As the East Room had not been decorated until 1829, the architects took some liberties, devising a room based on the 1780 Louis XVI style "salon de famille" in the Château de Compiègne. For the walls, the designers chose pilasters carved by Herter Brothers of New York City, which appeared to support Neoclassical entablatures. There were 12 faux entablatures, each made of marble and depicting scenes from Aesop's Fables. They were designed by Leon Marcotte of L. Marcotte & Co. of New York, and carved by the Piccirilli Brothers of New York City. The rest of the walls were painted cream white, and adorned with gilded sconces (supplied by the lighting firm of Edward F. Caldwell & Co.) and gold wall hangings. McKim, Meade & White strongly disliked the East Room's four fireplaces, which divided the area into three spaces. The fireplaces and mantels, which projected about , were considerably reduced in depth to just . The mantels were replaced with new ones in the Georgian style. The marble for each mantel came from a different state, and each was a different color.