| Desk | Presidential tenant(s) | Notes | Current location | Picture |
| Washington's writing desk | George Washington | Used by Washington in Federal Hall. After Federal Hall was demolished in 1812, the desk found its way to Bellevue Almshouse. This "horrified" the City Council who had it moved to the Governor's Room in 1844 where it has remained since. | Governor's Room, New York City Hall, New York | |
| Washington's presidential desk | George Washington | Used by Washington in his office in the President's House, the executive mansion at the time. This desk is now in the collection of the Philadelphia History Museum, which has been closed to the public since 2018. | Philadelphia History Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | External image George Washington desk |
| Declaration of Independence Desk | Thomas Jefferson | This portable desk made by Benjamin Randolph was used by Thomas Jefferson as he wrote the United States Declaration of Independence. Jefferson continued to use this desk through his time as president. | American Democracy exhibition, National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. | |
| Monroe Doctrine desk | James Monroe | All of the White House's furniture was destroyed during the 1814 Burning of Washington. When Monroe moved into the rebuilt presidential mansion he brought many of his own personal furnishings to use in the building. This fall-front desk is one of several pieces of furniture purchased by Monroe when he was in France between 1794 and 1796. While there are no documents proving this, family legend holds that the president wrote the Monroe Doctrine sitting at this desk. A secret compartment within the desk containing correspondences was discovered in the early 20th century. First Lady Lou Henry Hoover saw the desk in the 1930s and was so taken with the desk she had a replica created and placed in the White House. | James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library, Fredericksburg, Virginia | External image The Monroe Doctrine desk |
| Desk in the room east of the upstairs oval room | John Quincy Adams | John Quincy Adams had an inventory made of the White House after he became president. This inventory notes a desk in the room east of the upstairs oval room which is assumed to be where his office was. | | |
| Andrew Jackson's stand-up desk | Andrew Jackson | "A tall awkward desk" with pigeonholes was used by Andrew Jackson in the White House. During the rearrangement of the presidential office rooms in 1865, following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the desk was removed from the building and sent off to auction. Andrew Johnson ordered it be returned saying "What ever was Old Hickory's I revere". The desk was still in use in the presidential office during Rutherford B. Hayes's term. It was auctioned off in 1882 with other White House furnishings, under Chester A. Arthur's watch, to make way for new design elements in the building. | | |
| Franklin Pierce |
| Rutherford B. Hayes |
| Buchanan’s Teakwood Desk | James Buchanan | This intricately carved pedestal desk was given to Buchanan, upon winning the presidential nomination in 1856, from friends that lived in India he had met while he was Minister to Russia in the 1830s. Buchanan had the desk shipped to the White House so it would be there when he arrived on his first day as President. | Sitting Room, Wheatland, Lancaster, Pennsylvania | |
| Table | Abraham Lincoln | Lincoln's office was located in the southeastern upstairs corner of the White House. While a large "council table" was the centerpiece of the room, a second table was located at the southern end which Lincoln used as his desk. | | |
| Patent Revolving Secretary | Ulysses S. Grant | Julia Dent Grant, unhappy with the furnishings of the White House, received a $25,000 (equivalent to $590,563 in 2024) appropriation from congress to update the interiors. While redecorating the cabinet room she purchased a "Patent Revolving Secretary", from Pottier & Stymus. This secretary was a patent Wooton desk with a carved eagle and shield on its cornice. The secretary was later sold to Webb Hayes for $10 who used it when he was the personal secretary to his father, Rutherford B. Hayes. In 1969, the secretary was back in the White House collection and was loaned to the Smithsonian. | White House collection | |
| Resolute desk | Rutherford B. Hayes | After receiving the desk in 1880, Hayes placed it in the Green Room on exhibition until it was taken upstairs to his office on the second floor. Grover Cleveland used the desk in his office and library in what is now the Yellow Oval Room for both of his non-consecutive terms. William McKinley used the desk often in the Presidential Office and had a bouquet of flowers placed upon it every day. Theodore Roosevelt used it in the President's Room, today's Lincoln Bedroom. | Oval Office, The White House, Washington, D.C. | |
| Grover Cleveland |
| William McKinley |
| Theodore Roosevelt |
| Secretary desk | Chester A. Arthur | The design of the White House was not to Arthur's taste. He had unfashionable and damaged furniture removed, selling off twenty-four wagon loads of furniture and thirty barrels of china. He commissioned Associated Artists, where Louis Comfort Tiffany was a partner, to redesign several rooms. The White House Historical Association claims no furniture was commissioned at this time, but an 1881 news article in the Richmond Item noted that a new desk had been created for the president. An 1882 ad notes this desk is a Wooton Desk in the secretary style, in use by President Arthur, and includes a quote from colonel Almon F. Rockwell, noting a carved coronet in the top guard. | | |
