By Aerosmith (more or less)
Gonna be a penthouse pauper (whoa)
Gonna be a millionaire (whoa yeah)
I’m gonna be a real fast talker (whoa)
And have me a love affair (whoa yeah)
Gotta have my timin’ right (whoa)
It’s a test that I gotta pass (whoa yeah)
I’ll chase u all the way to the stairway (whoa) honey
Kiss your sassafras
Lovin’ the White House el-ah-va-tor
Livin’ it up when it’s goin’ down (whoa yeah)
Lovin’ the White House elevator
Livin’ it up ’till it hits the ground (whoa yeah)
~
Actually, the family elevator is the main elevator of three in the Residence (the others are in the pantry and under the Grand Stair in the Entrance Hall) An elevator had been planned for the use of James Garfield’s elderly mother, but his successor Chester Arthur installed the first one in 1881, an early hydraulic model, which required the removal of the stairs. In 1898, an electric model was installed, but it did not work very well. It was replaced with a more efficient model by architect Charles McKim during the 1902 TR renovation. President McKinley’s assassination still fresh in her mind from the previous year, Edith Roosevelt’s request to McKim was to “make the elevator door wide enough to admit a stretcher.”
