Historic Estate

The Dooleys' estate included an original service road lined with principal outbuildings that formed the work zone supporting the operation and maintenance of the one hundred-acre property, while their architecture contributed to its picturesque Old World character. The substantial Stone Barn, designed by Noland and Baskervill in 1908, housed wagons, equipment, draft horse stalls, a hayloft, and lower-level stalls for cows kept to provide fresh milk for the household; it later became the site of Maymont's first Nature Center, established in 1952 by the Richmond Council of Garden Clubs and used until the Robins Nature Center opened at Maymont's north entrance in 1999. A herb garden, added in 1957 after the Dooleys' time, was donated by the Richmond Federation of Garden Clubs, designed by Higgins and Associates, and displays organically grown culinary herbs maintained by the Old Dominion Herb Society. The Normandy-style Carriage House, built in 1904 with granite quarried at Maymont and designed by Noland and Baskervill, held carriage horses, carriages, a harness room, a hayloft, and living quarters for the coachman, while the adjacent Water Tower stored water for the estate's fountains, pumped from the Kanawha Canal during the Dooleys' time. Beyond the roadway, rolling parkland, a formal entrance drive lined with Southern magnolia trees, naturalistic lawns, and an arboretum of distinguished century-old trees planted by the Dooleys shaped the landscape, which today includes champion specimens such as the Tigertail Spruce. Fountain Court, designed by Noland and Baskervill, completed in 1911, and modeled on a feature at the Villa Torlonia near Rome, was originally nine feet deep and apparently served as a reservoir for the Italian Garden fountains and the Japanese Garden waterfall; it was restored in 2005 through a donation from Lora Robins. The Italian Garden, also designed by Noland and Baskervill and completed in 1910, combined striking architecture with seasonal plantings.

Richmond, Virginia · United States