For over a century, American Presidents have conducted the country's business across the desk built from timbers of a British ship, the H.M.S. Resolute, a goodwill gift to the country from Queen Victoria. To build a faithful reproduction of the Resolute Desk, History Company employs a team of cabinetmakers and wood-carvers who have studied the drawings of William Evenden, designer and builder of the original desk at Chatham dockyard.
Assembly and finishing is assigned to the craftsmen at Kittinger Company of Buffalo, New York. It measures 72-inches in length x 48-inches in width x 31-inches in height. Functional drawers and cupboard doors open from both sides of the desk. And, like the original, an attached brass plate is inscribed with the message from Queen Victoria.
Every President since Hayes, except Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Ford, has used the Resolute Desk. It remains unchanged from the original except for the addition of a central panel, carved with the Presidential Seal.
