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{{Short description|Room in the White House}}
{{Page numbers needed|date=September 2010}}
[[File:Vermeil Room during Bush administration.jpg|thumb|The Vermeil Room looking south during the administration of [[George W. Bush]]. A portrait of [[Jacqueline Kennedy]] hangs on the wall above the sofa.]]
[[File:Whitehouse VermeilRoom.svg|thumb|Location of the Vermeil Room on the ground floor of the White House.]]
[[File:Vermeil-cup.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Vermeil wine cooler by English silversmith [[Philip Rundell]] (1746–1827).]]

The '''Vermeil Room''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|v|ɜːr|m|əl}} {{respell|VUR|məl}}; {{IPA|fr|vɛʁˈmɛj|lang}}) is located on the ground floor of the [[White House]], the [[official residence]] of the [[president of the United States]]. The room houses a collection of [[silver-gilt]] or [[vermeil]] tableware, a 1956 bequest to the White House by Margaret Thompson Biddle. Portraits of [[First Lady of the United States|American First Ladies]] hang in the room.<ref>[https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/history/whtour/vermeil.html Vermeil Room Art and Furnishings]</ref>

==McKim creates the Social Room for Theodore Roosevelt==
The Vermeil Room was originally a staff work room used for storage and later for polishing silver. [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s 1902 renovation of the White House by architect [[Charles Follen McKim]] reconfigured the use of the house, finishing much of the ground floor for public use. When first furnished for public use, the room was termed the Social Room because it served as a lounge adjacent to a women's restroom. McKim provided the room with late Georgian-style cove moldings and a paneled wainscot. On the west wall, McKim installed a [[Colonial Revival]] mantel with paired Tuscan Doric columns and bas-relief medallions with American eagles similar to the one found in the [[seal of the president of the United States]]. A pair of built-in arched cupboards flanked the mantel.

==Truman reconstruction==
[[File:Vermeil Room 1952.jpg|thumb|The former Social Room as designed by Charles Follen McKim shown in 1952 during the administration of [[Harry Truman]].]]
The Truman reconstruction of the White House in 1952 replaced the 1815 pine beams installed during the reconstruction of the house after its burning by the British in 1814. President [[Harry S. Truman]] had the ancient beams sawn and installed as paneling in the Vermeil Room, [[China Room]], and [[Library (White House)|Library]]. The style of wall paneling and bracketed molding installed during the Truman reconstruction were based on a [[Georgian era|Georgian]] period model, contemporary with the design of the White House exterior. They were initially left unpainted, showing their grain and knots, a look popular in the 1950s.

==Margaret Thompson Biddle's bequest==
Margaret Thompson Biddle's collection was significant and ranged from Renaissance to 19th-century French and English pieces. The collection includes work by English Regency silversmith [[Paul Storr]] (1771–1844) as well as French Empire silversmiths, [[Pierre-Philippe Thomire]] (1751–1843) and [[Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot]] (1763–1850). First Lady [[Mamie Eisenhower]] had the collection displayed in the room's glass-enclosed [[Display case|vitrines]].

Biddle was the daughter of [[William Boyce Thompson]] and the wife of [[A. J. Drexel Biddle, Jr.]]

==Kennedy use and redecoration==
[[File:Vermeil Room 1962.jpg|thumb|1962 White House guide illustration showing the Vermeil Room redecoration by [[Stéphane Boudin]].]]
At first, the collection was only displayed in the Vermeil Room in a museum-like setting. First Lady [[Jacqueline Kennedy]], on the recommendation of her friend [[Rachel Lambert Mellon]], began using the collection for the display of flowers and fruit in the rooms on the state floor.

During the Kennedy White House restoration, interior designer [[Stéphane Boudin]] proposed painting the room in a style used in 17th and 18th century England and Normandy. Boudin had used a similar treatment in the Blue Bedroom at [[Leeds Castle]] in Kent, England. Rather than attempting to putty and polish the rough-sawn timbers, he highlighted the porous texture of the paneling. The walls were rubbed with wire brushes to bring up the grain and create an "aged" surface. Next, a solid coat of off-white paint was applied, followed by a "dragged" coating of blue paint. This was sealed using a bar of wax dabbed in pure dry blue pigment, and finally, the surface was lightly distressed to tiny specks of white in the underlying base coat.

The interior of the shelves displaying the vermeil was covered in white velvet. One of two neoclassical caryatid mantels was installed (still in place). White damask drapes were made with blue and off-white [[fringe (trim)|fringe]] trim. A finely patterned blue and white carpet was installed and a large center table was created with a custom-dyed blue velvet cloth not delivered until the Johnson years. A gilded chandelier, referring to the vermeil collection, was installed. The result was a gallery room, not a sitting room. ''The White House: An Historic Guide'' (1964) shows an architectural cross-section of Boudin's blue Vermeil Room.

