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Morven Park

Morven Park
Morven Park, Leesburg VA-1.jpg
Morven Park, June 2009
Morven Park is located in Northern Virginia
Morven Park
Morven Park is located in Virginia
Morven Park
Morven Park is located in the US
Morven Park
Location 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of Leesburg off U.S. 15, near Leesburg, Virginia
Coordinates 39°8′26.3″N 77°34′24.2″W / 39.140639°N 77.573389°W / 39.140639; -77.573389Coordinates: 39°8′26.3″N 77°34′24.2″W / 39.140639°N 77.573389°W / 39.140639; -77.573389
Built 1780
Architect Lind & Murdock; Thomas Swann, Jr.
Architectural style Greek Revival
NRHP Reference # 75002022
VLR # 053-0087
Significant dates
Added to NRHP February 18, 1975
Designated VLR November 19, 1974; March 13, 2008

Morven Park is a 1,000-acre historic estate and horse park in Leesburg, Virginia, United States. Located on the grounds are the Morven Park Mansion, the Winmill Carriage Museum, formal boxwood gardens, miles of hiking and riding trails, and athletic fields. The park is also home to the Museum of Hounds and Hunting of North America with displays of art, artifacts and memorabilia about the sport of foxhunting.

The Mansion, once the home of Thomas Swann, Jr., governor of Maryland during the Civil War and Westmoreland Davis, governor of Virginia during World War I, is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Virginia Historic Landmark. The Westmoreland Davis Memorial Foundation operates Morven Park, which is a 501c3 nonprofit organization supported by contributions from donors.

The world-renowned Morven Park International Equestrian Center hosts Olympic equestrians and top-level riders from around the world who come to compete in Horse Trials, Dressage, Hunter/Jumper shows, Pony Club and Carriage Driving events. From 1980 until 2010, Morven Park was the site of the Morven Park Steeplechase Races, one of the most popular race meets in the country.

The first structures on the site of Morven Park date to about 1780. A fieldstone house built by Wilson Cary Seldon is now a part of the north wing of the main house, stuccoed over to match the rest of the mansion. Judge Thomas Swann acquired the property about 1800. Around 1830 Swann built the center two-story portion of the house, with flanking pavilions. It is not known whether the pavilions were initially linked to the house, but the renovations included the prominent tetrastyle Greek Revival portico that dominates the front portico. While the brick structure remains, now stuccoed, none of the Swann interiors exist. Judge Swann's son, Thomas Swann Jr., began a remodeling program around 1850, using the Baltimore firm of E.G. Lind and William T. Murdock as architects, converting the Palladian house to the Italianate style with four towers, including one that was five stories tall, stated by The Buildings of Virginia to resemble Queen Victoria's Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. The pavilions were by this time linked to the main house. The towers were later removed by Thomas Swann Jr.'s daughter, Mary Mercer Swann Carter, and her husband, Dr. Shirley Carter. They made more changes, raising the height of the hyphens to two stories and reworking the interior.


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