The West Wing of The West Wing

The Bartlett West Wing

NBC's The West Wing provided millions with a look into the Bartlett administration White House and its West Wing in particular. But, as interesting and instructive as it is, the The West Wing's West Wing is not especially accurate in its layout when compared to the real West Wing.

This page documents the television show's version of the West Wing, with images from the DVDs. The layout above was based on the studio set layout on the DVD, as interpreted by Pete Sharkey (see his full reviews by season).

The series producers made the hallways much larger than the real thing and removed many walls and created large open office areas that don't really exists in the AWW. And rather than show the second floor of the WW complex, producers made the first floor much more sprawling and can sometimes leave you with the impression that the west perimeter of the building encroaches into the middle of West Executive Drive.

We see a beautiful replica of the Kennedy version of the Lobby that was much larger and ornate with columns and floor space. In reality the Lobby today is far smaller to make room for more office space. We also get a walk through of the Roosevelt Room, which has been totally modified in the interest of drama and atmosphere to include burgundy walls, numerous columns and several sets of French doors. The Roosevelt Room of TV land bears little resemblance to the real thing, but it is awesome to see. And totally absent is the Cabinet Room which has been redone as what is named "The Mural Room" that looks quite like the décor of the Diplomatic Reception Room from the Residence.

Note: the above represents the studio layout. For Press Briefing Room scenes, the above space was only used to show characters entering and leaving. The scenes inside the room were shot in another studio.