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Opposite: The Rose Bedroom as it appeared in June 1960, having been completed in 1952 for President Harry Truman. The large guest room, now known as the Queens’ Room, adjoins the Queens’ Sitting Room. Above: The Queens’ Sitting Room, July 1963, north view showing Mrs. Kennedy’s changes. She gave the room a bold look, focused on a strong blueand-white Empire-style fabric and black-and-gold furniture.
by a more stylish Truman renovation acquisition—a neoclassical white marble mantel with stop-fluted engaged columns and a wreath-carved frieze—that had been removed from the northwest corner room at the opposite end of the building when it was converted into a private quarters kitchen in 1961. The new mantel was surmounted by a tall gilded looking glass, made c. 1800–20 and donated in 1962, that features extensive use of é glomisé or reverse-painted glass, with a gold-on-white garland frieze, but also blue-onblack panels of vines on the base rail and vertical stiles. Comple-menting the new fabric, a pair of late 19th-century porcelain vases, bright blue with white decoration of classical dancers, was selected from among older White House furnishings for placement on the turreted corners of the mantel shelf.
Small Slice ofthe Kennedy Decor: The Queens’ Sitting Room 55 This ebook was originally published as White House History #14, 2004. ISSN: 0748-8114. CA Copyright 2004 by White House Historical Association. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior written permission of the White House Historical Association. The views presented by the authors are theirs and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the White House Historical Association.