There are 13 (soon to be 14) official presidential libraries and several unofficial presidential museums and libraries scattered around America.
Every president since Hoover has an official library; Lincoln, McKinley, and others are unofficial
They celebrate only one president each
They average 150,000 visitors a year
Many are not self-supporting; Congress is trying to raise endowment requirements
No museum is dedicated to the White House.
The Truman Library contains a great deal about the Truman-era reconstruction
The White House Historical Association and the Smithsonian preserve its history but not with substantial standing exhibits.
There is only one small museum dedicated to all presidents:
The American Presidential Museum in Branson, MO
White House Heritage Museum
The White House Heritage Museum is a proposed project to create a non-profit history museum of the American presidency and White House in the form of a full-scale replica of the White House mansion and grounds.
The project would create a major tourist attraction and public park in the northern Indiana/southern Michigan area.
The objective is to create a place where visitors from around the nation and all over the world can come to:
Tour a replica of the White House and visit rooms not open to the public in the real White House
Interact with displays of its history and the history of the presidency
Enjoy the park and special events
White House Heritage Museum
The Museum is an approximately 32-acre campus with White House replica and Lafayette Square Park.
The mansion is flanked by two large parking lots where the EEOB and Treasury buildings would be.
The north corners provide areas for shops on either side of “Lafayette Park.”
Shuttle bus service could be available around the Museum campus as well as to and from the airport, Notre Dame campus, and downtown South Bend.
The campus and park are perfect for concerts, parades, foot and bike races, and other events.
The retail space and other buildings would be designed to complement the architectural style of the White House.
Future expansions could include a Marine One helicopter, Air Force One fuselage, presidential carriages and limousines, and even a research library that is a replica of the Taft-era West Wing, complete with a replica of the first Oval Office.
Why a Replica?
A “Hall of Presidents” is not enough of an attraction.
The White House has a mystique beyond its physical location.
Every presidential library includes a replica of the Oval Office and usually other rooms.
The Zweifel miniature White House is a popular traveling attraction.
TV shows and movies often capture the popular imagination about what living and working in the White House is like.
The White House is not available for special events the way museums are.
Parts of the mansion could be rented for private functions of all types.
The museum would host special community events open to the public.
The White House offers little in the way of historical exhibits of its own heritage.
The White House Visitors Center in Washington is virtually empty.
Museum exhibits would be substituted for the more utilitarian offices of the real White House.
The real White House is a working residence and office building as well as a living museum.
18 acres (Presidential Park only; does not include Lafayette Square)
132 rooms; 55,000 square feet (67,000 total)
$12 million operating budget—staff of 90 inside and 23 on grounds
1.5 million visitors a year—free admission
If the White House charged $8 admission, it would operate in the black
A replica would cost less to run and would be self-supporting with fewer visitors
Real White House tours are difficult to arrange, very limited in scope, and unavailable on holidays.
Security concerns make White House tours subject to occasional suspension or last-minute cancellation.
National Security Concerns
The Museum foundation would work with Homeland Security to be certain that no aspects important to the safety of the president or security of the White House would be duplicated accurately or compromised by the museum replica.
Most of the detailed floor plan information is already publicly available and does not present a security concern.
No attempt would be made to replicate or describe escape routes, command centers, electronic surveillance systems, or sophisticated physical security measures.
Private areas used as museum offices would not replicate the actual White House floor plan for those areas.
Conventional museum security measures would be built into the design in unobtrusive ways, such as electronic locks, video surveillance, and anti-vehicle barriers.
A Modular Plan
A major advantage of this plan is its modular approach.
The Museum might ultimately consist of several parts.
Each stage of completion presents an opportunity for media exposure and celebration, and therefore becomes a tourist event.
Groundbreaking in the Oval Office location
VIP tours of the mansion during late-stage construction
Opening Ceremonies
Museum offices and those rooms that are open to the public in the real White House are completed
Garden Party Celebration
The White House grounds are completed, including the Rose Garden, Kennedy Garden, tennis courts, swimming pool
Decommissioned presidential helicopter on the South Lawn
747 fuselage painted and dressed inside as Air Force One
A Museum and Event Host
The Mansion as Museum
The White House replica would serve both as a living replica of the real presidential mansion and a museum of American presidential heritage.
All public and residence rooms and certain other rooms (such as the Oval Office) would be dressed to replicate the real White House décor.
On special occasions, some rooms could be redressed with props and décor to replicate a bygone era, such as the FDR administration or Reagan administration
Most staff areas in the wings would feature museum exhibits of White House and presidential history.
Floor plan of these areas would be changed to accommodate museum needs
Some staff areas would be used as museum offices.
Fully secure/classified areas would be eliminated from the replica’s floor plan or used for museum storage.
Architecture and Furnishings
The appearance of accuracy is enough.
Since the décor changes from administration to administration, an approximation of the drapes, carpets, and furniture at any given time will suffice
Initial furnishings can be replaced with more authentic materials over time
Woodwork and other permanent fixtures need to appear accurate from the beginning
White House historians can help and provide extensive documentation.
Trim molding styles, carpet designs, etc.
Photos, diagrams, measurements, etc.
Replicas of White House furniture and décor are already available and often used by presidential libraries.
The Oval Office rug is custom made by Hokanson.
New flooring was installing in the Oval Office in 2005 by Carpet One.
Some chairs and tables are made by Kittinger.
Accurate reproductions of the president’s desk and other White House furniture are available from New York First and Victorian Replicas
Museum Exhibits
The Museum would learn from and coordinate with presidential library museums and local attractions to provide interesting and interactive exhibits.
Multimedia displays, mannequins, and personal effects of past presidents
Visitors would arrive at the Museum on Pennsylvania Avenue and see the fenced-in White House on one side and the open Lafayette Square and shopping district on the other.
