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In the News

All the presidents’ houses

The new book “Houses of the Presidents: Childhood Homes, Family Dwellings, Private Escapes, and Grand Estates” (Little, Brown) offers glimpses into American presidents’ second-most famous houses, from Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s Springwood in Hyde Park to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Written by Hugh Howard, with photographs by Roger Straus III, the tome also introduces readers to some lesser-known abodes, like Bill “The Man From Hope” Clinton’s birthplace in Hope, Ark. Here are some of the photographs and text from “Houses of the Presidents.”

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Andrew Jackson: The Hermitage

The elliptical curve of the stair adds to the drama of the central hall, but then so does the wallpaper at Andrew Jackson's home, “The Hermitage,” located in Hermitage, Tenn. Rachel Jackson originally chose the papers for the house; after the 1834 fire, Andrew's replacement was the same paper his late wife chose. Made in France by the firm of Dufour, the paper tells a story that appealed to Jackson, depicting the wanderings of Ulysses’ son Telemachus.

Roger Straus III / Little, Brown and Company

Thomas Jefferson's Tea Room at Monticello is an intimate space, as the semi-octagonal end wall seems to embrace the table at the center of the high-ceilinged but small (11-by-15-foot) room. Looking down from cornice-level are four busts, all copies of the work of French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon. From left are the Marquis de Lafayette, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and naval hero John Paul Jones. Monticello is in Charlottesville.

Thomas Jefferson: Monticello

Thomas Jefferson's Tea Room at Monticello is an intimate space, as the semi-octagonal end wall seems to embrace the table at the center of the high-ceilinged but small (11-by-15-foot) room. Looking down from cornice-level are four busts, all copies of the work of French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon. From left are the Marquis de Lafayette, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and naval hero John Paul Jones. Monticello is in Charlottesville.

Roger Straus III / Little, Brown and Company

Abraham Lincoln and his youngest son, Tad (born 1853), often played checkers. The boy was a great favorite among the infantry guards, who dubbed him a “third lieutenant.” This image shows a room in Lincoln's cottage in Washington.

Abraham Lincoln: Cottage

Abraham Lincoln and his youngest son, Tad (born 1853), often played checkers. The boy was a great favorite among the infantry guards, who dubbed him a “third lieutenant.” This image shows a room in Lincoln's cottage in Washington.

Roger Straus III / Little, Brown and Company

Colonial Revival in style, the house at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Mass., boasts a spacious porch that was used as a children's play area. “With a folding gate to block the entrance, the children would play there in fresh air and in full safety and moreover, with the full panorama of neighboring life to entertain them,” Rose Kennedy, the family matriarch said. The family moved away after John F. Kennedy's birth in the master bedroom. After his funeral, the Kennedys purchased the house and Rose restored the house as she remembered it.

John F. Kennedy: Birthplace

Colonial Revival in style, the house at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Mass., boasts a spacious porch that was used as a children's play area. “With a folding gate to block the entrance, the children would play there in fresh air and in full safety and moreover, with the full panorama of neighboring life to entertain them,” Rose Kennedy, the family matriarch said. The family moved away after John F. Kennedy's birth in the master bedroom. After his funeral, the Kennedys purchased the house and Rose restored the house as she remembered it.

Roger Straus III / Little, Brown and Company

Franklin D. Roosevelt could no longer climb stairs after his disabling illness, so a trunk elevator at his home, Springwood, in Hyde Park, N.Y., was converted for his use. It was operated manually; Roosevelt, though his legs were nearly useless, had a broad-shouldered, well-muscled upper body.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: Springwood

Franklin D. Roosevelt could no longer climb stairs after his disabling illness, so a trunk elevator at his home, Springwood, in Hyde Park, N.Y., was converted for his use. It was operated manually; Roosevelt, though his legs were nearly useless, had a broad-shouldered, well-muscled upper body.

Roger Straus III / Little, Brown and Company

Just inside the North Room at Teddy Roosevelt's home at Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, N.Y., which was added in 1805, stand two immense tusks, as if to guard the entrance. Beyond them in the paneled entry hall the visitor gets an immediate sense that this is the home of a huntsman, given the many mounted heads of game.

Theodore Roosevelt: Sagamore Hill

Just inside the North Room at Teddy Roosevelt's home at Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, N.Y., which was added in 1805, stand two immense tusks, as if to guard the entrance. Beyond them in the paneled entry hall the visitor gets an immediate sense that this is the home of a huntsman, given the many mounted heads of game.

Sagamore Hill National Historic Site / National Park Service

The plain small house where Richard Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, Calif., is framed by an immense California pepper tree that his father, Frank Nixon, planted in 1914. The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum complex is visible to the rear. The one-story house had five rooms on the main floor, with the boys' bedroom built into the pitched roof at the rear. It is a kit house, which was common in the early years of the 20th century. Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Ward sold such houses by mail order.

Richard Nixon: Birthplace

The plain small house where Richard Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, Calif., is framed by an immense California pepper tree that his father, Frank Nixon, planted in 1914. The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum complex is visible to the rear. The one-story house had five rooms on the main floor, with the boys' bedroom built into the pitched roof at the rear. It is a kit house, which was common in the early years of the 20th century. Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Ward sold such houses by mail order.

Roger Straus III / Little, Brown and Company

The tack room in the barn at Ronald Reagan's Rancho del Cielo in Santa Barbara, Calif., contains a range of bridles and saddles; it was clearly a place of pride for Reagan the horseman.

Ronald Reagan: Rancho del Cielo

The tack room in the barn at Ronald Reagan's Rancho del Cielo in Santa Barbara, Calif., contains a range of bridles and saddles; it was clearly a place of pride for Reagan the horseman.

Roger Straus III / Little, Brown and Company

Bill Clinton's bedroom at his birthplace in Hope, Ark., is complete with a spool bed, Hopalong Cassidy bedspread and cowboy hat.

Bill Clinton: Birthplace

Bill Clinton's bedroom at his birthplace in Hope, Ark., is complete with a spool bed, Hopalong Cassidy bedspread and cowboy hat.

Roger Straus III / Little, Brown and Company

Between 1971 and his high-school graduation in 1979, Barack Obama lived with his grandmother on the 10th floor of the Punahou Circle Apartments in Honalulu's Makiki neighborhood in Hawaii.

Barack Obama: Punahou Circle Apartments

Between 1971 and his high-school graduation in 1979, Barack Obama lived with his grandmother on the 10th floor of the Punahou Circle Apartments in Honalulu's Makiki neighborhood in Hawaii.

Luci Pemoni / Little, Brown and Company

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