Submitted by rockcreek on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 3:19pm.
James Goode's Capital Losses contains an image of the library at the Soldiers' Home with similarly-wrapped chandeliers. According to him, this was done to protect against flyspecks - apparently a problem in pre-AC D.C.
The White House was completely gutted during the Truman administration and the interior was created anew with a steel frame interior support. The plasterwork in the East Room was not salvageable and it is different today.
I remember reading a chief usher's memoir of working in the White House in the '70s ("Upstairs at the White House"). The reconstruction was triggered when Truman noticed a chandelier swaying as a result of an usher walking in the rooms overhead. Truman had to live at Blair House for a couple of years during the renovation. It really was totally gutted-- there are photos of bulldozers inside the shell of the building.
Submitted by Laura Brown on Sat, 07/26/2008 - 4:12pm.
Are those chandeliers wrapped in cloth to keep dust out?
According to the White House web site, this room is traditionally used for dances and parties -- clearly not at the moment this was taken, though. The piano was replaced in 1938, but the benches are still there.