Montebello - A Grand Old Lady Joins The 21st Century

It is rare for the birthplace of an American president, especially one born in the 1700s, to be privately owned, but that is the case with Montebello, a 294 acre estate in Orange County. The home of Kay and Doug Cruickshank is a beautiful house, built in 1803, and the couple has lovingly brought it back to its period magnificence.

“When someone owns a historic house,“ Doug states, “they have an obligation to be good stewards of the home. After all, we’re just passing through.“ Kay agrees with this philosophy, adding “Just imagine all the history that has happened in this house, all the things that have happened here. Just imagine, if walls could talk, what stories it could tell.“

The surrounding property, too, boasts of woodlands that have never been logged. Doug speaks of a white oak that he believes must have been a seedling “when James Madison was wandering around this area.“ The views of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance are breathtaking, as are the nearby pastures.

Amongst the 125 acres of pastureland and 168 acres of forest, the Cruickshanks still marvel at the wildlife that surrounds them. “We see herds of deer,“ Kay says and Doug is proud to have seen fox squirrels, turkeys, bobcats, and foxes on the property, as well as having sighted bald eagles flying overhead.

The house has been added on to several times in its life from its beginnings as a two over two dwelling. The two story pillared front porch was added to the home between 1901 and 1903, according to photographs of the time, and the right wing of the home that presently serves as the family room and library was added in the 1940s.

The house was allowed to become rundown and it was not until the man who bought it in the 1990s and began renovations did the home begin to reemerge to its present glory. At that time the mechanical systems of the home—the electrical, plumbing and heating/air conditioning—were brought up to modern standards. That owner also restored the barn and added a number of outbuildings, including several warehouses to hold his antique car collection, as well as adding a helicopter pad.

The Cruickshanks purchased the home in 2001 from a subsequent owner, adding raised paneling in several of the rooms, restoring the plaster walls and ceilings and replacing the modern mantles that had been added to some of the main home’s eight fireplaces, with Doug and his oldest son doing much of the woodwork themselves. Doug’s hobby of woodworking has turned him into a fine cabinet maker, a skill that his sons are picking up, and many of the 18th century furniture reproductions in the home were made by their hands.

“The living room,“ Doug states, “was originally two rooms, which the home owner in the ‘40s turned into one room when he added the right wing. The original kitchen was a separate building, as was common in those days.“

The living room with its two fireplaces and raised paneling is painted tan. Stripped jabots and swags hang on the sun-filled windows, the color of the walls repeated in the edging of their yellow stripes, tying them in beautifully to the walls. “Heidi Brooks, our designer, helped us pick the historically correct color choices and she was instrumental in achieving the look we wanted,“ Kay reveals.

The furnishings are a mix of Queen Anne and Federal, along with Victorian pieces that had belonged to Doug’s family. The mix, while eclectic, work well together. The Cruickshanks have added pieces of art they have acquired through their international travels, including several Aboriginal prints Doug picked up on one of his many trips to Australia. The combination of those prints, several foxhunting prints and some colorful modern pieces, helps to give the period house a feeling that old and new, traditional and modern, are welcomed here.

The central hallway, with its black walnut stair banister, is rich in color and whimsy. The hunter green walls are accented along one side with a mural that runs the length of the hallway. Painted by a friend, Kelly Oakes, the mural depicts the Barboursville landscape of rolling hills with mountains in the background, Montebello’s main house with several of its outbuildings on one end, and the hunt in full cry along its lower edge, with the fox out in front of the hounds as they cross over two doorways to the opposite end of the hall.

The dining room, across the hall from the living room, is painted mustard yellow, with its paneling creating a warm and cheerful setting for formal meals. Kay mentions how wonderful the Williamsburg style Christmas decorations that Doug likes to make look in this room during the holidays, with their fresh greenery and bright red apples.

A portrait of Patrick Henry, one of Doug’s ancestors, hangs on one side of the room while a large hunt painting graces the long wall above the buffet. An angled fireplace fills the corner with a portrait of the couple’s sons hanging above it.

The nearby kitchen has been remodeled into a cook’s kitchen, with its large, stainless steel gas stove and oven on one side and a stainless steel, double-door refrigerator/freezer on the other. A large, granite-topped island with light wood cabinetry anchors the center of the room. More cabinets and a second sink with a view to the outside fills one side of the kitchen, with a wall of countertop and cabinetry on the other side of the room. Several cooks could enjoy working together in this kitchen without fear of bumping into each other.

A large butler’s pantry with cook’s dining room serves as the family’s informal dining area. Trompe l’oeil adorns the back wall of this cozy room, with a cat sitting on an “extension” of the counter, eagerly eyeing a recently hunted pheasant that “hangs” from a real jute string attached to a real Shaker peg rail across the back of the room. On the opposite side, a trompe l’oeil goat stands on his back feet as he eyes those entering the room, or is it what’s on the dining table that he is looking at?

Upstairs, the sons each have bedrooms with beautiful, carved crown moldings and deeply colored walls. The wide hallway, with black walnut railing surrounding its staircase opening, is furnished with a table and two chairs. Doug made the table.

The master bedroom is large and a master bathroom suite has been added, providing ample closet space and a barrel vaulted ceiling leading to a soaking tub, shower and other necessities. A paladin window at the end of this space looks out past the weathervane on top of the pool house to the mountain ridge above. Kay says that the view out that window is just spectacular when the trees glow red with their fall colors.

The first floor of the guest house, which is the location where Zachary Taylor was born, includes two fireplaces. The wormy American Chestnut paneling is believed to have been milled sometime in the 19th century and restored in the later 20th century. A kitchenette off the side of this room is painted with a mural of vines and other greenery, as is the upstairs landing and hallway. Two paneled doors open to show the original beams that date back more than a century.

Upstairs Kay uses one of the two rooms as her office while a guestroom and modern bath at the end of the hallway provide privacy for guests visiting Montebello. Guests can also stay in the building that houses Doug’s office, as well as the space above the large pool house.

With all of the careful attention to period details in this house and the home owners’ efforts at being “good stewards,“ they have successfully blended the most desirable modern conveniences into their surroundings. If these walls could talk, I’m sure that they would fondly remember their grandeur of old, while breathing a great sigh of thanks that they can now proceed in style to add new memories in the future.