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A ZINC AND COPPER COW-FORM WEATHERVANELate 19th century
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President John F. Kennedy's "New York White House" Telephone from the Presidential Suite at the Carlyle Hotel, New York, c.1961 image 1
President John F. Kennedy's "New York White House" Telephone from the Presidential Suite at the Carlyle Hotel, New York, c.1961 image 2
President John F. Kennedy's "New York White House" Telephone from the Presidential Suite at the Carlyle Hotel, New York, c.1961 image 3
President John F. Kennedy's "New York White House" Telephone from the Presidential Suite at the Carlyle Hotel, New York, c.1961 image 4
President John F. Kennedy's "New York White House" Telephone from the Presidential Suite at the Carlyle Hotel, New York, c.1961 image 5
Lot 67

President John F. Kennedy's "New York White House" Telephone
from the Presidential Suite at the Carlyle Hotel, New York, c.1961

August Americana
19 August 2025, 12:00 EDT
Skinner Marlborough, Massachusetts

Sold for US$7,040 inc. premium

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President John F. Kennedy's "New York White House" Telephone

from the Presidential Suite at the Carlyle Hotel, New York, c.1961
wood, plastic, and wire, wooden base with plastic rotary phone attached, interior of handset impressed with "Bell Systems Made by Western Electric FL", with White House emblems to rotary.
ht. 36 in. (91.4 cm)

Footnotes

Provenance
Collection of Milton C. Flueckiger, former Resident Manager for the Carlyle Hotel, New York.

Note
The Carlyle Hotel played a significant role in President Kennedy's life due to the frequency of his stays there, so much so that the Presidential Suite at the hotel was known as the "The New York White House." Kennedy took committee meetings, met with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and received official guests like Elenor Roosevelt all from his hotel suite. Given how often the President was at the hotel, the need for a secure phone line to the White House was of top importance. Therefore, a switchboard was installed in 1961 so that Kennedy could have direct phone lines to the White House." * Given the more masculine nature of this phone, it is likely that this was kept in the library of the Presidential Suite, as there was also an off-white White House phone in the suite to better match the more feminine white Louis XV furniture and Edgar Degas artwork in the living room. ** Following his assassination, Kennedy's desk was cleaned out, and the contents preserved. One of the pieces of paper from his desk was a telephone directory that stated, "to reach the New York White House from an outside phone, dial RH-010."*** This telephone is a symbol not only of the great love President Kennedy had for his New York White House, but also what a vital part it played in the ethos of America's Camelot.

*Allsbrook, Raleigh. "Carlyle Hotel is 'White House' in New York City", The Express, Wednesday, May 6, 1964.
** "A Letter From The Publisher: Nov. 29, 1963" Time Magazine, November 29, 1963.
*** "The Carlyle Telephone Directory", November 23, 1963, Items found on President Kennedy's Desk, 23 November 1963, JFKPOF-140-036, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston, MA.

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