They would park in the large lots flanking the White House and walk or take a shuttle bus to the Visitor’s Entrance near the East Wing (just as at the real White House).
There they would pay the entrance fee and get badges with electronic tags.
These “security badges” would become souvenirs
They could be programmed to allow entry for one or more days
After passing through a metal detector, visitors proceed to the East Wing.
Souvenir shop
Exhibits on the early presidency and White House
In the theater, they could watch a short film
Second floor would be museum offices
Then they continue on into the Residence Ground Floor….
The Visitor Experience
Visitors would browse the public rooms on the Ground Floor and proceed up to the First Floor and Second Floor by stairs or elevator.
Ground and First Floor rooms dressed as real with kiosks playing clips of curators and residents describing the history of the room
Food and soft drinks in the Family Dining Room on the First Floor
Partial Third Floor tours available on special days and for VIPs
They would then descend to the Ground Floor again and proceed through the West Wing colonnade
Press Briefing Room and press offices with exhibits
Then they would enter the West Wing First Floor
Mostly exhibits of later presidency and White House life
Oval Office, Cabinet Room, and Roosevelt Room dressed as real
Situation Room and restaurant on Ground Floor, as well as museum offices
Second floor would be museum offices
Visitors could exit the West Wing and tour the grounds by a guided electric cart tour or through other exits and take a unguided walking tour of the grounds.
The electric cart tour would end at the East Wing, where visitors could buy souvenirs and catch a shuttle bus back to where they parked.
East Wing Ground Floor
East Wing Ground Floor
The East Wing contains the visitors entrance, the East Wing gallery, the White House theater, and offices used by some first ladies and their staffs as well as offices for correspondence, calligraphers, and the social secretary.
Beneath it is the presidential emergency operations center, which would not be replicated.
Second Floor offices would be used as museum staff offices
First Floor would be turned into exhibit space and a large gift shop.
East Wing Ground Floor
East Wing Ground Floor
The East Wing contains the visitors entrance, the East Wing gallery, the White House theater, and offices used by some first ladies and their staffs as well as offices for correspondence, calligraphers, and the social secretary.
Beneath it is the presidential emergency operations center, which would not be replicated.
Second Floor offices would be used as museum staff offices
First Floor would be turned into exhibit space and a large gift shop.
Residence Ground Floor
Residence Ground Floor
Residence First Floor
Residence First Floor
Residence Second Floor
Residence Second Floor
Residence Third Floor
Residence Third Floor
West Wing First Floor
West Wing First Floor
West Wing Second Floor
West Wing Ground Floor
West Wing Ground Floor
Grounds
The White House grounds include:
A tennis court (1), Oval Office terrace, and swimming pool (2), as well as fountains, basketball court, putting green, horseshoe pit, and groundskeeping buildings.
Gardens: Rose Garden (3), Kennedy Garden, Children’s Garden
Mature trees would be sought out to match White House trees.
Lafayette Square
Lafayette Square is the park across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.
Replicating it would provided a picturesque place for community leisure and events that would be maintained and administered by the museum foundation.
The park would be open and free to the public.
Logistics and Funding
Central Location
Northern Indiana (Michiana) is the perfect place for a large-scale patriotic-themed museum attraction.
Centrally located in the US
Strategically located on the 80/90 toll road that connects Chicago to Toledo and Cleveland, and on the 31 freeway to Indianapolis
Big enough to support the project, small enough to avoid traffic issues
Has a reputation for middle-American values and patriotism (Hummer, Studebaker)
Conventions and Notre Dame give the South Bend area notoriety and potential.
Attracts affluent and educated visitors
Spurred the development excellent shopping, restaurants, and hotels in the area
Spurred the development of a small but very good airport facility
Impact
The project should have a substantial positive economic and cultural impact on the Michiana area.
A major tourist attraction for an estimated 500,000 visitors per year
An attraction for high-profile corporate executives, politicians, and scholars
A public park
A center for community events
$20+ million in local labor and material expenditures during construction
A professional staff of about 20 directors, historians, curators, and department heads
Substantial revenues from retail stores in Lafayette Square shopping district
Corresponding increase in revenues from existing area retailers and services
There is no anticipated negative environmental or cultural impact.
The proposed site would develop an agricultural location
Little to no housing would be displaced
Close enough to downtown to promote crossover revenue and visitation
Relative remoteness would reduce any issues of noise and traffic
Environmentally, the construction would compare to the construction of a corporate office complex
Green construction techniques would likely be encouraged and supported financially by interested agencies and organizations
Models
It’s very difficult to estimate the cost of replicating a 200-year-old world-famous mansion estate.
Some model projects are available to help determine the costs involved.
Studebaker National Museum 2005 new facility project
$9 million, raised privately
24,000 visitors
50,000 square feet
Professional staff of 8
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center project, 2004 (Cincinnati)
$80 million
158,000 square feet (2.4 x the size of the White House)
Computer History Museum project, 2005 (near San Jose)
$125 million, corporate and private
Staff of 30 permanent and 350 volunteers
120,000 square feet (1.8 x the size of the White House)
Clinton Library project, 2004 (Little Rock)
$165 million, raised mostly privately
150,000 square feet (2.3 x the size of the White House)
Staff of 30 archivists alone
GHW Bush Library project, 1997 (near Houston)
20,000 square feet of museum exhibit space
$43 million, raised privately
Additional $40 million for a conference center and school of government
professional staff of 10
Cost
A total of $50 to $65 million would likely be required, with the shopping district paid for by the businesses who will occupy it.
The modular design would likely allow the museum to open its doors with $28 million and begin serving the community in approximately 2 years.
Funding Model
The patriotic nature and national scope of the project lends itself to large-scale fund-raising at the highest levels, especially federal and corporate.
