WASHINGTON — Washington is getting a new tourist stop that offers visitors the next best thing to being in the Oval Office: an identical replica of President Joe Biden's office, right down to his desk, the armchairs in front of the fireplace and the weathered family Bible resting on a side table.
And when Biden's successor takes office next year, the full-scale replica Oval Office at “The People's House: A White House Experience" will be redecorated to look exactly like the new president's office, said Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, which is opening the doors of its technology-driven education center to the public on Monday.
A separate space in the center called the “Immersive Theater” uses technology to transform into some of the more notable rooms in the White House every five minutes.
“A terrific thing about this Oval Office, unlike the current Oval Office, is if you’re visiting us you can come and you can sit in this chair and be the president of the United States," McLaurin said, talking about the desk chair as he led The Associated Press on a tour of the center before Monday's opening.
Few people ever set foot in the Oval Office. It is not on the White House public tour route. But at “The People’s House,” not only will visitors get to see what one of the most famous offices in the world looks like, they can experience it, too.
“You can take a call from Mr. Putin or anybody you’d like to receive a call from, have your photo taken there,” McLaurin said. "You can sit on the sofas or in the president's chair as you’ve visualized him sitting there and you see him on the news talking with a visitor or a head of state. You can do the same thing right there in front of the fireplace.”
The wallpaper, draperies, rug, furniture, paintings and other artwork are exact replicas of the furnishings as they are currently in the Oval Office. The plan is to change the decor with each future president.
“It is exactly like President Biden's, exactly,” McLaurin said. “Even the family Bible with the weathered elements are duplicated.”
Except for the “digital column” in the center of the room that shows visitors how the physical office has evolved throughout the presidency. It also turns into a mirror so visitors can see themselves standing in the Oval Office.
Technology is also used to transform the “Immersive Theater” every five minutes into each of the five rooms on the White House State Floor: the East Room, the Red, Blue and Green Rooms, and the State Dining Room. Images on the walls in each room were chosen by the association's historians. Visitors can touch the walls to unlock information about the art, furniture or other history that happened there.
"We want people to feel they are in that room of the White House,” McLaurin said.
Leaving the theater, visitors will walk to the replica Oval Office along a stone path resembling the White House colonnade with a view of art made to represent the Rose Garden.
Another exhibit shows how presidents use the White House for work, family and social functions. Visitors can attend Cabinet meetings and vote on a course of action for the president, sit at a table set as it would be for a state dinner to learn how presidents use these glitzy events to conduct diplomacy, or settle into a seat in the family movie theater.
In a separate gallery, the head groundskeeper, florist, lead military aide and chief usher are among White House staff members featured on video explaining what they do.
After entering the education center, visitors will come upon a large model of the south side of the White House, listen to an audio greeting from first lady Jill Biden and watch an orientation film narrated by Martin Sheen, who played a president on television's “The West Wing.”
The back side of the model looks like a dollhouse, exposing cutaways of the ground, state and residence floor rooms. Visitors can tap electronic kiosks to learn more about the rooms.
The education center covers three floors of an office building at 1700 Pennsylvania Ave., one block from the White House. Technology is used throughout to help teach the history of the executive mansion, the presidents and the families who have lived there, and the staff whose work keeps it functioning in its multiples roles as a workplace, a residence and a museum.
McLaurin said the center was designed to be an enhancement to the White House public tour, not a replacement. But with White House tour tickets hard to get, he expects “the vast majority of the people who have the opportunity to visit here will not have the privilege to visit the White House itself.”
Jill Biden visited twice during construction and has planned an event on the White House lawn on Saturday to celebrate next week's opening.
“This new immersive education center will take visitors on an incredible journey using technology and innovation to bring White House history to life,” said the first lady, a community college professor. “Especially as an educator, I'm so excited to see it opening to the public.”
Admission is free, but visitors must request timed tickets. The association is planning for 800 visitors every day, with most staying a little over an hour.
The association raised $60 million for construction and initial operating costs, and is working to build a $50 million endowment to sustain operations, McLaurin said.
The White House Historical Association was created in 1961 by first lady Jacqueline Kennedy to help preserve the museum quality of the interior of the White House and educate the public. It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that receives no government funding. It raises money mostly through private donations and merchandise sales, including an annual Christmas ornament.