Bringing Back Holleywood
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    • open house 10/27/12

going underground

6/30/2011

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Nope, it isn't a tunnel created by resident woodchucks. It's a trench dug to bury unsightly conduits for electric, phone and cable wires. 
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windows count

6/29/2011

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When the weather is fine, the painters work on the exterior, removing the shutters to be repaired, scraping ancient paint from sashes, replacing broken glass in the windows. "Ninety six windows!" I commiserate. "103," Jason corrects, knowingly.

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we encounter the last resident of the house in Town Hall

6/28/2011

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We visit Salisbury's historic Town Hall to purchase a ticket for the town transfer station (euphemism for dump.) Walking down a long hallway, we see a photo of John Krom Rudd, the last family member who lived in the house, on the wall in a gallery of town residents.  In the portrait, he is standing next to the front door we are about to replace with double doors found in the basement. Those doors were original to the house, replaced by the single door (pictured) in 1915 when the house was "modernized." We will save the single door (with its brass knocker engraved with JKR) because perhaps, a century from now, our great-great-grandchildren will want it, wondering whatever had possessed us to remove it.

Mr. Rudd's caption is a lovely glimpse into turn of the (other) century Lakeville: Somewhere around 1928 we had the first sound movie in Lakeville at the Stuart Theater. I went with Mother and Dad to see (and hear) Al Jolson in “The Jazz Singer.” The movie was on conventional film but the sound wasn’t on a sound track. It was on a Victrola record that was supposed to synchronize with the movie—it didn’t.


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new roof on cupola

6/28/2011

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How pretty it looks next to soon-to-be-replaced old roof over kitchen wing. 
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for years, garage housed horsepower on hooves, not wheels

6/25/2011

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The first roof we're replacing is over the garage which has been temporarily transformed into a carpentry shop. The garage isn't your ordinary drywall contruction, its walls are hand-hewn chestnut about 140 years old, built some time after the house was erected. Rob guesses it was originally a "mini-barn" used as storage for grain, and as shelter for horses and small livestock. The livestock were kept in stalls on the second floor. How'd they get them upstairs? They hauled them through a 4 x 4 trapdoor in the floor using a clever block and tackle system. Remnants of the system remain, including a hook with marks that mean it's hand forged. Rob also found an inscription by an attic philsopher: "We come and go." A tweet from 1934.

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Rob admires work of former craftsman. "Really nice hook. Hand-forged with a pin wedge at the top."
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Small (newborn?) livestock were kept upstairs, hauled by a pulley through a trap door in the floor.
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looking up relatives

6/23/2011

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My parents and sister visit from out of town today and discover something we've never noticed in the cupola: on the ceiling, in a flourish of old-fashioned penmanship is the signature of Malcolm Day Rudd, grandson of Governor Holley, dated September 1, 1901.

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old school plumbing

6/22/2011

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Chris did find old sinks, courtesy of Walter who owns a shop called Old School Plumbing, based aptly in an 1870s schoolhouse that he renovated himself. He's the source of rare vintage sinks and fittings. "The faucets in Mark Twain's butler's pantry came from my shop!"

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Walter shows us how an antique shower ring might work over a clawfoot tub in the maid's bath.
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Walter points out that cast iron pipes before 1917 had the weight and date engraved on the metal.
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Rob and Walter discuss plumbing needs in the tower bathroom. Pipes will be hidden behind bookcase on first floor below.
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Walter looks for name of radiator. He's never seen one so ornate.
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our first (uninvited) houseguests

6/21/2011

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We're tunneling under the clapboard extension to run cable and power lines and discover a family already in residence: about eight woodchucks have been making their home under the kitchen. Bill pulls out his cellphone  and grabs a shot of Mom and Dad as they come out to investigate the commotion. 

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home sweet history

6/20/2011

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One of the unanticipated pleasures of buying the house has been connecting with new neighbors, some of whom are also historic property enthusiasts. This weekend, we were invited to a celebration of Salisbury's historic homes at the Old Bushnell Tavern which I looked for in vain, driving up and down Main Street before realizing that it hasn't been a tavern for years. Outside this landmark house, Historic District Commissioner Digby Brown holds up a plaque being developed to designate historic homes in the area. 
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meteor crash site?

6/20/2011

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Or old roof? You decide.

