Designing Camelot: : The Kennedy White House Restoration

Firsthand accounts and photographs chronicle the restoration of the White House during the Kennedy Administration. Designing Camelot recounts one of the most influential interior design projects in American history, the restoration of the White House during the Kennedy administration.

Fueled by the intense fascination with the charismatic First Family, the project had a profound effect on the popular American imagination and taste in interior furnishings.

Emphasizing the historic restoration of each room and the efforts to have these rooms reflect the personalities and tastes of Jack and Jackie, Designing Camelot features a wealth of first-person quotations, personal and public correspondence, media accounts, and photographs.

Included are detailed room-by-room analyses of the restoration, anecdotes about the people involved, and insights into the choices made. James Abbot (Baltimore, MD) is currently Curator of Decorative Arts at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Elaine Rice (Wilmington, DE) is an independent consultant on American fine and decorative arts.