The design of "Mother's House", as architect Robert Venturi frequently called the house, was affected by Vanna (née Luizi) Venturi both as the client whose needs had to be met and as the mother who helped develop the architect's talent and personality. Vanna was a feminist, socialist, pacifist, and vegetarian with an active intellectual life, reading books mostly on history, current events, and biography. She was born to Italian immigrant parents in Washington, DC in 1893. She dropped out of high school because her family could not afford to buy her a coat, so she was essentially self-educated. At 29, she married fruit-and-produce merchant Robert Venturi Sr. Her only child, Robert Jr. was born in 1925. Possibly because of her liberal views she perceived herself as an "outsider" and became a
Quaker. Robert Jr. said, "I never went to public school: pledging allegiance to the flag — 'coercive patriotism' my mother called it — was anathema to her." The family made summer trips to
Arden, Delaware, and
Rose Valley, Pennsylvania, two communities organized by architect
William Lightfoot Price, who was inspired by the
Arts and Crafts Movement and the then-radical economics of
Henry George. In Rose Valley, the family attended plays by
George Bernard Shaw at the
Hedgerow Theater. The family attended the
Quakers'
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting at the
Arch Street Friends Meeting House. Robert Jr. attended a Quaker grade school, then the
Episcopal Academy, and later
Princeton University, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees. From 1954 to 1956 he was a
Rome Prize Fellow at the
American Academy in Rome. He then taught architectural theory at the
University of Pennsylvania, working with
Louis Kahn. In 1960, Venturi met fellow lecturer and future partner
Denise Scott Brown at the university. As a professional architect, he worked in the offices of
Eero Saarinen, Louis Kahn, and
Oscar Stonorov. In 1959, Robert Sr. died, leaving his wife enough money to build the house and live comfortably. The designs for the house by Robert Jr. evolved over four years, but the architect noted only two indications of disagreement from his client. When the work was about three-fourths complete, she looked at the traditional 19th-century house next door and remarked "Oh, isn't that a nice house." She also rejected the marble floor in the dining area, considering it to be ostentatious, but relented as the house was nearing completion. Along with the
Guild House, an apartment house for the elderly, also completed in 1964, the Vanna Venturi House was Venturi's first work as an independent architect. Robert lived in the house until a few months after his 1967 marriage to
Denise Scott Brown. Vanna Venturi lived in the house from 1964 though 1973, often lecturing visiting architects on architecture and the architect. In 1973 she moved to a nursing home, and died in 1975. The house was sold in 1973 to
Thomas P. Hughes, an historian, author, and university professor, and his wife, Agatha, an editor and artist. The Hughes family maintained and lived in the house, keeping it as original and authentic as possible, until 2016 when it was sold to a local, private buyer. ==Design==