E.W. Marland Mansion – Part 1
2014.12.23
The Marland Grand Home was a comfortable estate for Ernest and Virginia Marland, even with the adoption of two of her sister’s children, George and Lydie (they never had children of their own). But during a trip to Europe, E.W. Marland was inspired by the Davanzati Palace in Florence and hired John Duncan Forsyth to design a “Palace on the Prairie”.
Construction took three years using local and international materials and craftsmen. The mansion is over 43,500 square feet on four levels, with 55 rooms including ten bedrooms, twelve baths, and three kitchens. The grounds originally included a T-shaped Olympic-sized swimming pool, five lakes, boathouse, stables, gatekeeper’s lodge, chauffeur’s cottage and garage, and resident artist’s studio. The cost ran to $5,500,000 (approaching $80,000,000 today).
E.W. Marland