In the Candy’s Media Group family, there’s at least one person with a special place in her heart for the sitcom Designing Women (maybe specifically, Julia Sugarbaker, but that’s neither here nor there). So that one person may have gotten very excited when the historic Villa Marre in Little Rock went on the market.
Why? Because Villa Marre, in addition to being a grand historic mansion, is also the exterior that stood in for the Atlanta mansion the Sugarbakers worked in.
But before it was the title card for the popular series, Villa Marre was home to Angelo and Jennie Marre, who had the home built in 1881 as a reminder of their Italian heritage. The home was built in about a year, and was valued at $5,000 at the time.
Built after the Second Empire architectural style with Italianate influences, the home’s location on Scott Street put it in the most fashionable neighborhood (today known as Quapaw Quarter) in Little Rock, which was experiencing a bit of a boom at the time.
Angelo had built his fortune in liquor imports and saloons before he decided to build the elegant and extravagant structure. Sadly, Angelo died in 1889 and Jennie died in 1904, which meant neither got to enjoy their new abode for long.
We tell the rest of the story of the home on SecondShelters.com.
