We have seen movies of it, photos and television shows, all containing one of the most famous offices in the world, the Oval Office. I recently had the chance to stand in it, or at least an exact replica of it at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum. The Oval Office exhibit features a replica of the President’s desk, decorated just as President Bush had it while he was in office. Since all the furnishings belonged to the Federal government, they weren’t available to take from the White House. 

The “C&O desk” is one of only five desks ever used by a President of the United States in the Oval Office. Of all the Oval Office desks, this one was used there only by George H. W. Bush. The C&O desk, created around 1920, is one of four desks built for the owners of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. It was later donated to the White House by Chesapeake and Ohio’s successor, CSX Transportation. Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan all used the desk in the Oval Office Study, until Vice President George H. W. Bush started using the desk as his main work space in the White House. Later, when he became President, he moved it into the Oval Office. 

This replica desk was created by Eli Wilner & Company, New York.