After two-year closure, Maymont Mansion again opens its doors to visitors

When you’re over 100 years old, you can be forgiven for taking two years for some self-care — and then throwing a giant party to show off how fabulous you look. 

This Saturday, Maymont Mansion — the finest example of a Gilded Age home in Richmond and a crown jewel of the city — opens its doors once again to the public after a lengthy closure for major repairs. 

Completed in 1893 for James and Sallie Dooley, the mansion was gifted in 1925 to the city of Richmond along with the 100-acre estate on which it sits. Since March 1926, it has operated as a public museum and park, delighting visitors with its soaring Tiffany window, opulent interiors and, of course, the carved swan bed that has haunted so many children’s (and adults’) dreams. 

“It’ll be nice to finally see people in the place again,” said Kathy Garrett-Cox, Maymont’s curator and director of historical resources. “Richmonders have always loved Maymont.”

Among the renovations that have kept the mansion closed since 2024, the most obvious is the restoration of the slate roof to its original red color, which can be seen in early photographs and a 1903 watercolor that hangs near the front door. In 1961, the city replaced the tiles with gray Buckingham slate, a cheaper option that could be sourced from Virginia. 

The restored red, which can only be gotten from a single quarry in upstate New York, now “ties the whole exterior of the mansion together,” from the red framing around the windows to the pink marble columns of the porch, said Garrett-Cox.

Other fixes will be more invisible to the visitor, though equally as important: a new HVAC system to replace a 1980s setup, a new fire detection system that constantly samples the air and structural fixes to the south facade where carriages once pulled up.

The renovations, along with the overhaul of the Virginia Wildlife Trail, have cost $11.75 million, funded through an $8 million federal grant and $3.75 million of fundraising.  

With the mansion out of commission for the repairs, the conservation staff seized on the chance to clean and, as necessary, restore the more than 1,000 objects and decorations that fill it. Glass pendants on chandeliers were individually cleaned, silver polished and paint samples on walls and trim analyzed. 

One piece of furniture stubbornly resisted removal: the 13-foot-tall rosewood cabinet that was elaborately carved by French cabinetmaker Jean-Paul Mazaroz and displayed at the 1855 Paris Exposition. When staff began to take apart the piece to move it, Garrett-Cox said they quickly realized that “the cabinet went in first and the room was built around it.” So it stayed, protected with Tyvek and monitored to make sure it didn’t react badly to temperature fluctuations. 

“It did beautifully,” said Garrett-Cox. “We’ve had a conservator check it and give it a little once-over, and he was very pleased.” 

While most of the mansion’s first floor remains identical to what visitors saw prior to the renovation, big changes can be found on the second. There, the rooms have been reconfigured to reflect how they would have been for most of the Dooleys’ residence, rather than as they were at the time of the couple’s death. 

Mrs. Dooley’s room, with its magnificent swan bed, Louis Vuitton trunk and Tiffany dressing table crafted with sterling silver and narwhal tusks, still sits in the home’s southwestern corner. But her husband’s effects have been moved from two smaller chambers on the eastern side to an expansive space previously set up for occupation by the Dooleys’ niece, Florence Elder, who lived with the couple for two decades. 

There, some of his belongings are now easier to see, like the set of academic medals from Georgetown that he prized and his Egyptian-themed dressing table. 

“This room has now become probably one of my favorite rooms,” said Garrett-Cox. “This really says: ‘This is a Gilded Age millionaire’s bedroom.’” 

Eagle-eyed visitors may glimpse a few new objects throughout the house, including a large restored copy of a Rubens by German artist Max Bremer that had previously been at the Dooleys’ country house, Swannanoa, and was pulled out of storage. 

When the mansion opens its doors again this weekend, Garrett-Cox said she’s eager to see what visitors notice as they go through rooms that may seem simultaneously familiar and new. 

“Hopefully they feel like we did a good job taking care of the mansion,” she said. 

Contact Reporter Sarah Vogelsong at svogelsong@richmonder.org