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Step 1
Walk around the first floor. A large porch or "piazza" runs along the west and part of the north and south sides of the house; it was a breezy place to sit and watch the boats on Long Island Sound.
Visitors enter through the porte-cochere on the south side of the house. The entrance hall, stuffed as it is with animal trophies, is a good indicator of what the rest of the house is like. To the right of the hall is the library and office where Roosevelt held pre-summit meetings for the peace conference he brokered that formally ended the Russo-Japanese War.
To the left of the hall is Edith's drawing room, where she entertained guests. Though it's the most feminine room in the house, there is nevertheless a polar bear rug on the floor.
At the end of the hall is the North Room, the largest room in the house, which was added twenty years after the house was completed. Built of camagon, swamp cypress, hazel and black walnut wood, it served as ballroom, reception room, trophy room and family room.
Going back into the hall, the visitor will see the dining room on the northeast end of the hall, with its Italian Renaissance-style chairs, Japanese silk screen and dinner gong. Between the dining room and library is a cross hall with the main staircase, the pantry, a servants' staircase and at the far eastern end of the house, the kitchen, laundry and back porches. Take notice of the speaking tubes which connected the kitchen to the rest of the house. -
Step 2
Walk upstairs to the second floor. At the top the the servants' stairs, to the north, is the family bathroom, which was for many years the only bathroom in the house. Eldest daughter Alice called the huge bathtub the "sarcophagus." Moving clockwise, there is a small bathroom with a shower, then the northeast bedroom, which one or more of the Roosevelt boys, Ted, Kermit, Archie and Quentin, used at various times. The southeast bedroom was Alice's, then later Kermit and Quentin's.
At the far east end of this wing of the house is a room, accessible only through the northeast and southeast bedrooms, that was known as "Quentin's hideaway." Its window opened to the sloping roof over one of the back porches; this allowed the children a quick exit outdoors if there was someone in the house they wanted to avoid.
At the top of the main stairs, over the library, is the south bedroom, which has a private bath. It was used as a nurse's room, sick room and finally as Edith's winter room. Next door, over the entrance hall, is the toy-filled nursery with a Santa Claus cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast, the originator of the modern American image of Santa Claus, as well as the Republican Elephant and the Democratic donkey.
On the southwest corner of this floor is the "Gate Room," named after the safety gate that was pulled across the doorway. This was where children too old for the nursery were contained and where Teddy Roosevelt died. "Mother's Room," the master bedroom, is on the northwest corner and has massive Gothic Revival furniture and its own balcony.
On the north end is Roosevelt's dressing room, with attached bathroom and balcony, the Little Guest Room with balcony and the Big Guest Room with attached "Splash Closet" shower room. -
Step 3
Finish you tour on the third floor. Working again clockwise from the northeast corner, the visitor sees the cook's bedroom, the sewing room, a storage room for family trunks, two maids' rooms and the gun room. The gun room was where Roosevelt got most of his writing done; it was home not only to his gun collection but also a great many books. Completing this floor is Ted Jr.'s bedroom and the childrens' school room.
