Texas White House Rehabilitation Updates January - June 2024

If you have driven the LBJ Ranch auto tour route recently, there may not appear to be a lot of activity going on around the Texas White House Complex, but the last six months have seen a great deal of progress.

The walls and large stone fireplace in the Texas White House living room have been covered to protect them while work is performed in the house.

NPS photo / D. Smith

Texas White House

New Discoveries: This historic home is still revealing its secrets.

• Wood ceilings were found in several of the rooms of both the first and second floor of the house. They were originally thought to be gypsum board. It will be necessary to remove some of the first floor ceilings in order to add structural support to the second floor.
• The porch columns in front of President Johnson’s office wing were found to be hollow. Structural supports will be hidden inside to give more support to the porch roof.

Recreating 1960s designs: There is a challenge in bringing the original 1960s colors and materials back to life.

• Carpet: Lady Bird Johnson lived in the Texas White House at least part time until her death in 2007. Over time she updated the look and colors of the rooms. The museum staff and rehabilitation project manager took a trip to a carpet show room in Austin and selected color and texture carpet samples that resemble the original 1960s carpet samples our museum team has in their archives.
• Roof shingles: The original Texas White House shingles were light gray, flat, 3-tab shingles. Today, dimensional architectural shingles are the predominant style. Although 3-tab shingles are still available, the color selection is more limited. It was determined that it would be most historically accurate to select a 3-tab shingle in an available grey color that matched the original as closely as possible, though the color will be slightly darker.

Structural elements: Determining the best way to complete items for the long-term preservation of the house.

• Fitting HVAC ductwork into a historic home: Some sections of the Texas White House were constructed before air conditioning was a possibility. The Johnsons and previous owners also made multiple changes to the house over the years. In the process of installing the ductwork for the new HVAC system, some ductwork had to be re-routed to run parallel to the east-west wooden joists which were previously believed to have a north-south orientation. Also, narrower ductwork pieces had to be ordered to fit through spaces that are tighter than initially anticipated.

• Flat roof design: There are some sections of the TWH roof which are flat. For example, the president’s aunt and uncle Martin had a large, open deck on the second floor at the rear of the house when they lived there. The door access to the deck was eventually removed, but the flat area remained. The flat roof areas were modified to have a slight slope (barely noticeable to the naked eye) to meet building code requirements, allow for proper rainwater drainage, and prevent any water intrusion/damage to the interior of the house.

The north and east sides of the Texas White House in 1951. Notice the door that leads out onto the second-floor deck surrounded by a wooden railing.

Hangar

The Johnsons built the Hangar in 1959 to store aircraft and ranch supplies. It later served as a location for press conferences during the Johnson presidential years and finally a visitor center.

New Discoveries:

• Interior walls built on asphalt. It turns out that when the Johnsons extended the original carport area on the south side of the hangar to allow room additions to the hangar, those additions and walls were built directly on asphalt. A concrete slab was added later under the additions but there was no footing under those interior walls.
  
  Footings will have to be designed for these walls to ensure their structural stability.

A Change in Plans

• Septic Tank: There was a septic tank initially outside the original carport of the hangar. When the carport was extended and the additional rooms constructed, the original septic tank was trapped underneath. The original plan was to remove the old septic tank. Instead, the easiest and safest approach will be to fill it in and leave it in place.

Ongoing projects

• Building Shoring: Shoring plans are in the process of being completed. Once finalized, the structural strengthening work will continue at the Hangar.

• Truss welds: We need to remove the paint from all the welds, clean them, and inspect them. This will comprise a significant effort in ensuring the structural integrity of this historic building. It is expected that 42% of welds will need to be replaced. 

A welder works on the many trusses near the Hangar ceiling.

NPS photo/D. Smith