Marland’s Grand Home adds vintage lounge chair to indoor pool area

A vintage poolside lounge chair has been refurbished and placed by the indoor pool, located in the basement area of Marland’s Grand Home.
E.W. Marland, founder of the Marland Oil Company, which later became CONOCO, and his wife, Mary Virginia, occupied the home from 1916 to 1928. The chair, owned by the Marland family in the 1920s, is made of white metal piping with added springs for comfort. It has a cotton-filled, marine blue vinyl padded covering and wooden armrests painted to match. The chair reclines and was upscale for its day.

“The chair was cleaned and repainted, the cushion mended, and the gears greased. With a little upgrading, it was soon intact and ready to be placed beside the indoor pool for safe keeping,” said Jayne Detten, Assistant Director of the Marland Mansion and Marland’s Grand Home.

“It makes an interesting addition to the other Marland pool furniture items already in the area,” Detten said.

The Marlands owned several sets of outdoor tables and chairs. Some of the chairs are made of wicker and metal, and the metal tables have glass tops. There is also a pool cart for serving food and beverages.

“The most attractive pieces are the French Francois Carre sunburst slated side chairs. They are decorative and unique to the period,” Detten said.

Mary Virginia Marland always had extra swim suits for friends that visited, just in case they didn’t have their own with them and wanted a swim. The basement area of the Marland’s Grand Home houses a changing room with individual dressing spaces for pool guests. E.W. Marland enjoyed swimming very much. He is known to have said that even though the younger men could out work him in the field, he could out swim them in the pool.

The indoor pool at Marland’s Grand Home is thought to have been the first indoor pool in Oklahoma.

“It’s fun to imagine the Marlands sitting beside their pool and drinking lemonade in the summer time,” Detten said. “I can hear the laughter and the water splashing. Mr. Marland was probably quite comfortable in this lounge chair.”

Marland’s Grand Home is open for tours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

For more information, call (580) 767-0427 or visit marlandgrandhome.com, or Marland’s Grand Home on Facebook.