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<<Previous

    who we are

    We are a couple of Upper West Siders from NYC who never set out to buy an old mansion in Connecticut. But the moment we walked through its massive front door, we were smitten. The info on this site is earnestly cobbled from a variety of sources, including the web. Please let us know if we've gotten something wrong, or if there's a story about Holleywood you'd like to share.

    forewords

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    December 2011
    November 2011
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    November 2010

    glossary

    All
    2101
    Acorn Lights
    Adrian
    Aimee Davis
    Arnoff Moving
    Art
    Attic
    Avocado
    Balcony
    Basement
    Bathrooms
    Bathtub
    Bathtubs
    Bauer Park
    Beatrice Sexton
    Beaux Arts
    Before And After
    Bell Butler
    Bell Register
    Bernie
    Bill Sigsworth
    Billy
    Bird's Eye View Of Holleywood
    Boathouse
    Bookcase
    Boot Scraper
    Breakfast Room
    Bricks
    Bringing Back The Gatehouse
    Bunny Williams
    Cappy Tatsapaugh
    Carpentry
    Charles E. Rudd
    Charles Keil
    Charlie
    Chimney
    Chris Brennan
    Cistern
    Closets
    Colors
    Cost Of Oil
    Cousins
    Craftsmanship
    Crew
    Crook
    Crops
    Ct
    Cynthia Hochswender
    Dean Meadow
    Decorating
    Decorating 70s Style
    Details
    Dining Room
    Discovery
    Dock
    Doors
    Dreams
    Driveway
    Dumpster
    Earthquake
    Easter
    Electrician
    Emma Rudd
    Extruder
    Fear Of Heating Bills
    Fear Of The Unknown
    Felling A Tree
    Fireplace
    First Thanksgiving
    Floors
    Frank Garretson
    Fresco
    Front Doors
    Furniture
    Gallery Books
    Garage
    Garden
    Gatehouse
    Gateposts
    Gazebo
    Geoff Rosano
    Geronimo
    Ghosts
    Glass Etching
    Glenwood Stove
    Gold
    Governor Holley
    Gracious Living
    Grand Entrance
    Gravestone
    Greek Revival
    Green Restoration
    Groundhogs
    Happiness
    Helen Klein Ross
    Helen Ross
    Hidden Histories
    Hinges
    Historical Accuracy
    Historic District
    Holley-Williams House
    Holleywood
    Hot Air Balloon
    House Closing
    Housewarming Present
    Hurricane
    Ice Carving
    Insulation
    Italianate
    Jackie Mock
    James Charlton
    Jane Lyman Holley
    Jason Hanley
    Jay Rudd
    Jinny Rudd
    John Gruen
    John Krom Rudd
    Jp Newton Market
    Juliet Balcony
    Katherine Chilcoat
    Katherine Ross
    Kitchen
    Kubota
    Kyle And Lindsey McEvoy
    Kyle McEvoy
    Lakeville
    Lakeville Ct
    Lakeville Journal
    Lakeville Lake
    Lance Middlebrook
    Landscaping
    Larry Burcroff
    Lathing
    Laundry Room
    Laurie Warner
    Lead Paint
    Leon Mcclain
    Lifetime Roof
    Lighting
    Lindsey McEvoy
    Living Room
    Locke Brothers
    Louise Hannegan
    Lucky Break
    Malcolm Day Rudd
    Margaret Ross
    Mark Niedhammer
    Masonry
    Matt Holderman
    Memorial Day
    Memory Lane
    Metal
    Middle East Uprisings
    Mike O'connor
    Miller
    Mini-museum
    Modern Realities
    Momentous Occasion
    Mott
    New England Winters
    New York Times
    Octagonal
    Old Houses
    Old School
    Old Stone
    Original Doors
    Outer Space
    Painting
    Peggy Obrien
    Plaster
    Plumbing
    Porch
    Pulley
    Pw Vintage Lighting
    Radiators
    Real Estate
    Restoration Holleywood
    Riley's Furniture
    Rob Anderson
    Robinson Leech
    Ron Carpenter
    Roof
    Roof Raking
    Rudd
    Rudd Family
    Salisbury
    Salisbury Association
    Sarah Coit Day
    Scaffolding
    Scoville Library
    Seeing The Light
    Shutters
    Sign
    Signature
    Simon & Schuster
    Sink
    Skeptics
    Snow
    Snowplower
    Soap
    Spiral Staircase
    Spirit Ballooning
    Staging
    Stairway
    St. Charles Cabinets
    Stilts
    Stove
    Stumps
    Susan Rand
    Team Holleywood
    Theodore O'neill
    This Old House Magazine
    Tiles
    Tower
    Tower Bedroom
    Town Grove
    Town Historian
    Trade Secrets
    Tree Climber
    Trees
    Troy Tatsapaugh
    Turret
    Upstairs Downstairs
    Vernal Pond
    Vernal Pool
    Vernal Pools
    Vintage
    Vintage Dollhouse
    Voldstads
    Wade Warner
    Wall
    Wallpapers
    Walls
    Wall Treatment
    Wall Treatments
    Welcome To Connecticut
    What-was-mine-book
    White Hart Green
    William Taft
    Windows
    Wononscopomuc
    Wood Burning Stove
    Woodchucks
    Writer's Hack
    Writing A Novel
    Writing On The Wall
    Xmas Trees
    Zordan Brothers

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