A Soldier's Home
Gen. George Marshall's Dodona Manor Ready for Inspection on Veterans Day

By Annie Groer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 10, 2005

Gen. George C. Marshall -- commander of U.S. Army forces during World War II, architect of the postwar recovery plan for a ravaged Europe, secretary of state, secretary of defense, special envoy to China, president of the American Red Cross and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize -- might never have thought much about the color of the morning glories on the living room wallpaper at his home in Leesburg.

But nearly a half-century after his death in 1959, a team of architects, historians, curators and artisans has overseen a meticulous restoration of Dodona Manor, the 19th-century house his wife, Katherine, bought in 1941 as their weekend retreat from Fort Myer.

Once again, his red leather recliner is back in the library next to the old Zenith TV, the way it was when the great man relaxed while watching "I Love Lucy." Once again, there are dishes in the kitchen cabinets and bed trays in the master bedroom. Once again, the gracious yellow house with its white-columned porch and red metal roof appears as it did when it drew a stream of distinguished visitors, from President Harry S. Truman to financier Bernard Baruch.

Tomorrow, Veterans Day, more than 100 visitors will cross the threshold for a private viewing of the five-year, $5 million restoration. Many invitees are old soldiers who knew the general during World War II, and diplomats from European nations rescued by the Marshall Plan. They will be joined by politicians and some of those who helped transform the neglected house and grounds. Public tours begin next month.

By all accounts, the general loved the property: four acres with vegetable and ornamental gardens plus a Federal house dating from 1826 and later expanded to 16 rooms. Indeed, Marshall called Dodona Manor -- which cost a then-hefty $16,000 -- "a real home after 41 years of wandering."

After the general's death, his widow moved to North Carolina and gave Dodona to her daughter. By 1995, it had been bought by the George C. Marshall International Center for use as an educational facility and house museum.

There was much to do. A new roof, wiring, plumbing, heating and cooling systems were installed. Experts were brought in to research Dodona's paint, wallpaper and decor.

"The idea is to fix the rooms like essays," said restoration historian William Seale of Washington, who has been closely involved with the project.

The couple furnished Dodona from several sources. At first, "they used to take furniture from Marshall's Quarters Number One at Fort Myer," said Seale. "Katherine's sister married and sold them the entire contents of her New York apartment for $500. He had been widowed and had old Chinese things. She was also widowed and had Colonial Revival furniture from her home in Baltimore, lots of overstuffed things. Everything there was sturdy and comfortable."

Gifts from world leaders were also part of the decor, including yellow silk from Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the Nationalist Chinese president, which was made into living room curtains. A Moroccan landscape painted by Winston Churchill hung in the living room. So did a Russian winter scene given to Marshall by Soviet diplomat Vyacheslav Molotov. (Today, Dodona displays copies; the family retains the originals.)

Nearly all their furniture --from his simple wooden Pentagon desk to an elaborate Chinese chest -- was returned to the house by the family, who had inherited the well-worn pieces. The disintegrated silk curtains were reproduced.

A few pieces were retired, said Seale. "To make a house into a museum, some things have to be put in the barn and stored to accommodate the public, some of those little side chairs have to go on vacation."

Architectural historian Kristie Lalire of Waterford, Va., scoured flea markets and thrift shops for kitchen gadgets, china, crystal, even finger bowls from the 1940s and '50s. Many other homey objects were donated. Although some of the general's clothing and personal effects survived, a wardrobe befitting an officer's wife had to be assembled for Katherine Marshall's closets: hatboxes, lace dresses, furs. Lalire still collects vintage magazines featuring the couple to scatter around the house.

Early in the process, wallpaper conservator Sue Nash of Shepherdstown, W.Va., was called in to investigate what lay under later layers of yellow paint in the dining room.

Fortunately, there were two crucial clues. A black-and-white 1940s Life magazine photo revealed a barely discernable pattern on the walls, while a piece of painted-over paper that she pried off with a steamer and spatulas provided color swatches and the ghost of a pattern.

Only after removing the wallpaper backing could she see the full design, in reverse: white bamboo shoots and faded gray-green leaves on a yellow field. The true butterscotch was found under a small piece of overlapping seam, along with a leaf tip smaller than a thumbtack head.

Things were slightly better in the living room, where Nash rescued a 2-by-3-foot section of printed gray-and-brown paper in a vertical morning glory stripe.

These samples were dispatched to self-described "wallpaper archaeologist" and designer Laura McCoy in Stratford, Conn., who re-created the patterns with a computer and developed the colors with gouache paintings from which the printing company could work. The dining room paper required a five-color silk-screen process, the living room paper needed eight.

Throughout the house, varying amounts of damaged paper were left undisturbed alongside the modern reproductions, including the breakfast room's Mediterranean motif of wine jugs and grapes.

Don Spence, whose Hyattsville firm specializes in hanging wallpaper in historic homes, shook his head as he studied a predecessor's handiwork in the living room. The original papering job apparently was started at the front windows, so by the time the paper reached the chimney, the vertical pattern was clearly off center.

"This is certainly not the way I would have done it," said Spence, who was sorely tempted to align the pristine replacement perfectly above the mantelpiece before finishing the rest of the room. "But you have to be true to the original house."

Dodona Manor, open to the public weekends beginning Dec. 3 and 4. Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Group tours daily by appointment. Tickets range from $5 to $10. Closed Christmas and New Year's weekends. 217 Edwards Ferry Rd., Leesburg. 703-777-1880 orhttp://www.georgecmarshall.org.