Who Is Ron Wade? Meet The Man Who Spent Four Years And $200,000 Building A Replica Of The Oval Office In His Home [PHOTOS]
A Texan has spent more than four years and $200,000 building a replica of the Oval Office in his home. Ron Wade of Longview also owns the world’s largest collection of presidential memorabilia.
“When I told people I was going to build the Oval Office, I don't think they realized that it was going to be exactly the same as the one the president sits in every day,” Wade said. “But it's identical down to the last detail.”
According to the Daily Mail, the 63-year-old father of two now hosts tours of his vast collection, which includes JFK’s former car and rocking chair, as well as a dresser owned by President Calvin Coolidge.
“I have no idea how much the collection is worth -- there are so many pieces from the White House which I couldn't put a value to,” he said. “I wish I had a warehouse that I could fill with about 200 file cabinets more. I work every single day classifying items in my collection and putting them in order.”
"I add pieces to it every day and I've tried to list them at one time and come up with an inventory, but it's just really impossible,” Wade said of his collection. “I have too many items."
As the Daily Mail reports, the replica of the most famous room in the White House is the most popular part of the tour.
“The reaction to this room is really wonderful,” Wade said. “People say, ‘Oh my god, it's just like the real one we've seen on TV.’ I spent years in planning, using 350 photographs of the real Oval Office so every little detail was complete.”
Wade -- whose family, 36-year-old wife Laura and their daughters, Valentina, 16, and Laura, 10, doesn’t mind living near a virtual Oval Office -- is friendly with both former Presidents Bush after campaigning for them over the years.
“For 40 years I have been good friends with both of the former presidents,” Wade said. “I've had the good fortune since I was in high school to know at various times seven United States presidents including Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.”
According to the Daily Mail, Wade said his children should do with his “Oval Office” as they see fit after he’s gone.
“My children have expressed an interest in turning my house into a museum - they say it's already a museum now,” he said. “I've told them they can do what they want with it when I am gone. I've enjoyed it while I was here. It's just been fun.”
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.