Designed by prominent Tulsa architect John Duncan Forsyth, the mansion was constructed between 1925 and 1928, and influenced by the Palazzo Davanzati in Florence, Italy that Marland had visited while traveling in Europe.

The south front's notable features include triple arched windows giving an arcaded effect and accented with stone balconies with flower carved corbels that flank the facade on the upper level.

This arcade is highlighted by a stone cantilevered staircase to the left, with ornately carved corbels of mythological creatures leading to a second floor balcony adjacent to E.W.

On the third level are flanking rectangular windows with wrought iron balconies, mirroring those on the west front, centered by three small square shaped fenestrations.

[2] The mansion is spread out over three floors featuring a total of 55 rooms, including 10 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, 7 fireplaces, and 3 kitchens illuminated by 861 light bulbs.

Overhead are gilded domed ceilings, and the space is embellished with two stone carved night owls, peering out of the stairway niches through glowing red eyes.

The hall is named due to the four whimsical carvings of men representing "Eat, drink and be merry," with the fourth figure taking a pinch of snuff.

The hall today is the site of the Carl and Carolyn Renfro Gallery that feature replicas of the twelve statues entered in a competition to depict the Pioneer Woman.

To the left of the hall is the service area of the house including the main kitchen where a majority of the cooking was done, the staff dining room and pantry.

To the left of the entrance hall is the Elizabethan formal dining room featuring wall panels of hand-cut pollard oak cut from an English royal forest, as well as a suspended cast plaster barrel ceiling that was molded at bench level, and then hoisted and wired into position to the structural beams.

Accessed by a curved double staircase in the entrance hall, a multiple arched loggia with vaulted ceilings, featuring hand painted chinoiserie canvases, and a terrazzo floor with each tile individually poured between brass dividers, runs through the center of the house to the ballroom.

The spacious ballroom features an ornate coffered ceiling that was gilded in $80,000 of gold leaf, and lit from imported Waterford crystal chandeliers with wrought iron bases that originally cost $15,000 each.

[4] The third floor, where the family's private quarters are found, is accessed by a spacious stone staircase with wrought iron railings, or by the original Otis elevator lined with buffalo leather; one of the first to be installed in the state of Oklahoma.

The Louis XV-style bedroom of his wife, Lydie Marland, is lined with imported lime-wood hand-carved panels with rounded corners, and a fireplace carved from Italian pink marble.

Also, a room in the gallery displays information and drawings of the architect, John Duncan Forsyth, who designed the estate, as well as many other homes in Ponca City and Tulsa.

Marland opened his estate on June 2, 1928, to invited friends and family, who enjoyed a luncheon and an afternoon of equestrian events such as polo and fox hunting which he had introduced to Oklahoma.

Due to a hostile takeover of his company in 1928 by J. P. Morgan Jr., the Marlands only enjoyed living in the mansion until 1931, as the operation of the large dwelling depleted their much reduced finances.

Moving into the Artist Studio on the estate, the mansion was only opened for special occasions, such as the Inaugural Ball to celebrate Marland becoming Oklahoma's 10th governor in 1935.