Model Politics : Intricate White House Replica Returns to Reagan Library

A small-scale model of the White House that drew large crowds two years ago returns to the Simi Valley area Sunday as the centerpiece of a five-month exhibit at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

“We’re glad to see it come back,” library director Ralph C. Bledsoe said Friday. “Because since it left here almost two years ago, rarely a day has gone by when someone wouldn’t ask when it would come back.”

Built by Florida craftsman John Zweifel, the model re-creates the White House as it appeared when the Reagans lived there from 1981 to 1988. It measures 60 feet by 20 feet and stands 4 feet high.

“We’re here in the West, and people out here don’t get a chance to go see the real White House and this is as close as it gets,” Bledsoe said. “As a matter of fact, this is a chance for them to see more than if they took the actual tour in Washington.”

The building features cutout glimpses into White House offices, historic points of interest and the private living quarters inhabited by every United States President except George Washington.

Extraordinarily realistic for a model, the three-story structure includes such details as ringing telephones, working quarter-inch-screen television sets and chimneys that puff smoke. For the first few months it is on display, the White House will be decked out in Christmas decorations, which will be removed after the holiday season.

“It’s the level of detail shown, the furniture, the artwork, the candelabrum, that is impressive to people,” said library spokeswoman Stefanie Salata. “People want to know if that’s what it really looks like. And if they see a painting on the wall, they want to know if that’s really on the wall in that room of the White House, and it is.”

Bledsoe said the attention to detail and the long history of the actual White House combine to make the exhibit popular.

“It’s a historic institution,” he said. “It is one of the older buildings in Washington and it is a place that has survived over time.”

The exhibit will open to the public Sunday and run through April, Bledsoe said. Admission to the library’s museum is $4 for visitors 16 years and older and $2 for seniors. Children 15 and under are free. There will be no additional charge to view the model.

Bledsoe said if the crowds become too large the library may use a system of assigning visitors specific viewing times.

Area firefighters will get a chance to view the White House replica a day early as part of a daylong salute planned in their honor today. Former President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, are scheduled to attend ceremonies.

Firefighters with official fire department identification will be admitted to the library free, and they and their families will be able to tour the facility and treated to an informal lunch of hot dogs, chips and ice cream donated by various sponsors.

A California Air National Guard C-130 is scheduled to fly over the crowd at noon, and firefighters will be escorted into the library auditorium at 2 p.m. to hear Reagan personally express his appreciation for their heroic efforts during the recent rash of Southland brush fires.

Bledsoe said the idea for the special day was Reagan’s.

“The genesis was that President Reagan really wanted to thank them,” Bledsoe said. “His office called and said, ‘Gee, we’d like to honor the firefighters,’ and we thought that was a great idea.”