Under The Brennans’ Stewardship, Llangollen Remains a Hunt Country Jewel
This is the first in a series of articles on the Great Estates and Homes located around the Middleburg area
by Leonard Shapiro
Donald P. Brennan has always been an entrepreneurial man of action, so the first time he made his way up the mile-long driveway leading toward the magnificent main house on the hill at Llangollen, there was no doubt in his mind. He knew he just had to have it.
“I just kept thinking ‘there isn’t a comparable property,” Brennan said. “What motivated me was 1,100 contiguous acres, 50 miles from D.C. and it was a one-off property of incredible historical significance.”
Brennan was a long-time managing partner at Morgan Stanley in New York who also once owned Waterford Crystal and was one of the founders of the K Club near Dublin, the site of the 2006 Ryder Cup. The Brennans purchased Llangollen in 2007 and have made all manner of major renovations and improvements both to the original 18th century main house, its various structures and the gorgeous grounds sitting just below a Blue Ridge Mountain foothill.
In her 1973 book, the Hunt Country of America, the late author, Kitty Slater, described Llangollen as “one of the most famed estates in the Hunt Country.” And with good reason. It traces its roots back to 1740 and Lord Fairfax’s Virginia holdings. It was named after a market place in Wales, and once was owned by Chief Justice John Marshall, his brother James and his brother-in-law Rawleigh Colston.
In 1827, Cuthbert Powell, the nephew of Middleburg founder Leven Powell, purchased Llangollen’s central tract from Colston, and built the initial manor house, describedby Slater as “one of the more handsome mansions of the countryside.”
“The high-ceilinged rooms,” Slater wrote, “ have tall, recessed windows, white-board heart-pine floors, chair rails, deep cornices and intricately carved mantelpieces.”
“There are 22 rooms and 17 fireplaces,” Donald Brennan added. “All of them working.”
Brennan clearly is a student of history. He knows that Lafayette once visited Llangollen. There is a meticulously maintained cemetery not far from the house containing the remains of Cuthbert Powell and the in-residence Presbyterian minister as well as several unmarked graves that legend says belonged to slaves. And Brennan’s vast knowledge of Civil War history, including all the local battles and skirmishes that occurred not far from his property, is clearly evident over the course of a fascinating three-hour session recently that was part-tour and part-interview.
There was plenty of Llangollen history in the 20th century as well. John Hay “Jock” Whitney, who purchased the property in 1930, kept adding on to the main structure. Whitney, a wealthy sportsman who later became a businessman, diplomat, publisher and philanthropist, constructed a wooden horseshoe stable at a cost of over $150,000. After it burned down in 1962, it was rebuilt using fire-resistant cinderblock and stone and also included a below ground level regulation squash court.
In 1934, Whitney deeded the property to his new and fetchingly beautiful wife, the former Mary Elizabeth Altemus of Philadelphia. The marriage only lasted only a few years, but Liz Tippett (she married again, of course) became a fixture in the Hunt country, and Llangollen became the center of Middleburg’s social, fox-hunting and steeplechase scene.
She developed a widely-admired racing stable on the property that produced a number of stakes champions. Llangollen attracted crowds of 20,000 when the Llangollen Cup steeplechase race was contested on the grounds. And she loved to throw a party. Over the years, her guest list varied from entertainer Bing Crosby to Sen. Joe McCarthy, from heavyweight boxing champion Gene Tunney to socialite Doris Duke, from Prince Aly Khan to jockey Eddie Arcaro. And many more.
“Eddie Arcaro goes on first hunt while at Llangollen,” was the headline over a column in the old Washington Star on Nov. 30, 1954. Arcaro, the jockey of the year at the time, reportedly stayed with the hunt’s first flight for most of the day, “despite the fact he’d ridden with the shortest irons in hunting history,” according to Kitty Slater.
Liz and Jock Whitney divorced in June, 1940 but she retained the estate and lived there until her death in 1988. Toward the end of her life, the home had fallen into considerable disrepair, and the property was eventually sold in 1989 to Roy L. Ash and his wife, Lila. Ash, who co-founded Litton Industries and was a budgetary advisor to President Richard Nixon, saved Llangollen from developers who wanted to tear down the buildings and replace them with a multi-home housing complex.
He and his wife did a major restoration of the home and property and also created a large Angus and Angus-cross cattle operation. As he approached his 90th birthday, Ash sold the estate to the Brennans.
Over the last ten years, Donald Brennan’s wife, Patricia, has painstakingly restored the interiors of the home to match the style used back in the days of Chief Justice Marshall. The estate also has become the home to Virginia International Polo Club started by their daughter, Maureen, one of the finest women polo players in the country.
The Brennans came to Virginia from the North Shore of Long Island, where they raised their six children. Patricia and their three daughters all were involved with show horses. Maureen, a former Grand Prix rider, first came to Middleburg in 1998. After her horse, Mr. Higgins, shattered his leg in a freak accident, she decided to take up competitive polo and the sport became her passion.
The Brennans took over the former estate of late Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke off Atoka Road, which also included the historic Phipps Polo Field at Goose Creek. And then came the purchase of Llangollen almost ten years later. Maureen’s polo operation is now based there, and she lives in one wing of the main house.
Donald Brennan has played polo himself and now mostly rides around the property on horseback. He also has another intriguing equestrian pursuit. Several rooms on the lower level of the house—where John Mosby and some of his infamously roguish Rangers once hid out—offers the perfect setting for his own unique hobby.
That would be collecting and restoring vintage military saddles, going back to Napoleonic days, including one general officer’s saddle lined with red velvet and covered with a bear skin. There are over 50 saddles in the collection.
“Back then,” said Brennan, “many of them were like weapons systems. The saddle had to deliver the soldier to the action. They carried the weapons, the guns, the swords. Some of them weigh up to 60 to 70 pounds.”
The saddles are just the half of it. Brennanalso has studied their history and outfitted each with the appropriate historical accoutrements—weapons included—that would have been used back in the day. Needless to say there is not a large army of like-minded collectors, but Brennan has developed sources and resources to keep busy outfitting his current collection while pondering his next acquisition.
“There are a few other characters out there like me,” he said. “There’s one in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, who specializes in U.S. military saddles and one in Madison, Wisconsin who specializes in German calvary saddles. And there’s another one in East Sussex, England focusing on British and French military tack, who recently sent me an original, un-restored Franco-Prussian War era saddle found in a barn in Normandy.”
Still, aside from his family, Brennan seemingly takes his greatest pride from restoring Llangollen to its past glory as arguably one of the grandest estates in Virginia, if not the entire country.
He’s also properly proud that Llangollen has been a gathering place for all manner of community activities, from local charitable benefits in the columned Georgian home, the outbuildings, the polo fields, for a wide variety of good causes, and also making it accessible for students of history as well as local school children.
“I view myself as the steward of it,” he said. “Anybody can come here, look at it, touch it. I feel pretty strongly that places like this should be preserved and shared. There’s a great history here. It’s a very special and magical place.”