HISTORICAL PHOTOS
President Nixon surprised his secretary of state William Rogers with a "Happy Birthday" piano solo in the Ross Garden.
President-elect Jimmy Carter working on transition issues in the Library before his inauguration, January 1977. Carter initiated the tradition of presidents-elect staying at Blair House in the weeks before Inauguration Day. Photo: Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum.
President-elect George H. W. Bush reviews his address in the Arthur and Janet Ross Garden, inauguration morning January 20, 1989. Photo credit: George H. W. Bush Presidential Library.
President and Mrs. George W. Bush escort Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince Phillip to Blair House following state visit arrival ceremony, May 2007. Photo credit: The White House.
President Barack Obama hosts bi-lateral dinner for President Xi Jinping of China in the Blair Drawing Room, September 2015. Photo credit: The White House.
President-elect Ronald Reagan kisses his wife Nancy before leaving Blair House for his swearing in, January 20, 1981. Photo: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
President Ronald Reagan lunches with his chief of staff Howard Baker in Lee Drawing Room. Photo: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
Vice-President Gerald Ford presides over a Medal of Honor ceremony in the Arthur and Janet Ross Garden, August 1974.
First Lady Bess Truman and daughter Margaret pose in the Lee Drawing Room after their arrival at Blair House, 1948, Photo: Harry Truman Presidential Library, National Archives and Records Administration.
Blair House's first official guest, President Manuel Prado of Peru, the first South American leader to join with the Allies in WWII, arrived the first week of May 1942. Photo: AP WirePhoto.
President Eisenhower welcomes Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and his wife Nina to Blair House, 1959. Photo: AP Wire Photo
President Harry Truman and his cabinet in the Blair Rear Drawing Room, August 15, 1949. Photo: Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, National Archives and Records Administration.
President Harry Truman waves to the crowd outside Blair House on the first day of his residency November 21, 1948. Photo: Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, National Archives and Records Administration.
Nancy Reagan and Margaret Thatcher share memories in the Truman Study during President Ronald Reagan's state funeral, June 10, 2004. Photo: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives and Records Administration.
President John F. Kennedy accompanies Archbishop Makarios, President of the Republic of Cyprus, to a meeting in Lee House, June 1962. Photo: Abbie Rowe. White House Photographs. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.
President Barack Obama confers with his cabinet secretary Chris Lieu during a meeting break in the Lee Drawing Room, July 2009. Photo: Pete Souza, The White House.
First Lady Laura Bush is presented with a special "Texas blue bonnet"" birthday cake in the Lee Dining Room. Photo: The White House.
New York artist Robert Jackson (1931-2003) puts the final touches on his masterful wall murals in the Jackson Place dining and sitting rooms, 1988. Jackson took French designer Joseph Dufour's early 19th century scenic wallpaper Monuments of Paris as his inspiration and reinterpreted it with Washington, D.C.'s monuments fancifully lining the Potomac River. Photo: Blair House Foundation.
India prime minister Indira Gandhi in the Blair House Library during her 1971 visit. Photo: U.S. Department of State.
Burma prime minister U Nu departs Blair House at the end of his country's first official visit to the United States, 1955. Photo: AP Wire Photo.
Vice-president Dan Quayle hosts a breakfast meeting with Russian president Boris Yeltzen during his state visit, June 17, 1992. Photo credit: The White House.
President Harry S. Truman, Bess and Margaret Truman greet Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain and the Duke of Edinburgh at the start of their first official visit to the United States, October 31, 1951. Photo credit: AP Wire Photo.
British prime minister Winston Churchill flashes his signature "V for Victory" sign as President Harry S. Truman waves from the Blair House front steps, March 24, 1949. Photo credit: Abbie Rowe, National Archives and Records Administration.
Lady Bird Johnson tours the renovated Blair House, January 1965. Photo credit: House and Garden Magazine.
Mamie Eisenhower is presented with a replica of her husband's West Point cadet saber at dedication of the Blair House principal bedroom in President Eisenhower's honor, 1970. Photo credit: U.S. Department of State.
President Truman at his desk in his Blair House office, now the Truman Study, 1951. Photo: Original in the Blair House, The President's Guest House Collection.
President Reagan chats with his secretary of state nominee Alexander Haig before his confirmation hearing, 1981. Photo: The White House.
First Lady Barbara Bush greets Queen Elizabeth II in the Blair Front Entrance Hall to begin a day of visits around Washington, D.C., May 1991. Photo: The White House.
President and Mrs. Ford welcome Japanese Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako in the Lee Drawing Room, October 4, 1975. Photo: AP WirePhoto
President Jimmy Carter hosts luncheon for the Camp David Accords interpreters Moshe Dayan (Israel) and Kamal Hassan Ali (Egypt) in the Blair Dining Room, 1978. Photo: The White House.
First Lady-elect Barbara Bush entertains her grandchildren in the Garden Room on her husband's inauguration morning. Photo: George H. W. Bush Presidential Library