The White House...

[wft2800]

Well, elsewhere on this forum, there's been enough discussion of politics. What I was reflecting on the other day, along with how funny it would be if Sheldon Whitehouse became President, simply for the amusement in the media having to use (or avoid) the term "the Whitehouse White House", was, what's the laundry at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue got in it in the way of appliances, and what preceded it? And what is the accepted etiquette for handling the POTUS and FLOTUS's grotty undies?!

Does anyone have any idea on this front? I guess it'd be obvious to have SQ or other Alliance products nowadays.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Nixon made toast w/ butter with a Caloric range in the background & there may have even been a wall oven...

I'm sure Martha washed George Washington's britches in a wooden tub...

I had been to the White House at least once when Jimmy Carter was president, but I don't think the "souvenir program" really showed anything in the way of a Laundry and/or kitchen--just the Red Room, the Green Room (Blue Room?) and of course, The Oval Office!

-- Dave

 

[seedub]

Barbara Bush, in her autobiography, mentions her introductory tour of the White House including a stop at the laundry room, where there are multiple machines...but no detailed description as to type (standard-issue residential or not), age, or make.

 

[seedub]

Barbara Bush, in her autobiography, mentions her introductory tour of the White House including a stop at the laundry room, where there are multiple machines...but no detailed description as to type (standard-issue residential or not), age, or make.

 

[seedub]

Apologies for the multiple postings.

 

[gansky1]

I can't find the picture now, but in a spread in People magazine, Nancy Reagan was giving her two dogs  baths in the laundry room of the WH residence.  The machines were Speed Queen Marathon.

 

[Chetlaham]

Were these made by Raytheon? That might explain it considering how much Raytheon does for the US government, especially 30 years ago.

 

[launderess]

Ain't y'all ever heard of Google?

Pipe:

http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/floorB/laundry-room.htm

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:White_House_laundry_room.jpg

https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/archives/photographs/large/c28089-21a.jpg

What many may not know is that POTUS and or their families do not get totally free room and board during their stay in the WH, they have to pay for many things out of their own pockets.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/nov/28/obama-bill-white-house-thanksgiving

Am guessing there is (or was) an industrial laundry for the WH bed and table linens, since they are owned by, well *US* the American ratepayers, or more to the point the WH. However when it comes to doing personal laundry that is likely what those SQ or whatever they are now washing machines are for. Now who does the washing, folding, and so forth is another matter.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2009/01/president/bumiller-text

Michelle Obama apparently did her own laundry as First Lady:
https://www.politico.com/click/stories/1104/flotus_mom_still_does_her_laundry.html

As did Harry Truman:
http://blog.americanheritage1.com/b...arry-s-truman-always-washed-his-own-underwear

[this post was last edited: 12/24/2017-02:43]

 

[seedub]

Oh, yes: the Google Machine is where I found this photo of the White House laundry, circa 1909. And on Wikipedia, I learned that Abigail Adams, for a time, used the East Room - a very posh space for most of the WH history - to hang laundry to dry, as America's Mansion was still new, and a proper laundry had not yet been set up.

http://https//goo.gl/images/vP1nD7

 

[fan-of-fans]

Don't know about laundry but here are photos of the White House Kitchen over the decades

http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1877168,00.html
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/floor0/kitchen.htm

This link shows the gas Caloric mentioned behind Ford, looks like it got replaced with a Viking about 1992.

What is that huge unit with louvers behind Lady Bird Johnson? I can't imagine that refrigerator would need such a big compressor unit? Ancient air conditioner?
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/floor2/kitchen.htm
http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/west-wing/mess-kitchen.htm

whitehousemuseum.org domain name is for sale. Inquire now.

whitehousemuseum.org is available for purchase. Get in touch to discuss the possibilities!

www.whitehousemuseum.org

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Thank you for all the links & clarifying a lot that I sure did not know about--in fact, I only saw the lighted portion of the back-guard on that stove in a video on the '70's on A&E, making me think that was the entire range (which I believe Nixon was in front of, as there was a bit devoted to Watergate there) only to find it's a THIRTY-SIX-INCHER! (And that wall-oven is exactly the same--a microwave on top, too...) Too bad I can't see the rest of that kitchen, that surely must have been built to that specification & I would fathom most-likely stayed that way until perhaps the end of the Carter administration...

(Yes, nice to discuss this without too much Political Ramblings of, or it going into the usual derogatory nature...)

-- Dave

 

[toploader55]

"
"What is that huge unit with louvers behind Lady Bird Johnson? I can't imagine that refrigerator would need such a big compressor unit? Ancient air conditioner"

To me it looks like a Return Air or some type of air recovery system.

 

[cehalstead]

George and Martha

Martha may have scrubbed George's britches in a wooden tub, but it was not done at the White House. They never lived there.....

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Of elephants and donkeys....

Oh, right, George & Martha were keeping warm in Mt. Vernon...

-- Dave

 

[fan-of-fans]

"To me it looks like a Return Air or some type of air recovery system."

Yeah it does kind of look like a return air, my thinking was that somehow the top was the return and the bottom vents were the supply?

"Too bad I can't see the rest of that kitchen, that surely must have been built to that specification & I would fathom most-likely stayed that way until perhaps the end of the Carter administration... "

I agree, though I think it was at least into the Clinton administration, I see the same cabinets in the 1998 picture and in 92 it looks like the Caloric had been replaced with a Viking, but the wall ovens and toaster are still there.

And I can see a Vulcan solid element range with broiler in the Mess kitchen (link 4) and the Diet kitchen looks like a GE 40" Stratoliner in 52 with something older, perhaps in 48 and a lunchbox style dishwasher. (in link 5)

In the 70s pictures I can barely see the control top of an old GE or Hotpoint fryer in the background, possibly from the 1940s, 50s or 60s.

 

[jeff_adelphi]

Sub-basement laundry

 I was in the white house basement laundry around 1976 or 1977 to repair the ironer in the pic. Had to replace all 4 heating elements, they were about 10' long Calrod style elements inside the central roller. Because of the size of the room, I had to have some staff help me turn the whole ironer, so the elements could pulled out of the roller, thru the door into the hallway. At that time they had a pair of Maytag's, an 806 washer and electric dryer. They also had commercial washer, 25-35 pound size and large commercial electric dryer, don't remember the brand.