The Roosevelt White House: Renovation, Power, and a Lively Family
The McKim, Mead & White Renovation: Creating the Modern White House
By 1902 the White House was a building worn out by a century of patchwork. That year McKim, Mead & White began a complete renovation: structural repairs, new electrical and plumbing systems, new bathrooms and rebuilt interiors. A major change was a new executive office building, today's West Wing. It moved the offices out of the crowded east end of the second floor and gave the President and his staff a place of their own, with room for the Cabinet.
While the work went on, the President used a rented house at 22 Jackson Place as a temporary office and residence, while the family spent the summer at Oyster Bay. The renovation separated the family's residence from the working offices in the West Wing, a split that still shapes the White House today.
The architects also restored the building's historic character. The State Rooms were restored to neoclassical elegance, and the Cross Hall became a gracious public space.
Edith Roosevelt and the Renovation
The renovation began with Edith. In 1902 she asked architect Charles F. McKim for advice on the cramped family quarters. McKim's firm, McKim, Mead & White, designed a full renovation. Part of the plan moved the offices out of the house and into a new executive office building, today's West Wing. Edith approved the fabrics and furniture and shaped the family quarters. T.R. approved the plans, as the congressional appropriation required.
The Blue Room in January 1902, months before the renovation cleared away its Victorian clutter. (B. M. Clinedinst / Library of Congress)
The White House terrace, November 1902. In 1901 Roosevelt made "White House" the mansion's official name, replacing "Executive Mansion" on its stationery. (B. M. Clinedinst / Library of Congress)
The Official Name: "The White House"
Before 1901 the building's official name was the Executive Mansion. People had called it the White House informally for decades. On Oct. 17, 1901, at Roosevelt's direction, his secretary George Cortelyou asked Secretary of State John Hay to change the heading of official papers from "Executive Mansion" to "White House." The stationery soon followed, and the nickname became the name.
Roosevelt's Office and His Work Style
T.R. worked in the new executive office (today's West Wing) from November 1902, and often in his upstairs study. The Oval Office was added under Taft in 1909.
The office was a busy place, and T.R. was known for seeing a great many people.
Roosevelt at his desk in June 1902, in the old office inside the residence. By November the offices had moved to the new executive office building. (Underwood & Underwood / Library of Congress)
The White House, the new executive office building and the tennis court where Roosevelt's "Tennis Cabinet" met, on a 1909 postcard. (Library of Congress)
The Tennis Court and the Strenuous Presidency
T.R. had a tennis court built behind the West Wing. He believed in hard exercise, and he played with staff, family and occasionally visitors. The court was moved to the South Lawn when President Taft enlarged the West Wing.
His regular partners, advisers and friends among them, became known as the "Tennis Cabinet." Playing tennis with the president was not a privilege given lightly.
Family Life in the President's House
The Roosevelt White House was a family home. Roosevelt had six children, from his teenage daughter Alice to three-year-old Quentin. The younger ones ran through the hallways, with the Secret Service close behind.
Alice was known for her irreverence. She smoked cigarettes, famously on the White House roof after her father banned smoking under his roof. She spoke bluntly and ignored ideas of how a president's daughter should behave. Her father was often exasperated, but the public adored her.
Edith ran the household and kept it working, balancing family life with formal entertaining. She was a steadying influence on her husband's impetuousness.
Newspapers followed the children's antics, and the Roosevelt children became some of the most written-about presidential children of their era.
Decorations for Alice Roosevelt's White House wedding, February 1906. (Frances Benjamin Johnston / Library of Congress)
The White House as Stage for the Presidency
T.R. used the White House as a stage. He held state dinners there and made the house a center of government and Washington society. Alice married Nicholas Longworth in the East Room in 1906.
The house T.R. left was different from the one he inherited. It had an official name, a new office building for the work of the presidency, and restored public rooms. Much of the house visitors see today still reflects the design of 1902.
Continue Reading
- Remaking the White House, 1902 — The renovation that began with Edith
- Edith Roosevelt, First Lady — Her staff, musicales, back channels and the modern First Lady
- The White House Family — Edith, Alice and the five younger children at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
- The Roosevelt Family — The family that made the White House their home
- The Presidency — How Roosevelt's executive powers were exercised from the White House
- Sagamore Hill — His beloved home, where he spent summers and his retirement
Primary Sources at the TR Center
Explore Roosevelt's White House years through letters and documents at the Theodore Roosevelt Center Digital Library.
- Politics and Government — Essays and documents on his presidency and executive actions
- Family and Friends — Edith, the children and the people around the Roosevelt White House
Learn more about the White House and its history from the White House Historical Association.
From the Archives
Explore original photographs, documents, and illustrations related to this topic in the Theodore Roosevelt Center Digital Library.
Recommended Reading
- Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris (Random House, 2001). ISBN: 978-0-394-55509-6
- The President's House: A History by William Seale (White House Historical Association, 1986; 2nd ed. 2008). ISBN (2nd ed.): 978-0-8018-8597-6