Historic restoration of holly house

THE HISTORIC RESTORATION OF HOLLY HOUSE

Holly House was built in 1914 during the first 20 years of the settling on Pinehurst after its founding in 1895 by Leonard Tufts of Boston. It was originally a square cottage with its grand 45degree gabled roof, with the individual “shed”-style additions added in its early years. It first appeared here on an official town map in 1920 (along with a second back cottage that was beyond repair and demolished during the restoration of the house.

When you come to the Village of Pinehurst, check out the Given Library where all the historical records are housed.

Tom bought Holly House on Orange Road in 2005 as his next historic restoration project, after finishing the Curtis Foster House (built 1866) in Wilmington, NC. That plan never happened and Holly House sat for the next fifteen years being used as a run-down golf getaway cottage and then a boarding house for the Pinehurst County Club culinary staff to house overseas culinary students an apprentices. Then 2020 came, and Tom finally took on this canvas of an old house and began the restoration. 

Map of surveys

Here’s What Holly House Looked Like Before the Restoration

Tom partnered with German Alzate, a master builder in Washington, DC and his expert brigade of carpenters, masons, and tradesmen. The house, with all its lathe and plaster walls, were gutted, including every exterior wall( we measured a full 3 tons of material removed!) and the planning began to open it up and rebuild it. Our vison was a fully open first floor plan when you could stand in the center of the first floor and look out the windows through all 4 sides of the house! 

. . . And Here’s Some Pics and Videos of the Rebuilding Process

  • Opening up the Two Floors

  • What Master Carpentry Looks Like

  • Raising the Shed Rooflines

  • Opening Up the Floor Plan with Two Monster Beams!

  • View from the Front Door Thru The Master to the Back Yard

  • Laying the 20 Foot Beams to Open Up the Floorplan

  • Rebuilding Each Outside Wall

  • New Joist Boards to Level the Upstairs Floors

  • Removing the Windows and Doors

  • Adding the New Wood to the Original Wood

…and in the process, we founds these old newspapers under the floors dating to April 1918! (You can see the papers displayed at Holly House.)

The entire process was complete in 2022 and is with its open floor plan, unique amongst the original cottages in the Village of Pinehurst. Holly House on Orange was also unique in its use of reclaimed wood, most notably its pine floors, which were reclaimed from the gutting of the American Tobacco Company warehouses in Durham, NC. These floors are over 100 years old, and if you look closely, you can still see the original iron-cut nail holes in the boards! We hope you enjoyed our little walk through history; we look forward to you living this history yourself when you come to Pinehurst!