==Nixon redecoration==
In 1971 First Lady [[Pat Nixon]], working with White House Curator Clement Conger, refurbished the Vermeil Room adopting a [[Federal style]] for the room's decoration. The Georgian cornices were replaced with later-period cornices. Several [[Display case|vitrines]] were closed up, and the paneling was given many coats of putty to transform it to a smooth finish. The room was painted a soft green, and drapery was designed by [[Edward Vason Jones]] in gold, green, and blue with complex swags trimmed in bobbin [[tassel]]s. A late 19th-century English crystal chandelier was installed, and the room was furnished with two Federal-style sofas and an Empire pier table between the windows on the south wall.

==George H.W. Bush redecoration==
[[File:Vermeil Room in 1990 before restoration.jpg|thumb|The Vermeil Room as decorated during the administration of [[George H. W. Bush]].]]
In 1991, during the [[George H. W. Bush]] administration, the room was repainted a soft yellow, the pier table was replaced with an empire-style sofa, and a pair of lolling chairs replaced the two federal-style sofas. The striped gold-and-blue drapery was replaced with striped silk damask in blue and cream.

==George W. Bush redecoration==
[[File:Vermeil Room.jpg|thumb|The Vermeil Room as decorated during the administration of [[Bill Clinton]].]]
In 2006 the White House curator Bill Allman, First Lady [[Laura Bush]], Bush family decorator Ken Blasingame and the [[Committee for the Preservation of the White House]] refurbished the room. Walls were painted in an enamel gloss finish in an ivory color with a tint of green described as ''Deauville.'' An 1829 center table in the late neoclassical style by Philadelphia cabinetmaker Anthony Gabriel Quervelle was placed in the room. The lolling chairs were reupholstered in patterned white silk damask, the c. 1815 sofa on the south wall is attributed to [[Duncan Phyfe]] and upholstered in pink silk [[lampas]]. On each side of the sofa stand Boston work tables produced in the early 19th century, likely to be the work of cabinetmakers John Seymour or Thomas Seymour. Though an unmatched pair, each has drawers and a fabric sewing bag. Windows were given new drapery – straight panels of patterned silk [[jacquard weaving|jacquard]] in olive and gold, topped by a single festooned [[Window valance#Types of window valances|swag]] and side [[jabot (window)|jabot]]s of the same patterned silk, trimmed in [[tassel]]s. The carpet is a Turkish Hereke with a background of light green and was produced in about 1860.

==References==
{{More footnotes needed|date=April 2009}}
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Abbott |first1=James A. |title=Frenchman in Camelot |date=August 1995 |publisher=Boscobel Restoration |isbn=978-0-9646659-0-3}}
*{{cite book |last1=Abbott |first1=James Archer |last2=Rice |first2=Elaine M. |title=Designing Camelot |url=https://archive.org/details/designingcamelot0000abbo |url-access=registration |year=1998 |publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold |isbn=978-0-442-02532-8}}
*{{cite book |last1=Abbott |first1=James Archer |last2=Jansen |first2=Jean-Henri |editor1-last=Owens |editor1-first=Mitchell |title=Jansen |year=2006 |publisher=Acanthus Press Llc |isbn=978-0-926494-33-6}}
*{{cite book |last1=Helme |first1=Tom |last2=Friedman |first2=Joseph |last3=Terestchenko |first3=Ivan |title=Paint and color in decoration |year=2003 |publisher=Rizzoli Intl Pubns |isbn=978-0-8478-2593-6}}
*McKellar, Kenneth, Douglas W. Orr, Edward Martin, et al. ''Report of the Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion.'' Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion, Government Printing Office: 1952.
*Mellon, Rachel Lambert. ''The White House Gardens Concepts and Design of the Rose Garden.'' Great American Editions Ltd.: 1973.
*{{cite book |last=Monkman |first=Betty C. |title=The White House |date=2000-11-01 |publisher=Abbeville Press |isbn=978-0-7892-0624-4}}
*{{cite book |last=Seale |first=William |title=The President's House |url=https://archive.org/details/presidentshouseh01seal |url-access=registration |year=1986 |publisher=National Geographic Society |isbn=978-0-912308-28-9}}
*{{cite book |last=Seale |first=William |title=The White House |date=January 2001 |publisher=White House Historical Association |isbn=978-0-912308-85-2}}
*''The White House: An Historic Guide.'' White House Historical Association and the National Geographic Society: 1964.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/history/whtour/vermeil.html White House website description (not current)]

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{{White House|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Rooms in the White House]]