Notes from my Knapsack 11-12-2026
Jeff Gill
The architecture of politics and the drama of character
___
One of the hazards of writing a column with a long lead time is that events can not only catch up with you, they can run laps around you.
I had done a couple of pieces in a non-specific way during the recent (and intense) political season which, to be honest, were meant to show my biases and interests without getting blatantly political myself. I was talking about the Colonial Revival and Greek Revival roots of the modern Oval Office as it was created by William Howard Taft and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and why over-decorating isn’t just a matter of taste or fashion preferences. Baroque is a choice, and it comes with certain implications about hierarchy and authority.
But as I was wending my way to a point, or so I hoped, the entire field of discussion was co-opted by The Cheesecake Factory.
Now, the social media team for that fine institution, whose outlet in Easton I have celebrated more than a few family birthdays in, has to have had an interesting few weeks. How to capitalize on the attention, without running the risk of alienating potential customers? As Michael Jordan famously said when asked to do political endorsements for a friend of a friend, and after saying “no,” added “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”
Indeed they do.
If you had asked me before this all blew up what description I’d put on the decor philosophy of The Cheesecake Factory, I’d be hard pressed to answer. It’s eclectic at best, chaotic from certain angles, and a mash-up of Egyptian capitals and Atlantean figures with strange sconces and unusual ceiling features. Baroque style implies some kind of prevailing design principle, if repeated to excess, but from menu pages to crown moldings the restaurant challenges any one description.
As the initial statement had it from Barack Obama, “what’s with all the gold?” And he made some hay out of the fact that the retorts from fans of the current Oval Office occupant all focused on the chain eatery comparison, and not the first half of his jape: “it’s like Saddam Hussein opened a…” Et cetera.
Saddam Hussein famously had a gold toilet; while many have claimed or just assumed Donald Trump had one in his “penthouse” at Trump Tower (whose lobby and escalator, which I’ve seen in person, has plenteous gold ornamentation), there is literally zero evidence he has one. But you can’t debate the amount of gold ornament added to the Oval Office. Each filming of a new visitor to that location in the West Wing, every press availability, seems to show more gold “stuff” glued and attached and painted on than before, to where you wonder how this all concludes.
And there’s some hint that presidential staffers have been inquiring about applying historic structure status to the Oval Office as it is — remarkably, like many D.C. places you’d assume had it, there are no historic preservation restrictions on the entire White House complex. The goal seems to be to prevent a future occupant from applying a putty knife and a new coat of paint to the formerly austere interior, let alone on the colonnade walkway and Rose Garden, locking in the current appearance for years to come.
Does it matter? I think it does. As a village with an investment in Greek Revival architecture, I think at the very least it’s worth discussion.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he’s not a big fan of the Baroque, unless it’s Bach. Tell him how style communicates character to you at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on X.
Jeff Gill
The architecture of politics and the drama of character
___
One of the hazards of writing a column with a long lead time is that events can not only catch up with you, they can run laps around you.
I had done a couple of pieces in a non-specific way during the recent (and intense) political season which, to be honest, were meant to show my biases and interests without getting blatantly political myself. I was talking about the Colonial Revival and Greek Revival roots of the modern Oval Office as it was created by William Howard Taft and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and why over-decorating isn’t just a matter of taste or fashion preferences. Baroque is a choice, and it comes with certain implications about hierarchy and authority.
But as I was wending my way to a point, or so I hoped, the entire field of discussion was co-opted by The Cheesecake Factory.
Now, the social media team for that fine institution, whose outlet in Easton I have celebrated more than a few family birthdays in, has to have had an interesting few weeks. How to capitalize on the attention, without running the risk of alienating potential customers? As Michael Jordan famously said when asked to do political endorsements for a friend of a friend, and after saying “no,” added “Republicans buy sneakers, too.”
Indeed they do.
If you had asked me before this all blew up what description I’d put on the decor philosophy of The Cheesecake Factory, I’d be hard pressed to answer. It’s eclectic at best, chaotic from certain angles, and a mash-up of Egyptian capitals and Atlantean figures with strange sconces and unusual ceiling features. Baroque style implies some kind of prevailing design principle, if repeated to excess, but from menu pages to crown moldings the restaurant challenges any one description.
As the initial statement had it from Barack Obama, “what’s with all the gold?” And he made some hay out of the fact that the retorts from fans of the current Oval Office occupant all focused on the chain eatery comparison, and not the first half of his jape: “it’s like Saddam Hussein opened a…” Et cetera.
Saddam Hussein famously had a gold toilet; while many have claimed or just assumed Donald Trump had one in his “penthouse” at Trump Tower (whose lobby and escalator, which I’ve seen in person, has plenteous gold ornamentation), there is literally zero evidence he has one. But you can’t debate the amount of gold ornament added to the Oval Office. Each filming of a new visitor to that location in the West Wing, every press availability, seems to show more gold “stuff” glued and attached and painted on than before, to where you wonder how this all concludes.
And there’s some hint that presidential staffers have been inquiring about applying historic structure status to the Oval Office as it is — remarkably, like many D.C. places you’d assume had it, there are no historic preservation restrictions on the entire White House complex. The goal seems to be to prevent a future occupant from applying a putty knife and a new coat of paint to the formerly austere interior, let alone on the colonnade walkway and Rose Garden, locking in the current appearance for years to come.
Does it matter? I think it does. As a village with an investment in Greek Revival architecture, I think at the very least it’s worth discussion.
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he’s not a big fan of the Baroque, unless it’s Bach. Tell him how style communicates character to you at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on X.
