Blue Room
Architect James Hoban's 1792 plan for the White House included three stacked oval rooms in the center of the building that form a projecting bow on the south side.
This room was known by its shape - "Elliptical", "Oval", or "Circular" - until the color was changed to blue in 1837 under Martin Van Buren and a new name emerged.
When it was completely furnished by First Lady Dolley Madison, the Blue Room became the principal formal drawing room of the White House, and the Madisons received their first guests there on New Year's Day, 1810.
Among the objects which Dolley Madison had removed to safety in 1814, before evacuating the house to British troops, were the red velvet draperies hanging in this room. In the refurnishing of the house after the fire of 1814, President and Mrs. James Monroe ordered mahogany furniture for this room, but the purchasing agents in France substituted a 53-piece suite of gilded furniture made in Paris by Pierre-Antoine Bellangé.
Although most of this suite was sold at auction in 1860, eight original pieces have been returned to the room since 1961.
Although special meetings, luncheons, and dinners have been held in the room, it continues to be used for the purpose first intended - the formal reception room of the White House.
It is here that the President and his wife often receive guests during receptions. The first Chinese delegation to present diplomatic credentials was received by President Rutherford B. Hayes in the Blue Room in 1878.
Family events held here include the June 2, 1886 wedding of Grover Cleveland, the only sitting President to marry in the White House. Since 1961 (excepting 1962 and 1969), the principal White House Christmas tree has been placed in the center of the room.
