Courtney Crowder

ccrowder@dmreg.com

Grinnell-based florist Stephanie Connor focused with rapt attention and the detailed eye of a surgeon as two assisting floral artists hung a bejeweled wreath from one of Terrace Hill’s historic chandeliers.

Teetering on ladders, the two florists attached the wreath with care, calling down frantically for more wire to secure it. Connor and an assistant directed from the ground, noting where to shift the brightly beaded festoons or add just a bit more glitz.

“It looks magical,” Connor said, never shifting her gaze from the wreath. “Everyone who walks through this room is going to look up and their mouths are just going to fall open.”

Like bees in a hive, about 40 volunteers moved among the dozen rooms scheduled to be trimmed with holiday decorations. Christmas music pounded as garland was strung and ornaments lovingly placed. Holly jolly obstacles such as poinsettias and boxes stuffed with strands of lights littered the floor.

For about three decades, Terrace Hill, a historic mansion used as the governor’s residence since 1971, has been decorated by a troop of florists and Christmas enthusiasts who infuse the holiday season into all corners of the house. For one day every year, each of the rooms on the first and second floors is taken over by a different florist or organization.

Their handiwork will be exhibited in the mansion until just after the New Year. The public is welcome to view the holiday adornments on a tour of the historic building — held various times Tuesday through Saturday — or at one of the many events scheduled for December.

“I love sharing this home with the people not just of Iowa, but of the whole world actually,” first lady Chris Branstad said. “They are so impressed when they come in here. Just to be able to go into a governor’s residence and see the architecture, the décor, plus all the Christmas decorations, it just doesn’t get any better than that.”

By 3 p.m., the house would be a winter wonderland, but at about noon, it was more chaos than Christmas.

It was an all-florists-on-deck scenario.

Tradition valued at Terrace Hill

Fran Newsom has decorated Terrace Hill “on and off for 40 years,” she said while finishing a tree in what is known as the “peacock room” due to a large statue of the exotic bird displayed in the chamber.

She and the rest of the volunteers started at about 9 a.m. Instead of having her own room, she moved from place to place offering a hand where needed. Newsom, who is a florist at a Waterloo Hy-Vee, said she has decorated the mansion for five inaugural celebrations and every Christmas in her recent memory.

“I’m in awe of the history of this place and the tradition of the holiday decorating,” she said. “I’m very patriotic. This is a place for all Iowans, maybe all Americans, and, honestly, the opportunity to be a part of this brings tears to my eyes.”

Branstad said Terrace Hill’s holiday decorating started around 1985 when Kirk Enwright, an Altoona florist, presented the idea to her.

But festive embellishments aside, tradition runs through every inch of Terrace Hill, which was constructed from 1866 to 1869.

“A true Iowa treasure, Terrace Hill was built by bankers, inhabited by governors and their families, and has hosted guests from around the world,” reads the official Terrace Hill welcome letter.

Built by Des Moines’ first millionaire, Benjamin Franklin Allen, a general store and bank owner, for about $400,000, the house featured modern amenities like running hot and cold water and indoor bathrooms, according to Terrace Hill’s website. After Allen fell on hard times, he sold the home to business tycoon Frederick Marion Hubbell for just $60,000. A Hubbell relative lived in the house until 1956, when the family’s youngest son died, the website says.

Dubbed the “castle among cornrows” and the “palace on the prairie,” the building stood empty until the Hubbells donated it to the state in 1971. Today, the mansion features mostly Christmas decorations in a nod to the Hubbell family, who celebrated Christmas and whose family photo around their tree adorns the drawing room, according to Diane Becker, Terrace Hill’s administrator.

For the Questers, a group of antique enthusiasts, the mansion’s tradition is paramount. Every year, the group decorates the sitting room in the Victorian style that would have marked the house’s first holiday season, including era-appropriate gifts under the tree.

