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 Two charmers open doors for Sewickley holiday tour
Saturday, November 30, 2002 By Gretchen McKay
Like many people moving to a new city, Tom and Suzanne Harden looked at scores of houses in several different communities when they relocated from the coast of Maine to Pittsburgh a year ago. It was Sewickley, though, with its extraordinary stock of grand, turn-of-the-century Victorians and Colonial Revivals, that captured the couple's imagination.
They were especially taken with the Victorian farmhouse at the corner of Peebles and Thorn streets. Although it was rather small by Sewickley standards, the pale-yellow clapboard house with a wraparound front porch was still one of the more picturesque houses in the area.
With its 12-foot ceilings, original wide-plank pine floors and carved marble fireplaces, it was just as fabulous inside. Or as Suzanne, a professional artist, puts it, "It had a certain charm."
The century-old house had been lovingly maintained over the years, so all the Hardens had to do to make the home their own was change it to "our colors," says Suzanne, and then fill it with their eclectic mix of flea-market finds, hand-painted furniture and antiques.
Next weekend, with the entire first floor dressed in Christmas finery, the Hardens' house will be open to the public as part of the Sewickley Valley Hospital Foundation's annual Home for the Holidays House Tour. The self-guided tour Friday and next Saturday also will feature a turn-of-the-century Colonial Revival on Beaver Street in neighboring Osborne.
Although it showcases just two homes, the tour is bound to both inspire and delight visitors. About 30 area designers have lent their creative touch to the various rooms, and many of the holiday items on display will be for sale.
Constructed sometime in the late 1800s, the two-story house on Peebles Street was home to the Sewickley borough manager in the '30s and '40s. Franklin Milton Hiteshew, who attended Sewickley High School and would eventually become one of California's outstanding water colorists, also grew up there.
The living room is both refined and relaxed, decorated by Sewickley designer Deborah Rutledge Hilkmann with a mix of traditional ornaments and bits of "spice and whimsy." An armchair upholstered in a whimsical Lee Jofa whippet print provides a restful retreat for reading or napping, and it actually inspired much of the color scheme on the first floor.
Checked yellow drapes fringed with red-and-gold tassels puddle on the floor beneath the long windows; the soft butterscotch walls provide a soothing backdrop for Suzanne's many oil paintings of the Maine coast. In one corner, a wall shelf the couple found at the Meadowlands antique fair and carefully refinished holds a prized collection of majolica; the pine chest beneath it is a second-hand shop find and dates from the early 1900s.
In celebration of the season, the cream-colored overstuffed sofas have been draped with cheery Christmas throws and pillows. A festive trio of oversized glass ornaments strung on a ribbon dangle over a wooden screen Suzanne hand-painted with birdhouses. A Christmas nest with birds' eggs dresses up the coffee table; the red wooden reindeer on either side are from Thailand.
The adjoining family room holds more overstuffed furniture, as well as Suzanne's colorful collection of flow-blue plates on either side of the white shuttered windows. The vintage turkey cage on top of an armoire was discovered at the Meadowlands, but the stuffed pheasant is from Maine.
The most eye-catching detail, however, is the wooden mantel, which Suzanne faux painted to look like marble. Until she made the change, the artist recalls, the room simply wasn't working. "But the minute I did it, it was yeah! It's just like another piece of furniture."
Previous owners used the rhubarb-red dining room as a den, which explains its many built-in shelves that the Hardens have filled with books and collectibles. It is dominated by an elegant marble fireplace and an extra-large round table that looks like an antique but actually came from The Antiquarian Shop in Sewickley. The blue-and-red Dhurrie rug is from Weisshouse.
The celery-green kitchen, decorated by Edgeworth designer Sally Rosellini with sugar Christmas cookies and gumdrop confections, features marble countertops and honey-pine cabinets. A tan-and-white painted checked floor adds a rustic feel; Suzanne also hand-painted the fringe-edge wood valence crowning the kitchen sink. A windowed breakfast room overlooking the side yard holds Suzanne's painting supplies and was originally a back porch.
A team of decorators from Cathleen Tameras Interior Design in Harmony have made the mud room appear as if it is in the midst of holiday preparations, with bits of greenery and party supplies sprinkled about.
The stately evergreen wreaths on the front door, decorated with pine cones, silver branches, and gold and silver balls, were created by Neil C. Stouffer, director of design at Today's Home, and associate Mary Ann Lewis. The pair also draped the banister to the second floor with evergreen embellished with tulle and cascading clusters of silver and gold balls. An antique rose medallion bowl on the console in the entry holds a Williamsburg arrangement of fruit, evergreens and holly.
The other house on the tour, an orange-brick Colonial Revival on Beaver Street, is more characteristic of Sewickley. Built in 1904 for the George McHenry family, this stately house features working gas/wood fireplaces decorated with hunter-green Minton tiles and such turn-of-the-century touches as stained-glass transoms, window seats, working pocket doors and 12-foot ceilings. The remodeled kitchen has dark oak-stained cabinetry with period glass inserts in addition to antique light fixtures and a brick chimney. One of its finest features is the massive dark oak staircase that accentuates the entrance hall.
Proceeds of the tour benefit the hospital's community case management program, which helps to improve medication compliance, enhance in-home safety and reduce hospital visits for the elderly.
Sewickley Valley Hospital Foundation's third annual Home for the Holidays House Tour will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Saturday. Tickets, $10, can be purchased at the foundation's office in Sewickley Valley Hospital, 720 Blackburn Road, as well as the following local shops: Jill's Flower Shop, Party Ants, Penguin Bookshop and The Antiquarian Shop. Tickets are also available at the door of the homes. Information: 412-749-7121.
Gretchen McKay covers homes and real estate for the Post-Gazette.
Correction/Clarification: (Published Dec. 3, 2002) Sewickley Valley Hospital Foundation's third annual Home for the Holidays House Tour will be held from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The Friday hours were incorrect in a story about the event in Saturday's editions.
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Today -- Three homes, the Main Stay Bed & Breakfast and its Peace Garden will be featured on the Saxonburg Holiday House Tour from 1 to 4 p.m. Tickets, $7, are available today at Saxonburg Area Library and Saxonburg Memorial Presbyterian. Information: 724-352-8847.