Just off the reception room is this room, which Eisenhower used as a reading room and library. The window overlooks the entrance to the hospital and a curious fountain decorated with penguins. After asking both the official Walter Reed historian and the official Army historian, it can now be revealed that: nobody has any idea why the fountain is decorated with full-size concrete penguins. The fountain was built by the widow of a former senior medical officer at Walter Reed, widely credited for his work in creating mobile field hospitals in the Army.