THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601180117
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARCIA MANGUM, HOME & GARDEN EDITOR
LENGTH: Long : 214 lines
FOR THREE DECADES, thousands of Portsmouth girls and boys glided, whirled and tapped their way across the heartpine floors in the spacious, high-ceilinged rooms of the Jean Ballance Studio of Dance in Olde Towne.
When Jean Ballance Guest retired in 1984 and sold the family home that her mother bought in 1950, she and her husband, Rudy, moved two doors down to a smaller home on Middle Street.
Then they watched sadly as the grand Italianate-style house built during the Victorian era sat largely empty for nearly a decade.
Now, the halls ring once again with the footsteps of visitors and the appreciative oohs and aahs of guests in the stately 1885 building. Dede and John Braley, formerly of Virginia Beach, bought the approximately 4,800-square-foot property in November 1994 and promptly and painstakingly began restoring its former charm and grandeur before reopening it in September 1995 as The Olde Towne Inn Bed & Breakfast.
``This was sort of my dream, to retire from my profession and run a bed and breakfast,'' said Dede, a nurse for 30 years.
Her husband, a professor of recreation and leisure studies at Virginia Wesleyan College, supported her dream, and, together, they brought it to fruition.
Seven years ago the Braleys began looking into starting a bed and breakfast. The couple, who describe themselves as conservative New Englanders, hailing from the small Maine town of Saco, drew up a five-year plan that called for buying a house when the youngest of their three children graduated from college in 1997.
But in 1994 they looked at a house on the corner of London Boulevard and Middle Street. It was owned by a group of businessmen, operating as Prima Properties of Virginia Beach. They had bought the house during the speculative market of the '80s with the idea of marketing it as offices, but the office glut of the early '90s foiled their plans.
The three-story house with basement had been on the market for four years. ``Because of its size, this had scared people off,'' Dede said. ``But its size gave John and I the privacy we need, marrying a business into our home.''
The Braleys loved the architecture - reminiscent of the distinctive homes of Charleston and New Orleans - and liked the fact that the owners had ``done the stuff we didn't want to do,'' Dede said. Prima Properties had taken care of the infrastructure - new plumbing, wiring, insulation, plastering and central heat and air conditioning.
But the previous owners also had done some things not in character with the home, such as installing wall-to-wall industrial, gray carpet. ``We had to bring it back to the historic homeyness,'' John said.
The home was built by a wealthy merchant named Burke and passed through at least five families as a formal home before it was used as a women's club and then a dance studio, according to the Braleys.
Like most Olde Towne residents, the Braleys appreciate that they are preserving a piece of the past. They are doing what they can to maintain character in a setting suitable for modern-day guests.
For example, they found the house's old vestibule doors in the basement, stripped off the layers of paint and recently hired a carpenter to rehang the double doors. The formal Middle Street entryway showcases the colorful mosaic of encaustic tile in the front hallway.
Once the entry is completed, the Braleys will begin their last major project, removing the industrial carpet from the front stairway, refinishing the steps and laying a rich red Oriental carpet.
The doorway and some bathroom plumbing are among the few projects they paid to have done. ``We've been willing to give up our free time,'' Dede said, and it has worked well because they share in the project.
John added, ``I don't like to make beds, and she doesn't like to pound nails, so it's a good combination.''
In an effort to keep the remodeling affordable, they did all the painting, floor restoration and interior decorating. Dede sewed curtains for all the oversized and odd-shaped windows, and John erected a wall to create their private living space. The Braleys also converted the basement and third floor to family space.
Much of the house's original beauty had been lost through the years, with wide ceiling moldings gone and medallion lights removed. The Braleys cannot restore it all, but they are attempting to recover some of its Victorian-era charm through fixtures and furnishings.
Both John and Dede's parents are collectors of Victorian furniture, and both families are down-sizing and passing along some prized possessions to their children, such as the Victorian velvet chairs and table in the front parlor and the pump organ in the hallway.
In addition, the couple regularly goes antiquing and, occasionally, salvaging. John recovered several period mantels from a house the city was tearing down in the 600 block of London Boulevard. Nearly every room has a mantel and they will eventually have gas fireplaces.
An easy fix was repainting in the rich colors of the Victorian era - Gloucester green in the dining room, sunny gold in the hallway and plum, cranberry, apple green and antique white in the bedrooms.
``We went for colors people don't have in their own homes,'' John said.
That's part of the philosophy of bed and breakfast owners - they aim to create a homey feel, but with a little extra luxury and pampering.
Each of the four bedrooms has a distinctive flavor. And in each, Dede provides extra touches, such as fresh flowers, a reading lamp, sweets to eat, a carafe of water and, in the winter, a pot of hot water for tea or European chocolate.
The last of the four rooms to be completed is the anniversary room, boasting amenities like a new bathroom with jacuzzi tub and a four-poster bed, topped with a family heirloom canopy made by Dede's mother. Like several other upstairs rooms, it has ``jib doors,'' tall turn-of-the-century windows that raise up and have a bottom section that opens to create a doorway to the veranda where guests can sit during the warmer seasons.
