• Lid of Humidor Presented to President Hoover
    Bailey, Banks & Biddle Company
    sports
    south view
    pets
    South Lawn
    South Grounds
    This illustration is etched onto the top of a silver humidor, or cigar box, which was presented to President Herbert Hoover on March 3, 1933. Presented to Hoover during the final days of his administration, the humidor was given to the president by men who frequently joined him for Hoover Ball. Made by silversmiths Bailey, Banks and Biddle, the design for the lid of the case features a Hoover Ball court on the South Lawn, two of the president's dogs, and a southern view of the White House in the distance. Elsewhere on the silver case are the engraved names of the regular Hoover Ball players, including Dr. Joel Thompson Boone, Arthur A. Ballantine, Roy D. Chapin, Arthur Mastick Hyde, Ernest Lee Jahncke, William D. Mitchell, Walter H. Newton, Lawrence Richey, Harlan Fiske Stone, and Ray L. Wilbur. Incorporating aspects of volleyball, tennis, and medicine ball, Hoover Ball was a sport created especially for the president following a recommendation by White House physician Dr. Joel Thompson Boone that the president increase his physical activity.
  • Washington, D.C.
    Albert Bierstadt
    landscapes
    flags
    Washington, D.C.
    South Lawn
    South Grounds
    Hudson River School
    painting
    This landscape of Washington, D.C. by Hudson River School artist Albert Bierstadt features the South Lawn with a vast, low-lying field beyond. Tiber Creek and the Potomac River, along with Long Bridge, push towards the horizon in the background. Standing prominently in the painting are a fountain and flag pole with the American flag raised at full mast, in a slight breeze, just right of center and extending nearly the height of the canvas. The fountain was from 1858 and was the first of its kind installed on the White House Grounds. It featured two tiers with sea serpents entwined around the fountain's shaft. The fountain was removed in 1869, the water jets having never worked properly. Bierstadt was renowned for his depictions of the American West and documenting Westward Expansion in the late 19th century. There are six pieces by Bierstadt in the White House Collection.
  • A Favorable Day: The White House Stables on the Day of Grant's Second Inauguration, 1873
    Peter Waddell
    south grounds
    This painting by Peter Waddell is titled "A Favorable Day: The White House Stables on the Day of Grant's Second Inauguration, 1873." It depicts the fourth and final White House Stable as it was initially built in 1871. Waddell painted this as a part of his "An Artist Visits the White House Past" series, commissioned by the White House Historical Association. ***Interior use only for publications***