St. Francis High School hosts holiday home tour in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills

By Carolyn Snyder, Special to the Town Crier

Thanksgiving leftovers and autumn pumpkins may still be around, but at four homes in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas - or Hanukkah.

These architecturally distinct homes, resplendent with holiday trappings, will be open to the public for three days during the 18th annual “Christmas at Our House” tour presented by the Women’s Club of St. Francis High School in Mountain View. Festivities will begin at 4 p.m. Thursday with a twilight tour and preview party. On Friday and Saturday, the homes will be open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A 21st-century Craftsman, a Greek Revival mansion, a Ranch Reformation and a home aptly named Rose Cottage are on the tour. They are located roughly in a triangle from the high school, where, for the first time, the popular Christmas Gift Shoppe boutique will be located.

“(The boutique) has been revamped and we have new vendors,” said Mari Jo Pelzner of Los Altos, home tour chairwoman. Located in a tent on campus, it will offer gifts from local craftspeople as well as from around the world. A new feature is “The Winter Garden,” which boasts a collection of live wreaths, topiaries, winter bulbs and garden accessories.

Pelzner said it’s “so much fun to watch people walk through and discover something that captivates their attention.” This could be the decorations, the furnishings, the artwork or the architecture. There are ideas galore to be gleaned by tour-goers.

Following is a preview of the homes, beginning with the site of the gala preview party.

21st-century Craftsman

A gated, circular drive leads to the entrance of Brenda and Harry Mittelman’s 7,000-square-foot house, where guests are greeted by outdoor sculptures such as a golfer, a baseball catcher and an eagle in flight. The architecture is a sleek adaptation of classic Craftsman style, with a slate roof replacing the traditional shingles. The Mittelmans built their home from scratch in 2001.

Inside, Brenda Mittelman, an interior designer for 26 years, has combined three diverse design styles - neoclassic, Arts and Crafts and Asian - into a stunning and cohesive family home.

“Every part of it is used except the exercise room,” she said.

A favorite part of the house is the great room and kitchen (with adjoining butler’s pantry and mail room). The highly polished mahogany floors match the cabinetry and the base of the huge central island with its carved corbels supporting a single slab of gray-streaked white marble. Counter surfaces are matching marble.

The state-of-the-art kitchen is rivaled by the one in the outdoor poolside pavilion. It even has a dishwasher. The Mittelmans can cook and eat outdoors year-round because of the heat lamps built into the pavilion’s roof. It is here that tour-goers will be served complimentary tea - homemade baked goods, eggnog, hot cider, coffee and teas - on Friday and Saturday.

For the tour, Brenda has set a Hanukkah table in the high-ceiling dining room, illuminated by a brilliant crystal chandelier. She used blue velvet and silk placemats, blue- and gold-rimmed china and service plates, Waterford crystal, Riedel wine glasses and silver Star of David napkin rings. Three menorahs march down the table - a silver menorah that burns olive oil (”The aroma is wonderful,” she said), a Waterford crystal menorah and a contemporary design by Michael Aram.

Greek Revival mansion

This architectural treasure has a history. Owner Steve Finn, former Los Altos Hills mayor, renovated it after it was destroyed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The 7,500-square-foot home is authentic to its roots in the Natchez style, which includes a mix of Victorian, Greek Revival and French architectural elements.

It provides the showcase for a tour tradition: a “Twelfth Night” holiday table setting. This year Tiffany & Co. will create and donate the service for eight, which will be featured in the drawing at the end of the tour. Their stylists are staging a Christmas at Tiffany’s scene that includes china, flatware and crystal.

Ranch Reformation

Joseph Hittinger, interior designer and HGTV spokesman, and his partner Cabell Chinnis, a tax attorney, transformed this typical suburban 1962 ranch home into a modern living environment.

“We took it down to the studs and put it back together in a more sophisticated way,” Hittinger said. “We opened it up and made the spaces feel more designed.”

The goal was to create a sanctuary, a calm and sophisticated environment. Hittinger added traditional details such as crown moulding, coffered ceilings, hardwood floors and ample baseboards. Rooms are warm and inviting, with a cosmopolitan mix of antiques and contemporary furnishings.

Perhaps because of his Southern roots, Hittinger has chosen a Southern Christmas theme for the tour, with magnolias, poinsettias and garden swags. The color scheme is burgundy and ivory, with accents of silver and gold.

A Christmas tree decorated with gingerbread men and gingerbread ornaments is a focal point in the family room off the kitchen.

Rose Cottage

The roses in the garden, the roses in the paintings, the roses on the duvet cover in the master bedroom, the rose-print fabric on a chair quickly reveal Cathy and Norbert Kordsmeier’s love of roses.

They also appreciate all things French, English and Tuscan, and their home reflects their passions. It is a personal interpretation of European country style, with an English garden and outdoor “rooms.”

Cathy Kordsmeier, an interior designer and artist, calls it a “small house with big rooms” as opposed to the big house they lived in for 25 years. (It, too, was on a St. Francis tour.)

“We jumped out of the comfort nest,” she said. Downsizing meant remodeling because the big rooms in the “cottage” weren’t big enough. She served as architect, interior designer, seamstress and muralist.

Her handiwork is everywhere. Noteworthy is the 8-by-8-foot mural of the Tuscan countryside she painted above the tub in the Italian bathroom. A crystal chandelier that belonged to her mother hangs from the raised ceiling.

Tour-goers can revel in the holiday collections: Santas on the fireplace mantel in the living room, Santons and Provencal houses on the mantel in the family room, needlepoint Christmas stockings, a lighted Dickens village on glass shelves in a niche in the entry hall, an Italian crèche and more. There are Christmas trees in the living and family rooms and a table set with Spode Christmas china. Even the outdoor areas, such as the porch, which the Kordsmeiers doubled in size, are decorated for the holidays.

“Too much is never enough at Christmas. It’s the one time of the year when you can go all out,” Cathy said.

Tour tidbits

Last year more than 3,000 people toured the holiday homes, and more than $170,000 was raised. This year’s proceeds will go to support the Campaign for St. Francis High School.

More than 500 volunteers - parents, students and alumni - are involved in producing the event. This year’s co-chairwoman, Charlene Raisch, will serve as next year’s chairwoman. She is already doing some behind-the-scenes work for 2007.

Tour highlights include live entertainment performed by St. Francis student musicians and vocalists, the complimentary tea, the boutique and “Santa’s Drawing Room,” which features gift baskets for all ages and a donation drawing at the conclusion of the tour.

If you go

For reservations and taped information, call 968-1213, ext. 701, or visit http://womensclub.sfhs.com.

Ticket prices: Preview party and twilight tour, $100; day tour, $40 in advance, $50 at the door; Twelfth Night Table Setting, $25 donation or 5 for $100; Santa’s Drawing Room, $5 per donation ticket, 5 for $10, 12 for $20.

Box lunches at $20 will be available by advance reservation only.

St. Francis High School is located at 1885 Miramonte Ave. in Mountain View.