“We like to make sure the history shines through at least a little bit at this historic mansion,” said Quester Martha Rasmussen of Fairfield. “Every year different florists come in and do different decorations, but this room is always the same. It is preserved just like the beautiful Terrace Hill.”

Creative differences

No corner nor chest nor table at Terrace Hill is immune from the Christmas decorations — not even the large stuffed moose head that adorns the mansion’s entrance way.

Just after lunch, the volunteers from Kirkwood Community College’s horticulture/floral careers department had a problem: They couldn’t find the “traditional bow” that trims the moose’s neck.

“We are going to think of something else,” said professor Lora Dodd-Brosseau, who brings her students annually for this “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

“A Santa hat?” offered one of her students.

“Oh, no, he’s more elegant than that,” she said.

The team went with a wreath embellished with icicles.

Despite the critical role of tradition at Terrace Hill, most of the rooms are decorated differently each year. Whether new florists join the ranks or returning florists want to push their personal boundaries, most of the people who do this are so creative they don’t want to do it the same way every time, Branstad said.

“I love thinking of new ways to do Christmas,” said Laurel Hollopeter, a florist from a Hy-Vee in Iowa City. “I stretch my creativity to bring new life to the tree that I do every year. Last year, I did an Iowa theme with corn cobs. This year, I matched the terra cotta color in the border of the wallpaper on the second floor and went with a copper theme.”

For Monty Lovell, Terrace Hill’s groundskeeper, the one-day decorating extravaganza is actually a week long. He begins to drag the boxes and tubs of decorations out of storage the week before the volunteers arrive. A few days before the florists show up, he picks up the trees from a local grower and places them in their appropriate rooms.

Lovell, who started during the Tom Vilsack administration, has seen almost two decades of decorating. In addition to the differences in the garnishes inside, he has seen the embellishments on the outside of the house change, as well.

“I follow whatever the administration says,” Lowell said of the exterior adornments. “Branstad doesn’t want a lot, just a nice tree in the front. (Former Gov.) Culver wanted lights up and down the driveway and everywhere. He wanted it to look like the East Village.”

“I’m happy to do anything,” he continued. “This is an old building and it’s nice that people who care take the time to give it some holiday life.”

But the ornamentation is fleeting

By the time area schools let out for the day, the florists and decorators had put the finishing festive touches on the mansion. The house, which mere hours ago was a hive of activity, had fallen silent.

But the glitz of the rooms, perfectly prepared for the holidays, spoke volumes.

“There is a saying, ‘Many hands make less work,’” Becker said. “If there was anything to prove that correct, it’s this.”

Branstad said she enjoys the decorations for both the tradition and the inspiring creativity, but also because she personally doesn’t have to do very much decorating. The governor and his family live in a modern apartment on the third floor of the house, which the first lady adorns with her Father Christmas collection.

In the lower two stories of the home, decorations will stay up until January, when everything — including the Questers’ historical ornaments and gifts — will be carefully packed up and stashed away for next year.

During the months of January and February, Terrace Hill will be closed for its annual deep clean, which includes polishing every inch of wood and individually cleaning each crystal on the mansion’s grand chandelier.

“The house itself is beautiful,” Becker said, “but when they take it all down, it’s almost like it feels too bare.”

Like the holiday itself, Terrace Hill’s decorations are fleeting. But for the next few weeks, visitors and inhabitants alike can enjoy the home as less of a mansion and more of a fairy tale-like winter wonderland.

Events at Terrace Hill

Guided tours

Hosted at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. , Tuesdays-Saturdays

Terrace Hill is located at 2300 Grand Ave.

Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for children aged 6-12. For more information, visit Terracehilliowa.org/visit.

Holiday Open House

10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., Dec. 3, Terrace Hill, 2300 Grand Ave.

The event is free and open to the public.

Holiday tea with first lady Chris Branstad

10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., Dec. 12, Terrace Hill, 2300 Grand Ave.

Reservations are required. For more information, visit Terracehill.iowa.gov/events.