BUFFALO, N.Y. — It's another high honor for one of Buffalo's most iconic companies.
The Kittinger Furniture Company is about to ship another order of finely crafted furniture to nation's capitol.
This time, however, their work won't be going to the White House but to something close to it, literally and figuratively.
Kittinger craftsmen have been busy over the last six months meticulously creating replica pieces for The People's House: A White House Experience, which will open to the public in one month at 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.
"It's supposed to replicate the experience of being in the White House and within the Oval Office which you would never be able to enter on a regular White House tour," company president Raymond C. Bialkowski said.
Kittinger has produced around two dozen replica pieces of Oval Office furniture, including the presidential Resolute Desk for the new exhibit.
"The attention to detail the inlay work is just phenomenal," Bialkowski said, "and that's why we had to work with the White House curators to try to get the exact specifications."
Kittinger has a long association of producing furniture for the actual White House, dating back to 1969, when President Nixon ordered the massive Cabinet Room table from the company which has since been commissioned to create several additional pieces of furniture for other occupants of the White House.
And while they mostly recreated the work other craftsmen for this job, in some cases they were actually replicating their own work.
"The chairs that we are sitting on are actually replicas of some pieces which we were very proud to produce for President Reagan," Bialkowski said while speaking with 2 On Your Side.
To be certain, landing the contract for The People's House is helpful to the 158 year old company's bottom line.
But according to Bialkowski, the prestige that comes with being chosen for the work, and the fact that hundreds of thousands of visitors to Washington will be seeing their craftsmanship, is the real value in the job which they took much pride in completing.
"It's been so critical, I believe, to give us the credibility and prove to the public what we are capable of making here and the respect we've been given by the White House, for instance," he said.