Exterior restoration prompts the First Lady to reminisce

By Christie Vilsack

2001

Framed in the bedroom window that Beulah Hubbell peered out of as a child, I see blue-jean legs jutting from work boots. I hear muffled pounding over the hum of my computer. One of the best parts of living in Terrace Hill is watching the past rub elbows with the present. I often pause to marvel at the fine craftsmanship in the door frame beside my desk. And I wonder if any of the carpenters outside my window wielding the buzzing electric saws are descendants of the original builders of Terrace Hill.

For several months, the Terrace Hill tower has been wrapped in a chrysalis of steel scaffolding. I can’t resist the temptation to snap some photos. One lone “tinner,” Jeff Hawkins, is working overtime to finish his job. Kevin Wickett, a superintendent for Neumann Brothers, spots me climbing the tower scaffolding and suggests I wait for him.

Near the top of the tower, curlicues of copper glint in the sun as Jeff shaves them, ensuring a good fit. Kevin explains the painstaking process is used to keep water from seeping behind new tiles. These skilled craftsmen want the roof to last at least another 130 years. With no remnant of the original copper to work from, they used a photo to re-create the ornamentation.

As I come and go amid the construction, I talk with the men and women replacing the stone lintels, restoring the windows and painting the wooden brackets. Their pride gives me some idea how the carpenters in l868 must have felt as they put the finishing touches on the “Palace of the Prairie.”

Life here in Terrace Hill brims with ironies. Grand Avenue, which now brings traffic past our front door, used to be a country road. The elegant driveway, built for carriages, is barely wide enough for the Governor’s SUV. I ride in an elevator that once was a dumbwaiter. Cable TV and telephone outlets add modern amenities to a Victorian bedroom. Supplies for computers and faxes fill a cupboard that once collapsed to fit in a covered wagon.

I tell young visitors about 13-year-old Mary Belle Hubbell, who invited 10 friends to a slumber party. Their pillow fight blanketed the grand staircase with feathers. Mary Belle told her friends that the servants would clean up, but when the servants reported the incident to her father, Mary Belle was grounded until she removed all the feathers.

The new introductory video we show our guests depicts a 21st century child on a tour of Terrace Hill. The child magically encounters Mary Belle on the stairs in her nightgown, pillow in hand. This moment on film captures the time-warped feeling I have every day at Terrace Hill. I sense the presence of the generations that came before me, who built our state with their hands, with their ideas and with their investments. I realize what an awesome responsibility and a privilege it is to live and work here.

But, remember, this is your home, too. Please come and experience the Terrace Hill time warp for yourselves.

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