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Swans mate for life and this romantic constancy
appealed to Sally May Dooley. You can see her fondness for swans at Maymont,
the Dooleys’ Richmond home and in their palace atop Afton
Mountain. Major James Dooley named the $2 million summer home he built for his
wife, Swannanoa as a testament to their love.
Dooley, an executive with the Chesapeake and Ohio
Railroad Company, hired more than 300 artisans to build the 52-room marble
palace. Work began on this Virginia replica of the Villa de Medici in Rome in
1903 and was completed in 1912. The affection that James Dooley bore his wife
is evident in the numerous likenesses of her that grace the mansion. There is a
4,000-piece stained-glass window created by Tiffany for $100,000 that portrays
her image in the midst of Swannanoa’s Italian Garden. Her likeness can also be
seen in the fresco on the domed ceiling above the staircase. The mansion’s
Italian Renaissance style is apparent in the Carrara and red Sienna marble
entrance hall.
On the first floor there is a Florentine-style
dining room with tooled leather-covered walls and a carved and coffered
ceiling. The adjoining breakfast room has frescos of morning glories on the
walls. It is thought the major choose the Latin quotations that are carved in
the library’s woodwork. The most formal room is the Louis XV ballroom with its
original gold damask wallcovering and ceiling painting. The marble mantel is
signed by the artist who worked at Maymont, Rafael Romanelli. He carved
exquisite cherubs; one is seen throwing a piece of wood into the fire while
another blows it with the bellows. The Persian Room was Major Dooley’s private
study. Decorative appointments are from the Far East including the teak wood
mantle, window and doorfacings.
After the Dooleys both died in the early 1920s,
the estate was purchased by a golf and country club. The club’s decorating
sense left something to be desired; it painted the walls and the white marble a
drab brown color and covered the hand-carved oak mantles with the same
nondescript hue. After the club lost its backing in the stock market crash,
Swannanoa was abandoned for 15 years. There are stories from the 1930s of cows
roaming the halls and children roller skating in the house. In 1948, it was
leased by Walter and Lao Russell, founders of the University of Science and
Philosophy.
The Russells were on their honeymoon looking for
an ideal place for their work and teaching. When she saw Swannanoa, Mrs.
Russell ignored its deterioration, insisting that she recognized it from a
vision that had come to her two years earlier. Within six months they had
restored the estate sufficiently (including removing the layers of brown paint)
to open it to the public as a World Cultural Center. It was the Russells’
belief that science and religion were in harmony, not at odds. Students came
from around the globe to study their “Science of Man.”
The Russells were an exceptional couple.
Although Walter left school when he was nine, he became an architect, scientist,
sculptor, painter, musician and author. There was a considerable age difference
between Walter and Lao; he was 77 when they married and she was 43, yet she
always said he was the youngest man she knew. When Walter was in his sixties he
became a champion figure skater. At age 69 his competition was all under the
age of 30 and he won three first prizes. Russell designed several hotels in New
York including the first Hotel Pierre. He received a doctorate of science and
was noted as the official sculptor and painter for Theodore Roosevelt and
Franklin D. Roosevelt. Mrs. Lao Russell was also a sculptor, author, teacher,
lecturer and, for 40 years, the president and managing director of The
University of Science and Philosophy at Swannanoa. Walter died in 1963 and Lao
in 1988, but the Russells’ presence is still strongly felt at Swannanoa.
In the gold ballroom, one of Lao Russell’s
favorite rooms, is the original clay model of the head of the Christ figure
sculpture. Walter sculpted the figure including the head, but Lao did not feel
he was capturing the facial contours satisfactorily so after he went to bed she
would slip downstairs and change his work on the head, doing all the final
shaping. Many of the large paintings on the walls cover holes that were made
when the estate was derelict and people took clippings out of the silk damask
walls. In the center of the ballroom is the Four Freedoms, a large
sculpture Walter Russell did for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Also on view
is his painting the Might of Ages with figures from history such as
Columbus, Napoleon, Washington and Sitting Bull. Another of Walter Russell’s
sculptural masterpieces is the Mark Twain Memorial. The furnishings, artwork and
books you see were all added by the Russells.
The terraced gardens spread out behind the
palace. Here too you’ll discover the Russells’ sculpture. From the vision that
brought them to this mountaintop home, they created The Christ of the Blue
Ridge. Mrs. Russell believed she saw Christ looking over a valley, and that
the valley proved to be Rockfish Valley which Swannanoa overlooks. The garden
also has a marble-columned pergola, a meditation pond with fish and a “peace
pole” inscribed with four languages.
Swannanoa is open daily year-round from 9:00 A.M.
to 5:00 P.M. Visitors can tour the first floor and gardens, or take an extended
tour of all three floors and the mansion’s tower. Admission is charged and
there is an added fee for the extended tour.
Directions: From I-64 take Exit 99; bear to the
right on Route 250 and follow the signs to Route 610 and the entrance to
Swannanoa.
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