The dwelling, designed by Philadelphia socialite J. S. Lovering Wharton and artist William Trost Richards, is a three-story 23-room 10,000-square-foot shingle-style cottage.[1] The structural system of heavy mill-type framing was designed to withstand hurricane-force winds.[2] The name "Clingstone" was suggested by a remark that it was "a peach of a house".[3] In August 2010 the interior was documented in a series of panoramic photographs.[4]
Film director Wes Anderson modeled the house from Moonrise Kingdom after Clingstone, specifically the interior shingles. [5]
Owners
The original owner, a nephew of industrialist Joseph Wharton, built the house in response to the government condemning his earlier summer home in order to build Fort Wetherill.[6] Wharton summered there until his death in 1931. Although little damaged by a hurricane in 1938, the residence was still vacant at the time of his wife's death in 1957 until it was purchased in 1961 by Boston architect Henry Wood.[1] Wood, a distant cousin of the Philadelphia Whartons, was able to purchase the property for $3,600, the amount owed in back taxes.[7] The house is known by locals as "The House on a Rock".[8]
