HYLAND
Marwood was built, at a time when it was distant from
the city and its neighbors, small farms. As a result, it
enjoys a location hovering above the cliffs of the Potomac
River, which no other property shares. It is only slight
set back from these cliffs, now managed by the United
States Park Service. Governmentally protected, the
banks of the Potomac, at Marwood Estate and viewed
from Marwood mansion, offer a view of thousands of
protected acres, with no other houses in sight: a vision
of grand elegance and a more gracious time.
It never occurred to Drysdale, on that first day of
discovering the splendor of Marwood, that years later she
would be entrusted with the remaking of this important
house. In 2005, Drysdale began a multi-year renovation
and redecoration for long time clients, for whom she
had already done several residences. The state of the
house, then, after decades of short-term ownership
and even occasional abandonment, had lost much of
its glory. She and her clients did not wish to replicate
the vision of a Malmaison on the Potomac, and instead
decided on "a looser and more subtle interpretation of
Classical French style", while embracing more modest
references to "Le Style Empire."
Of her clients--true patrons--and the project, Drysdale
notes, "Despite the original grand vision for this house,
there were aspects of the interior layouts which no longer
made any sense for the way my clients lived. And to
my sensibilities, some of the existing interior planning
