The Marden House is a residence in
McLean, Virginia
McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxim ...
designed by
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...
. It is located just off
Chain Bridge Road and overlooks the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
. Also known as "Fontinalis," it is named after
Luis Marden
Luis Marden (born Annibale Luigi Paragallo) (January 25, 1913 – March 3, 2003) was an American photographer, explorer, writer, filmmaker, diver, navigator, and linguist who worked for ''National Geographic Magazine''. He worked as a photographer ...
(1913–2003), a writer, photographer, and explorer for ''
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
''. It was designed by Wright in 1952 and was completed in 1959 at a cost of $76,000.
The spot had caught Marden's eye in 1944 when he and his wife and had been fishing along the
Potomac. After purchasing a plot of land, Marden continued the correspondence he had maintained with Wright since 1940, asking the architect to design a home for him. It was not until 1952 that the designs finally came.
After Marden moved to a nursing home in 1998, the house was purchased by
Jim Kimsey, co-founder of
AOL
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017â ...
, in 2000 for $2.5 million.
Sources
Peter Beers: Luis Marden House 1952*
ttp://www.washingtonlife.com/issues/may-2006/inside-homes/ "Preservation . . . The Wright Way," ''Washington Life Magazine'', May 2006Pictures of Marsden house in ''Residential Architect'', 2008* Storrer, William Allin. ''The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion''. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, (S.357)
External links
Frank Lloyd Wright buildings
Houses completed in 1959
McLean, Virginia
Houses in Fairfax County, Virginia
1959 establishments in Virginia
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