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Show Stale Department's Diplomatic Reception Rooms e off Washingtons most beautiful rooms can be found in an ugly building i by Sterling G. Slappey day visit of Queen Frederika of Greece and for later arriving kings, ..queens, princes and ministers of various portfolios. CONGER KNEW FINE things and where to find them. He also knew rich people and how to get at their pocketbooks, or at their heirloom. Time was too short to do much before Frederika s visit, but since that time Mr. Conger has made Uncle Sam more presentable by buying items valued at $30 million Cost to Uncle Sam? Nothing. Everything has come on donation, bought with donated funds or loaned to State. From that King of Prussia marble and elegant elevator paneling that once covered bare boarding and plaster, visitors wind among rooms, five of which are named for Secretaries of State who became Presidents John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, James Madison and Martin Van Buren. Although Benjamin Franklin never held either position, he is honored with a room. Names have not been given other rooms. Most Beautiful of all That the 72 feet by 31 feet Rooms is John Quincy Adams Room ll with national treasures. Three superb examples: an English Sheraton tambour desk on which U.S. commissioners signed the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783 ending the American Revolutionary War; an architectural table desk of style stand-u- p mahogany belonging to Thomas Jefferson and used in his apartment at 7th and Market Streets, Philadelphia. to write portions of the Declaration of Independence; an unfinished group portrait by the 18th Century American master, Benjamin West The painting was HE IS ACTUALLY a Virginia to have shown the signing of the as such and gentleman, behaving Preliminary Articles of Peace bei with the pedigree to prove it. That tween the U.S. and Great Britain in he is good at collecting antiques for 1782. West depicts the CommissionUncle Sam is obvious the moment John Jay, John Adams. ers you step from the elevator after Franklin, Henry Laurens Benjamin having passed the horrors of and Commission Secretary W. You FBI State. and Rayburn, step Temple Franklin. West intended to onto elegant, black and white paint in the British Commissioner squares of marble which, until Mr. and Secretary, but they never found laid for had them, Conger showed up. They had signed away years in a barnyard near the town half of the North American Contiof King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. nent and obviously did not choose to The quarry is worked out, no more appear. will ever be available. VALUES CANNOT BE fixed on From that moment on American those three irreplaceable items. and foreign visitors move among Another of inestimable value in magnificence that has taken 21 the John Quincy Adams Room is a years to assemble. chair used by so many Presidents In 1961 Mr. Conger was Deputy that the count is lost. Thief of Protocol at State. DiplomaWhat may be most valuable were tic Reception Rooms airport dollar-wisin any room, is a gothic, filled with hotel Heppel-whitChippendale mahogany block and Annies Queen Anne, chipped shell desk made in Newport. Rhode imitation Chippendale and GI noIsland in 1765 by the master with scuffing. complata things, craftsman, John Townsend. The Mrs. Christian Herter, wife of the desk is worth $500,000. then Secretary of State, asked Mr. WE HAVE AT least 10 other Conger what he could do to make the place look better for the next pieces worth $250,000 or more each, Mr. Conger says. To keep the collecting going properly I have Sterling G. Slappey lives in to have on hand in the bank about Va. WASHINGTON Driving down Capitol ?L!1 you pus the Sam Rayburn Houde Office Building, unquestionably owe of the ugliest buildings in Washington, and indeed the world. Along Pennsylvania Avenue you pass, the , new FBI Building, Rayburns worthy rival. Out on C Street you reach the State Department Building which rounds out the unholy trinity of architecture. But, dont stop there. Catch the elevator to the top floor and you enter another world, of beauty .high the Diplomatic i .taste and history Reception Rooms of the Department of State. The nine rooms strung together like a lovely necklace on an ugly ladys neck, are acknowledged to be among the most beautiful in North America. The John Quincy Room is widely believed to be supreme. WHAT IS MORE, it costs not a penny to tour the rooms. To see the rooms, simply write Department of State Tour Office, Washington, D.C. 20620, or telephone (202) Agree on a date and which of three daily tours is convenient and you will be welcome. Tours of 45 minutes are by knowledgeable guides. Your host will be Clement E. Conger. Conger, six feet tall, slender and bold for 69, officially is Curator, and since 1970 when President Richard Nixon talked him into the job, he has been White House Curator as well. He is often called Curator for Grand Acquisitor, a Nation, Great Extortionist, Worlds Most Charming Arm Twister, Horse Oriental Rug Merchant, Trader and GI Antique Dealer. 632-324- 1. e, wall-to-wa- e, Alexandria, - 1 4 H The Salt Lake Tribune Home Magazine, Sunday, October Clement E. Conger, curator of the White House and the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the Department of State, sits by the fireplace in the John Quincy Adams drawing room. (Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Dept, of State Photo). at all times so I can move fast to make acquisitions when I hear of something good coming on $250,000 the market. We get outright gifts of most desirous items each year but. unfortunately, we dont always get the items we want. We have to go after those by using stand-b- y funds and powers of persuasion. We donors with appeal to would-b- e reminders that gifts are tax deductible and patriotism, national and family pride are involved in having their treasures at State. Hard times help us get valuable acquisitions because owners become short of money and sell to us. Closings of great houses are useful occasions. And, some people want their treasures in safe places during these days of crime. Wheres a safer place than the top floor of the State Department? CLEM CONGER BELIEVES in the hard sell approach and he will not hesitate to suggest that you change your will so he can get your treasures after you pass on. He to get quickly admits that he will 17, 1962 . wait a long what he wants IH do anywhile, beg. borrow thing but steaL has This attitude of never-say-di- e brought in such fabulous things as: a collection of chairs that belonged to Francis Scott Key; Martha Washingtons china and Georges silver; a lowboy that belonged to John Alden; secretary owned by John Hancock; Jeffersons porcelain; scores of portraits of early leaders painted by Americas finest artists and thousands of other historic and lovely items. An example of fast pursuit of finery while having the money on hand with which to operate, came last year when three oil paintings done in 1845 for King of France suddenly came on the market in Paris. The painter was e Prosper-GeorgAntoine Marilhat. The oils, of Baltimore Harbor and two of the Great Falls of the Potomac River, were dooe from watercolors by Marilhat at the time of North American visit. Louis-Philip- Louis-Philipp- pi is CLEM CONGER SAYS he heard from one of my international art spies that paintings were on the market, so I rushed over $90,000 from my uncommitted funds to buy all three. A true bargain. What may be the best bargain of all was the $6,500 he paid several years ago for a portrait of Chief Justice John Marshall. Its worth at least $50,000 now, Mr. Conger says. Another bargain was an inexpensive Conger purchase of a poorly drawn, cheaply printed picture of the Boston Massacre. When first d over 200 years ago, the picture sold for a penny. Today, it is worth $45,000. MR. CONGER KEEPS a list of items on loan from owners which he would like to buy. About one third of everything in the State collection is in this category, with the remaining two thirds actually owned by State. One item on loan that Conger covets is a painting of Boston Harbor more than 200 years ago. The price is $125,000 and Mr. mass-produce- See Page H-1- 8, Col. 3 j |