President's guesthouse: An exclusive look inside Blair House
/ CBS News
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When real estate people talk about "location, location, location," Blair House has it all. The original historic stone building -- across the street from the White House -- is where foreign dignitaries will have lunch after President Barack Obama's inauguration, and where the president's guests stay while visiting Washington, D.C.
It's also a place filled with artifacts and memorabilia. Take an look inside with these exclusive photos from "CBS This Morning."
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Over the years Blair House has expanded to include most of the city block on which it sits. It is more than 70,000 square feet, and has 119 rooms -- bigger, in fact, than the White House.
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The entryway to Blair House. Every president since Andrew Jackson has crossed that threshold.
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A grandfather clock in the entryway to Blair House. The curator tells CBS News, "it's older than this country."
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The Lincoln Room, a sitting room in Blair House. This is where presidents-elect and their families gather for their ride to the Capitol on Inauguration Day.
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In the Lincoln Room is this portrait, the last painted of the 16th president before his assassination.
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Then-Col. Robert E. Lee was offered command of the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War in this room. A southern gentleman, from Virginia, he declined, and headed up the Confederate forces instead.
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Lee's letter of resignation from the United States Army resides in the Lincoln Room at Blair House.
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This picture of President Lincoln was sketched from the first photograph ever taken of him.
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The Lee drawing room is a formal space used by guests of the president for meetings.
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Like in the Oval Office across the street, two yellow chairs are often the site of high level meetings between visiting dignitaries staying at Blair House.
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During the 2011 earthquake in Washington, D.C., the Blair House sustained damage in one of its chimneys.
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The Lee Drawing room has Chinese wallpaper that dates back to the 1860s. It was picked out 100 years later by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
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The formal Blair front drawing room, as seen in this recent photo.
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The Blair rear drawing room, as seen in this recent photo.
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President Harry S. Truman called Blair House home for four years while the White House was undergoing renovations.
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President Harry S. Truman's "Oval Office" while staying here wasn't so oval, but got the job done.
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A picture of President Harry S. Truman, at work in the room.
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This mantel was moved from the White House to the Blair House by Truman, a way to symbolically connect the two homes.
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This dining room was President Truman's Cabinet Room while he was working at Blair House.
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The Garden Room is the largest space in Blair House. President Obama used it in 2010 for a health care summit with congressional leaders. On President Obama's second Inauguration Day, the site is used for a luncheon for the foreign ambassadors attending the president's inauguration.