Talk:Blair House

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Blair House has been listed as one of the Art and architecture good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
February 3, 2016	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
May 30, 2016	Good article nominee	Listed

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on November 1, 2015.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that the U.S. President's Guest House is larger than the White House?

Current status: Good article

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Article name[edit]

Why is this article called "President's Guest House"? Per WP:COMMONNAME shouldn't it be "Blair House"? GA-RT-22 (talk) 14:25, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In my opinion? - because its official name/GSA/Federal Government name is President's Guest House. Blair House as a separate entity does not physically, actually exist. I think the policy that is pertinent here is WP:CRITERIA, especially the parameter about Precision. You could always open an RfC to see if there's a consensus to change the article's name to "Blair House". Shearonink (talk) 15:43, 14 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I agree it should be at Blair House per common name. I just googled Blair House, and when google showed me President's Guest House I at first skipped over it, thinking it couldn't be the article I was looking for. Official name shouldn't trump common name. —valereee (talk) 18:00, 20 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

There is no doubt this article should be named Blair House, which is by far the common name for the presidential guesthouse. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 21:14, 20 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Blair House seems the common name of the multi-building (but one interior) complex, and the opening image uses the term. The most notable events in its history, the Harry Truman residence and assassination attempt, seem to be refer to Blair House as the common name. And per Blair House Agreement. Randy Kryn (talk) 21:24, 20 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move 22 January 2021[edit]

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: MOVED. Closing a day early, as there's clearly white fluffy stuff in the air, so no need to drag this out. {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 18:14, 28 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

President's Guest House → Blair House – Blair House is most obviously the WP:COMMONNAME of this structure. Regardless of the actual or precise name, the recognizable common name is Blair House. As a recent example "Kamala Harris to move temporarily to Blair House". « Gonzo fan2007 (talk) @ 20:54, 22 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support per Common Name Cristiano Tomás (talk) 21:57, 22 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support per commonname —valereee (talk) 22:01, 22 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support, even though the original Blair House has been added to, the common name of the building seems to be 'Blair House'. The most notable incidents which are identified with the name are the use of the home by the Truman family as a residence during the renovation and rebuilding of the White House and the assassination attempt on Harry Truman's life. Randy Kryn (talk) 22:02, 22 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Support Rreagan007 (talk) 00:04, 23 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support per nomination, Cristiano Tomás, valereee, Randy Kryn and Rreagan007. "Blair House" is indisputably the building's WP:COMMONNAME. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 00:09, 23 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support per common name, I live in DC and have never heard it referred to as President's Guest House. WikiIndustrialComplex (talk) 00:12, 25 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support as most commonly searched name. Have rdr from PGH to here if needed. — MrDolomite • Talk 02:47, 25 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support Blair House is by far the most common name. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 02:52, 25 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support I take it PGH is it's administrative name, and that historically "Blair House" was actually only part of the modern complex, but regardless, now the common name for the complex is Blair House. Alanscottwalker (talk) 19:51, 26 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Support – Even government sources, such as the GSA source presently being used for square footage, seem to confuse the issue; and I'm well aware of "Blair House" being the usual designation. Dhtwiki (talk) 21:38, 27 January 2021 (UTC) (edited 21:42, 27 January 2021 (UTC))[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Floor area[edit]

In the infobox we say the floor area is 202,440 sq ft, but in the Interior spaces section we say it's 70,000 sq ft. If these are for two different parts, say the original Blair House vs the entire complex, we should clarify this. GA-RT-22 (talk) 20:04, 25 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The larger area is sourced to Mary French's United States protocol : the guide to official diplomatic etiquette, but that citation was arrived at haphazardly: see here, for square footage without reference (couldn't find when that area was first inserted); here, for when book was used to reference number of rooms; and here, for final appearance (there are other relevant edits, but I didn't get results from some other searches).

The GSA reference is the only online one, and it is somewhat confusing;

The President's Guest House consists of four, visually distinct buildings that have been unified on the interior to serve the needs of visiting dignitaries. The property contains 119 rooms, including 14 guest bedrooms and 35 bathrooms, among other functional spaces. At 70,000 square feet, Blair House is larger than the White House.

Does that paragraph refer to two separate entities or the same space by different names. 70,000 square feet is an enormous space and could well be that of the entire complex. At this point, I would assume that the smaller number belongs in the infobox. Dhtwiki (talk) 23:08, 25 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

70,000 sq ft is the floor space of the entire President's Guest House complex per state.gov "The Blair House of today consists of four interconnected townhouses, forming a 120-room complex totaling 70,000 square feet." The White House is approximately 55,000 sq ft, according to the White House History website.

I do not have access to the Mary French book with the "202,440 square feet" figure in it. Can someone who has access to that book post an exact quote here? That figure seems to me to be in error... Shearonink (talk) 23:54, 25 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The Blair House website says the square footage is 60,600 square feet. Shearonink (talk) 23:57, 25 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Since it seems certain that a smaller square footage is in order for the infobox, I've changed it to match what's in the article, citing the GSA source. That doesn't have to be the final edit, especially given the discrepancy here; but it's obvious now that 202,440 sq. ft. is far too large, especially when comparing with residential spaces we're all familiar with. Dhtwiki (talk) 02:51, 26 January 2021 (UTC) (edited 21:40, 27 January 2021 (UTC))[reply]