Also at the end of the west wing was a massive staircase leading to the second floor, which housed offices as well as the family quarters. (There were two smaller stairways, one of which led to the offices; another was a service staircase, which Lincoln used most often, for it allowed him to pass from the second story to the basement hallway and exit unobserved.) The upstairs was dark, with its heavy mahogany doors and wainscoting. On the east side was the president’s sparsely furnished office, which Stoddard described as “a wonderful historic cavern” with “less space for the transaction of the business of his office than a well-to-do New York lawyer.” In the middle of the room stood a long table around which the cabinet sat. By the center window overlooking the Potomac was Lincoln’s upright desk, resembling something from a used furniture auction. Maps were displayed on racks in the northwest corner of the room, a portrait of Andrew Jackson hung above the fireplace, and a large photograph of the English reformer John Bright adorned one wall.
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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