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Photos: Inside the White House's color-coded rooms
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Spotlight

Photos: Inside the White House's color-coded rooms

  • Mar 6, 2017
  • Mar 6, 2017 Updated Sep 8, 2023

There are 132 rooms in the White House, but just a few have gotten names based on the color of their decor. Here's a look inside the green, blue, red and yellow oval rooms.

The White House's Green Room, which was originally listed as a "lodging room," has served as a dining room, drawing room and parlor for holding teas and receptions, according to WhiteHouse.gov.

The first major piece of green decor came during Thomas Jefferson's administration in the form of a "canvas floor cloth, painted green." 

In 1812, President James Madison signed the United States' first declaration of war in the Green Room. The room would later be the site of the viewing for President Abraham Lincoln's son, Willie, who died at age 11 from typhoid fever. According to the White House Museum, Mary Todd Lincoln avoided the room after that.

White House Green Room, 1940

The Green Room in the White House, Washington, D.C., April 24, 1940. (AP Photo)

AP
White House Green Room

A portrait of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower hangs on the wall of the Green Room in at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec. 1962. Exact date is unknown. (AP Photo)

STF
White House Green Room

Paintings of past presidents adorn the walls as a crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling of the Green Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec. 1962. Exact date is unknown. (AP Photo)

STF
White House Green Room

Paintings of past presidents adorn the walls as a crystal chandelier hangs from the ceiling of the Green Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., Jan 21, 1963. (AP Photo)

STF

The Blue Room got its signature color in 1937 during Martin Van Buren's administration and is where the president and first lady usually greet guests during formal receptions. Its geometric design came around 1870 when President Andrew Johnson's daughter Martha Johnson Patterson redecorated.

It's one of four oval rooms in the White House and has served as a place for meetings, luncheons and dinners, as well as the site for President Grover Cleveland's wedding in 1886.

The Blue Room is also where the White House Christmas tree has been placed each December since 1961 (except 1962 and 1969).

White House Blue Room

First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton unveils the renovated Blue Room of the White House, Feb. 17, 1995. The process for the renovation began when the Committee for the Preservation of the White House recommended that the Blue Room be refurbished. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

J. Scott Applewhite

The Red Room got its name in 1845 after it was redecorated with furniture upholstered in "crimson plush." It had previously been know as the "president's anti-chamber" during Thomas Jefferson's presidency and has often been used as a private parlor for first ladies to receive guests.

Rather than being painted red, the Red Room's walls are covered in red satin.

Currently, the room is most often used as a parlor for dinner and reception guests.

White House Red Room

First Lady Nancy Reagan is shown standing in the Red Room of the White House in this March 4, 1981 photo. (AP Photo/HO)

Anonymous

The Yellow Oval Room is located directly above the Blue Room. President John Adams' first reception was held here in 1801 before the White House was officially finished, according to the White House Museum. The room first got its yellow color when Dolley Madison decorated in 1809.

The Yellow Oval Room served as the location for the first White House library in 1851, as well as the house's first Christmas tree in 1889.

Franklin D. Roosevelt used the Yellow Oval Room as his study, and it was where he was when he learned about the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941.

The room is currently used to host important guests during formal private receptions. 

White House Yellow Oval Room

First lady and mother of the bride Lady Bird Johnson fixes the wedding gown train of her daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson, in the Yellow Oval Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 9, 1967. Standing next to the bride is husband and Marine Corps Capt. Charles S. Robb. Standing behind the first lady is U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. To the right is the groom's mother, Mrs. Robb, and father, James S. Robb. (AP Photo)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
White House Yellow Oval Room

America’s first lady Barbara Bush, wife of President George H.W. Bush, chats with Britain’s Princess Margaret in the Yellow Oval Room in the upstairs White House residence in Washington on March 11, 1991. Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth of England, is in Washington to attend the visit of the Royal Ballet. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Ron Edmonds
White House Yellow Oval Room

This photo provided by the White House shows first lady Laura Bush, right, meeting with Klara Dobrev, wife of Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, Monday, June 6, 2006, in the Yellow Oval Room in the private residence of the White House. (AP Photo/White House, Paul Morse)

PAUL MORSE
White House Yellow Oval Room

This photo provided by the White House shows first lady Laura Bush, third from right, hosting a coffee for Azerbaijan first lady Mehriban Aliyeva, fourth from right, and others, in the Yellow Oval Room inside the private residence of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2006. (AP Photo/White House, Shealah Craighead)

SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD

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A rare look inside the brand new White House Situation Room: Cutting-edge tech, mahogany and that new car smell

A rare look inside the brand new White House Situation Room: Cutting-edge tech, mahogany and that new car smell

The White House Situation Room — a space of great mystique and even greater secrecy — just got a $50 million facelift.

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