Inside Obama's Oval Office: The plush furnishings awaiting the President Elect in his new HQ



The Oval Office has been the preserve of 17 US Presidents since it was built in 1909. Each new incumbent stamps his own style on the room in the West Wing – and Barack Obama’s design choices will be closely analysed when he moves in next January.









1 Three 11ft 6in French windows flood the room with light. In the Second World War they were fitted with bulletproof glass.



2 and 3 Just as every President has done before him, Barack Obama will be expected to keep the US flag and Presidential flag behind the desk.



4 The Gunlock chair has served nine Presidents and was specifically designed for John F. Kennedy, who suffered from chronic back pain.



5 Photos of President Bush’s family are displayed on the side table.



6 The HMS Resolute Desk, carved from the timbers of a British frigate of the same name and a gift from Queen Victoria.



7 President Franklin D. Roosevelt commissioned this central desk panel to hide his leg braces.



8 A bust of President Eisenhower. The Obamas will consult books on the White House collection to decide which

pieces of art and furniture they will display.

9 William Koerner’s painting A Charge To Keep – showing a horseman charging up a steep trail.



10 President William Howard Taft, the first to occupy the office, found the Philippine mahajua wood floor too cold and covered it with an olive-green shag pile rug.



Since then, successive Presidents have commissioned a bespoke rug and President Bush says one of Obama’s

first decisions will be choosing his. John F. Kennedy’s dazzling red rug was being fitted on the day he was assassinated. Bill Clinton chose a £34,000 solemn dark blue design. Bush’s wife Laura chose this £40,000 rug with ‘optimistic’ sunbeam design.



11 The Presidential seal always stays in the middle of the rug.



12 The red Presidential buzzer button in a wooden box, used to call aides at a moment’s notice. It is said President Johnson installed it so the Secret Service could warn him when his wife was on her way.



13 The rosewood chairs either side of the President’s desk have been a feature since Roosevelt. With their backs to the room, they are used by secretaries taking dictation.

