Christmas has come to the Scripps Mansion this month, with special holiday tours available to the public for the first time in the mansion’s 80-year history.
‘We are very excited that we will be able to offer Christmas tours this year,? said Leslie Pielack, executive director and curator of the Scripps Mansion.
For two weeks, these special tours, dubbed ‘Christmastide at Scripps,? will be offered to preregistered individuals.
‘The tours are going to be special Christmas interpretative tours, and the docents will have special Christmas-themed stories to tell about the mansion,? Pielack said.
Along with hearing special stories, participants will get a feel for what Christmas would have been like in years past through the decorating talents of local design and decorating team, May Huerner and Patricia Hermans.
The team, which has worked on numerous Detroit-area holiday historic home tours, donated their expertise to deck the halls of the historic estate.
The two Orion women put their talent to work to transform the mansion with simple, but elegant holiday charm, reminiscent of the Scripps? era of the 1920s and 1930s.
Perhaps, most impressively, is that the women started out with one tree and through donated items, transformed the mansion into the scene of an old-fashioned Christmas.
‘We were inspired to work with little and make the most we could out of it,? Hermans said. ‘It was really the elegance of the house that inspired us.?
‘With only one donated tree, we’ve come a long way,? she added.
Hermans and Huerner credited some of the women that volunteer with the mansion for making the decorating possible.
‘It’s literally a handful of women that have donated these items,? said Huerner.
The women said that any classic, beautiful elegant decorations that aren’t being used, and that would fit the atmosphere of the mansion, would be welcomed as donations.
‘That is how this was all created,? Huerner added.
Tours will be available to the public from Dec. 11-22, and are limited to twice a day during the week and three times a day during the weekends. No tours will be offered on Dec. 17.
During the week, tours will be available at 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., and at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. They are approximately 90 minutes long, and are only available through preregistration.
Prices for the guided tours are $25 per adult, $15 for seniors and children 12-17 years old, $10 for children 5-11 years old and free for children four and under.
To register for a tour, call (248)391-4445, ext. 1100.
A very limited number of private Holiday Teas are also available at the mansion during the holiday season. Packages, which consist of a private tour of the house followed by a complete, three-course traditional Afternoon Tea served in the mansion’s dining room, begin at $50 a person. A five-course English High Tea is also available for an additional charge.
Registrations for the tea can also be made by calling the above number.