Sunday, April 27, 2008

RICHMOND,VA...CONTINUED...
The lovely home in the pictures is Maymont House. Unfortunately, we got there just as the last tour of the home was being conducted. However, we were allowed to roam the Gardens for a while and watch as preparations were being made for a wedding that was to take place that very evening....The Three Graces statue is from the gardens there. The last photograph was taken from Monument Avenue and is of Stonewall Jackson...We were fortunate to get this one seeing that we had to dodge oncoming traffic......

Maymont House information....
In 1886, James and Sallie Dooley acquired farmland on the banks of the James River, where they planned to build a new home. Their architect, Edgerton Stewart Rogers (1860-1901), born and educated in Rome, combined the Romanesque Revival style with the picturesque Queen Anne for the Dooley residence. By 1893, the Dooleys were living in their 12,000 square-foot, 33-room home, which they named “May Mont,” a name which combines Mrs. Dooley’s maiden name and the Italian word for hill.

Among historic house museums, Maymont House is rare in that no intervening families or adaptive conversions separate us from the original owner’s 32-year occupancy. Despite the fact that no architectural drawings or other early records of its construction and design have survived, its physical integrity, study and research provide a reliable record. Within six months of Mrs. Dooley’s death in 1925, the mansion was opened to the public as a museum. The interiors and a large original collection remained relatively untouched until the beginning of the restoration in 1970. Thus today, Maymont House is a well-preserved document of Gilded Age design and the taste of well-educated, cosmopolitan millionaires.




5 comments:

Tess Kincaid said...

I love historic mansions! Maymont is completely new to me. Oh, a wedding would be so romantic there!
Too bad you missed the inside...you must return!

Lavinia said...

I'm with Willow...a wedding in such a place would be a very special event indeed...and the photographs would be spectacular. I love the Three Graces....and I would love to tour this estate. Please, Rebecca, if you have more photos of the garden, do post them for us to see.

Thanks,

Lavinia

Rebecca said...

Willow, I had never heard of it either. The Innkeepers at the B and B where we stayed, along with some other guests there, recommended we check it out. Have you heard of Ashcroft? That's another place we didn't get to tour that I wanted to. You just can't do half of what you want to in a 3 day weekend:-(...

Tess Kincaid said...

I've never heard of Ashcroft, either. I would love to see both! Right up my alley.

Rebecca said...

What was I thinking? Willow, It's Agecroft Hall not Ashcroft. Sorry about that..It's a stunning Elizabethan Manor that was literally brought over by barge and reconstructed overlooking the James River. The website has wonderful facts and photos of the Manor. Go to www.agecrofthall.com to learn more about the house, families, and grounds.