Michael S. Smith.

Donald Trump (2017-2021)

Image credits: American Home Shield

Trump’s choice of drapes turned out to be somewhat ironic. The gold curtains he found in storage were originally chosen by First Lady Hillary Clinton for husband Bill’s Oval Office. Trump also replaced Obama’s wallpaper, opting for a motif of sea scrolls, leaves, and floral medallions, intended to evoke the building’s sense of history.

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Joe Biden (2021-)

Image credits: American Home Shield

President Biden opted to keep the Clinton drapes in the windows and has brought back Clinton’s navy rug, too. New additions include a 3.9-billion-year-old moon rock.

The décor of the Oval Office is a statement of personal taste and of intent. It’s also a chance for the president’s interior designer to make a statement and do something historic.

The White House is a home to be proud of. And like all homeowners, it feels good to take pride in where we live and work, now more than ever. A home warranty can provide the confidence and budget protection you need when a home issue arises, so you can get back to the things you love—like deciding which rug looks best in your home office.

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Hidrėlėy

Hidrėlėy

Author, Pro member

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Fascinated by music, movies and sitcoms, I'm passionate about social media and can't live without the internet, especially for all the cute dog and cat pictures out there. I wish the day had about 40 hours to be able to do everything I want.

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Hidrėlėy

Hidrėlėy

Author, Pro member

Fascinated by music, movies and sitcoms, I'm passionate about social media and can't live without the internet, especially for all the cute dog and cat pictures out there. I wish the day had about 40 hours to be able to do everything I want.

Titas Burinskas

Titas Burinskas

Moderator, Community member

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This dude right here? He works as a Community Manager at Bored Panda. Has no back-story, cause his spine works just fine. He writes about himself in third-person, and in first-person about others. Fell in love with storytelling and cannot let that love go. Now, he's here to help you make your own story simply beautiful. Secretly makes cute music samples and writes stories in the dark that nobody has ever heard of before.

Read less »

Titas Burinskas

Titas Burinskas

Moderator, Community member

This dude right here? He works as a Community Manager at Bored Panda. Has no back-story, cause his spine works just fine. He writes about himself in third-person, and in first-person about others. Fell in love with storytelling and cannot let that love go. Now, he's here to help you make your own story simply beautiful. Secretly makes cute music samples and writes stories in the dark that nobody has ever heard of before.

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blunderbuss09 avatar
Blunderbuss09
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I like George H. W. Bush's the most; using the iconic blue-and-gold colour themes but ever so slightly muted so it's not overpowering. Classy but tasteful.

carrielaughs avatar
Carrie Laughs
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I liked that one best too - though I liked the window treatments most where there weren't swags. Just a personal preference of course.

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roselynjp avatar
Roselyn Park
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Interesting how there are four chairs lined up in front of the desk in Trump’s iteration of the Oval Office. That reads like some sort of dominance or power play.

dirigobill avatar
kristiningersoll_1 avatar
Kristin Ingersoll
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Joe Biden's office isn't right. I noticed that portrait of Preisent Jackson immediately. That was a trump thing. Biden knew Jackson's ugly legacy and had that crap removed from the Oval Office immediately. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/20/oval-office-joe-biden-busts-paintings-mlk-fdr-franklin

robindhuff avatar
Robin Huff
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The first thing I noticed. I always wonder WHEN will they finally take his face off of the $20 dollar bill? Being a supposed hero of the War of 1812 is pretty well negated by genocide.

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blunderbuss09 avatar
Blunderbuss09
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I like George H. W. Bush's the most; using the iconic blue-and-gold colour themes but ever so slightly muted so it's not overpowering. Classy but tasteful.

carrielaughs avatar
Carrie Laughs
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I liked that one best too - though I liked the window treatments most where there weren't swags. Just a personal preference of course.

Load More Replies...
roselynjp avatar
Roselyn Park
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Interesting how there are four chairs lined up in front of the desk in Trump’s iteration of the Oval Office. That reads like some sort of dominance or power play.

dirigobill avatar
kristiningersoll_1 avatar
Kristin Ingersoll
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Joe Biden's office isn't right. I noticed that portrait of Preisent Jackson immediately. That was a trump thing. Biden knew Jackson's ugly legacy and had that crap removed from the Oval Office immediately. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/20/oval-office-joe-biden-busts-paintings-mlk-fdr-franklin

robindhuff avatar
Robin Huff
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The first thing I noticed. I always wonder WHEN will they finally take his face off of the $20 dollar bill? Being a supposed hero of the War of 1812 is pretty well negated by genocide.

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