The plum room has twin poster beds and a spinet desk, both from the '20s, and an antique armoire.
The cheery green garden room, with white iron bed, white wicker furnishings and ivy print linens, overlooks the inn's gardens, which John plants to provide nearly year-round blooms and cut flowers for the rooms.
The business person's suite has two brass twin beds that can be made up together as a king-sized bed or separately, for two people traveling together on business. The suite is especially nice for guests who are staying several days, Dede noted, because it has a sitting room with refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker, as well as an adjoining large bath and a private balcony.
Each bedroom has a bath, though a couple of them are across the hallway from the bedrooms in what are known as bump-outs, where walls were knocked out and small additions put on when plumbing was added in the 1920s, Dede explained. The house had four bathrooms when the Braleys bought it, but none with showers, so the Braleys added two baths and upgraded the others.
Another architectural oddity that the Braleys had to deal with was the fact that the house didn't have a first-floor kitchen. When it was built, it had a detached kitchen where the servants cooked. During its years as a dance studio, Jean and Rudy Guest lived upstairs and had a kitchen there.
Creating a kitchen in what used to be the dance studio's reception room proved a challenge because of the narrowness of the annex and its many door and window openings.
The contractor suggested removing some of the windows, but Dede said no. ``I refused to do any damage to the house.'' Instead, she agreed to have a bar instead of a kitchen table and to put the refrigerator in the pantry. But the gas fireplace and warm woods of the kitchen make it a comfortable place for her and her husband to prepare meals for guests.
In addition, the laundry room at the back of the kitchen and desk along one wall make it possible for Dede to tend the business of the bed and breakfast with an eye on the front door.
The kitchen is important because that's where the Braleys prepare guests' breakfasts, with such fare as Belgian waffles, souffles, French toast with cream cheese filling and boysenberry topping and numerous breads and muffins.
The Braleys also serve a 4 o'clock tea or some wine and cheese, depending on the guests' preference.
``With a small bed and breakfast, you can cater to the people's needs,'' Dede said. ``I know what they're doing and what they're looking for.''
Most of their guests thus far have professional people, either in town on business or sometimes relatives or friends of Olde Towne residents. One consultant who regularly visits Portsmouth already has stayed at the inn eight times, despite its only officially being open weekends last fall. Now it is open daily, and the Braleys have begun marketing in earnest.
At the end of last year, Dede quit her nursing job at Ear, Nose and Throat Ltd. to become a full-time innkeeper. Her husband pitches in when he can.
The Braleys both enjoy getting to know their guests and are happy to help with advice on places to eat and to visit. ``People like to be able to walk the historic area,'' Dede said, noting that Olde Towne has about 300 houses for people to see, the largest collection of Victorian architecture from Alexandria to Charleston, S.C.
The Braley's bed and breakfast joins the three-bedroom Glencoe Inn in Olde Towne, a community very receptive to the enterprise.
``One of the biggest supporters we had here was the Olde Towne Civic League,'' John said. ``They actually wrote the bed and breakfast ordinance, and we agreed with what was in it. We weren't battling our neighbors.''
The Braleys agree that the support of the community was an important factor in choosing their location, and both city officials and neighbors have helped get them established.
``Planning was very helpful in getting us through the red tape, and every time we went to City Council, people got up and supported us,'' John recalled.
And neighbors have been quick to assist, whether it was to loan a tool or recommend a carpenter.
The Braleys believe their bed and breakfast is a good fit with the neighborhood, and they see a lot of potential for Portsmouth.
``It's a small community and people have more in common here,'' John said. ``They really take pride in the older homes. They know they've got a piece of history.
``We obviously have a lot of optimism or we wouldn't have invested our life savings.''
Knowing that much business will come through word-of-mouth recommendations, the Braleys recently held an open house for their neighbors and another for Portsmouth business owners.
They credit the Visitors and Convention Bureau of Portsmouth with helping set up the open houses as well as providing avenues for distribution of brochures and giving referrals on its 800 number. The Braleys also have joined the professional bed-and-breakfast organization, which has guide books that come out each year.
They also have the support of the house's former owner, Jean Ballance Guest. ``It's a nice old building, and I'm so glad to see someone get it who's so interested in it,'' she said. ``I think they're so smart, because they're doing so much of the stuff themselves.''
She stops by occasionally to see the transformation and wish the Braleys well. In fact, she and her husband were so impressed that they took the Braleys a few furnishings to use in the bed and breakfast.
When they delivered a table and Chippendale mirror that were Jean's mother's, Dede told her, ``They're coming back home.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
OLDE TOWNE INN
Generations of children learned to dance in this building at Middle
Street and London Boulevard in Portsmouth.
BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Innkeeper Dede Braley often serves afternoon tea to guests at her
new bed and breakfast.
Carpenter Scott Cusak builds the framework to restore the vestibule
in the entryway of the Victorian-era house.
Photo
BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot
A serving tray awaits guests in the recently completed anniversary
room.
by CNB