Vermeil Room

The Goldware Collection

The Vermeil Room (pronounced vur-MAY), sometimes called the "Gold Room," serves as a display room and, for formal occasions, as a ladies sitting room. The soft yellow of the paneled walls complements the collection of vermeil, or gold-plated silver, bequeathed to the White House in 1956 by Mrs. Margaret Thompson Biddle.

The vermeil collection contains pieces from different services and includes the work of English Regency silversmith Paul Storr (1771-1844), the French Empire silversmith Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot (1763-1850), and Philip Rundell of London, who crafted the vermeil wine cooler at the right. The cooler has as its handles classical figures reaching for grapes from an arbor.

This room is about 27 1/2 feet by 22 1/2 feet. The green silk draperies are of early 19th-century design. The carpet is a Turkish Hereke of about 1860, chosen for its pale green background and gold silk highlights. In the center of the room stands a circular mahogany table made in the Empire revival style later in the 19th century. Its tilt top is veneered in 12 wedge-shaped sections, each inlaid with a brass star. Hanging above it is a cut-glass chandelier with ten arms, which was made in England about 1785.

Against the south wall is a New York sofa circa 1815 attributed to the workshop of Duncan Phyfe. It has scrolled ends and a reeded frame. On either side stand Boston work tables made in the early 1800's and thought to be the work of either John or Thomas Seymour. Although not a pair, each has two drawers and a sewing-bag slide.

Placed along the north wall is a classical mahogany pier table with a marble top and gilded bronze caryatid heads and feet on reeded supports. It was made about 1805 in New York and is one of two tables in the room that bear the label of New York cabinetmaker Charles-Honore Lannuier.

Before the room was converted house the goldware, this room was a ladies' parlor for guests assembling (from the East Wing entrance) before a social event. Mrs. Hoover converted this room from the "Social Bureau," where the White House social events were coordinated, into the "Appointment Room," which served somewhat the older purpose of a place where the Hoovers' social appointments could pause before going up to meet with the first lady and/or the president. Earlier still, the room once housed a billiards table.

The Room of First Ladies

Portraits of several first ladies are exhibited in the Vermeil Room. Douglas Chandor caught the vivaciousness and changing moods in his multiple-image portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt, painted in his studio in New York City in 1949. Inscribed by her in the upper right corner: "A trial made pleasant by the painter. Eleanor Roosevelt." Claudia (Lady Bird) Johnson by Elizabeth Shoumatoff. Mrs. Johnson chose the Jefferson Memorial, one of her favorite views, as the background for the picture, which was painted in the White House. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by Aaron Shikler in 1970; her New York apartment provided its background. Aaron Shikler also painted Nancy Reagan's portrait, which graces the east wall of the room. Patricia Ryan Nixon by Henriette Wyeth hangs on the north wall, as does Lou Henry Hoover's portrait, by Richard Brown.

Ladies' Lavatory

The Vermeil Room allows access to a ladies' lounge and lavatory. When it was first added, it was a men's lavatory, and the men's room off the Library was a ladies' room.