Every house outlives the hands that built it. The question is whether it outlives them intact — or whether it's carved up, made over, forgotten. The Arroyo del Rey Foundation exists to answer that question once and for all: this place stays as it is, whole and unaltered, for as long as there are people to care for it. A permanent conservation easement guards it against demolition and change; a foundation carries the work forward long after its founders are gone.

But preservation is not really about walls and easements. It's about love, and the people who make it possible. The endowment that keeps these gardens green and these roofs sound was the gift of Carol's parents, Romus and Anne Soucek — and this Foundation stands in their memory, and in memory of Carol's brother, Philip Merrill Soucek, Commander, United States Navy, born the 16th of July 1941, lost the 29th of August 1979. Their generosity is the quiet foundation beneath the Foundation. Because of them, Arroyo del Rey is not a museum behind glass but a living house — kept, tended, and open to anyone who comes seeking beauty, quiet, and grace.