Holleywood: Revived and revealed in talk on Feb. 16

SALISBURY — Helen Klein Ross and her husband, Donald, are not your typical home “fixer-uppers.” But the handyman’s special they fell in love with is anything but a typical house in need of TLC.Holleywood, on the shores of Lake Wononscopomuc, is one of the grandest houses in a town that has its fair share of sprawling, gracious and historic residences. Built by Connecticut governor Alexander Hamilton Holley in 1853, it had remained in the hands of one family until 2010, when John Kromm Rudd passed away. The 20-room/nine-bedroom house on 8 acres had fallen into significant disrepair by then and seemed likely to be destined for the wrecking ball. Then serendipity came along in the form of builder/contractor Rob Anderson, who was working on a kitchen for the Rosses at their home in New York state. He had just toured the house and was extolling its virtues to the Rosses, noting that whoever bought it would get a (buried) treasure. The surfaces had deteriorated but, he said, the structure of the building was intact. “It was built to industrial strength,” he said.And it turned out he was right. And so the Rosses and Anderson and an extensive team that included architect Frank Garretson, designer Chris Brennan and tree expert Larry Burcroff, embarked on a multi-year project to “bring back Holleywood.”Their work was done (well, to the degree that a massive historic renovation is ever done) last fall, in time for the Rosses to have a “coming out” party for the house that doubled as a fundraiser for the Scoville Memorial Library.Helen Ross (a photographer, writer and award-winning advertising creative director) has faithfully chronicled the project on an Internet blog called www.bringingbackholleywood.com. On Saturday, Feb. 16, at 4 p.m., she will give a talk at the Scoville Memorial Library in the Wardell Room about the restoration of one of Salisbury’s most important homes. Her talk will be the third in the Era of Elegance talks for this year, sponsored by the Salisbury Association Historical Society.There is no fee to attend.