Tucked in a wooded glade back a lengthy lane in Bern Township stands a nearly two-century-old stately Georgian revival manor house where, truly, the spirited presences of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana rule the domain. The house, built in 1840 by a prominent Berks limestone quarry owner, has pretty much from its start been a center of social life for the region’s industrial, civic and social leaders. Its architecture – both original and later additions – have drawn praise in the profession. And, for the past dozen years, the property has gained an academic distinction as well: it is the official Alvernia University president’s residence. The property is known as Cedar Hill Farms, located off the aptly named Cedar Hill Drive. It was gifted to Alvernia by Carolyn and Jerome Holleran in 2010. The couple well recalls the day they informed then Alvernia President Thomas Flynn of the offer.
“Jerry and I always felt we were the Cedar Hill caretakers, and we didn’t want to sell it to someone who would divide it up,” says Carolyn. “We had a close relationship with Alvernia University (both had served on the board and Carolyn as chair), and we knew they were thinking about a president’s house.”
An Offer He Couldn’t Refuse
The Hollerans invited Flynn over and made the offer.
“It was the only time I ever saw Tom Flynn’s mouth drop,” she says with a laugh.
Factoring into the needs for a president’s house: an impressive residence to attract quality candidates for university leadership and a property to be well utilized for off-campus gatherings of students, faculty, alumni and community members.
Flynn and his wife were the first presidential occupants. The house is now occupied by John Loyack, current Alvernia president. Loyack clearly loves the property and has been hands-on in tackling some of the upkeep. Case in point: during the confines of COVID in the summer of 2020, he and his partner Theresa took on the clearing of the courtyard area.
“We took out 30 wheelbarrows of overgrowth and redid some of the plantings,” he recalls. Tables and chairs, a settee and a patio fire pit along with a ram’s head gargoyle feeding water to a ground-level trough make the limestone-surround courtyard a pleasant place for small meetings, professional or personal.
Nearby is a sizeable swimming pool, an amenity not just for the president’s pleasure, but also a joyful spot for university gatherings, including a party for RAs (resident assistants) just prior to the start of the 2022-23 academic year. Loyack’s affection for the residence is clear. His favorite respite is the library, part of the 1919 wing addition.
“It’s where I normally retreat to,” he says. “It’s got a fireplace and it’s a very cozy place in the winter.”
He appreciates the expanse and the amenities of the house.
“I have three adult children,” he says, “and it’s a nice place for everyone to meet up. We’ve had some nice holiday gatherings here.”
A Storied Past
Cedar Hill Farm, a designated Historic Site of Berks County, has been family oriented from the start. According to the 1988 Book of Bern, the circa 1840 original stone house was constructed for his family by William Silvus, who operated nearby limestone quarries. A datestone near the roofline offers testimony to that. It was built in the Georgian style with three and one-half stories, a center hall and stone walls 22 inches thick. As properties do, it changed hands and was acquired in 1912 by Stanley Bright, a local hardware distributor. Bright’s wife, Sarah H. Gilpin Bright, was a Philadelphian. She engaged then noted Philadelphia architect Richardson Brognard Okie, Jr. to reconfigure the home in the style of a country manor, something for which he was renowned. Okie was particularly known for his appreciation of early American Colonial Revival architecture and his skill and determination in “modernizing” structures, focused on utilizing the materials and styles of the original buildings. His work proliferated among the moneyed and prominent property owners, especially in Bucks County and the Brandywine Valley.
Among his clients were Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts, U.S. Attorney General Philander C. Knox, Delaware Gov. C. Douglas Buck, Ernst R. Behrend, founder of the Hammermill Paper Company, and Joseph Hergesheimer of West Chester, a popular 1920s American novelist. Okie undertook the restoration of both the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia and the 1930 restoration of Pennsbury Manor, William Penn’s home in Morrisville, Bucks County, now a museum of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Okie added two-and-one-half-story wings on either side of the original house for the Brights, one in 1915 and the other in 1919. The remodeled home was featured in an issue of American Country Homes magazine. Okie reportedly got additional work in Berks as a result. An interesting side note about the Brights: the couple’s son, Major John Gilpin Bright, was an American aviator in China during World War II, serving as a member of the famous “Flying Tigers.”
Making a ‘Mistake’ a Home
There were owners after the Brights, and it was in the early 1980s that the then increasingly ramshackle property caught the attention of Jerome Holleran who thought it an ideal house for him and Carolyn and their newly blended family of six children (three hers, three his).
“We looked at the house and thought it had real possibilities,” says Jerome. “We took a tour and said ‘Let’s buy it and renovate it.’”
Carolyn’s mother had quite a different opinion. “She told us: ʻYou’re making a terrible mistake,’” remembers Carolyn.
Her mother’s response may have made a lot of sense considering the condition of the house.
“Yes, but here we were with seven bathrooms and only one toilet and one sink worked – in separate bathrooms,” says Carolyn. “We had a pre-renovation party for friends and had to make that clear to everyone.”
Post-party, the Hollerans cleared out items “left behind for them” by the seller, but Jerome did insist on keeping the garden tractor to keep the grass at bay.
“We went room to room,” recalls Carolyn. “Every room needed work — from electricity to plumbing to painting.”
The couple pretty much maintained the configuration of the rooms in the main house and the wings, honoring both the 19th and 20th century craftsmanship of thick plaster walls, solid woodwork including floor-to-ceiling raised wall panels, raised-panel door and window trims and chair rails, stair cases and railings, ceiling beams and the many built-in cabinets, including a generous china cabinet in the dining room. Every room had its own fireplace – a necessity in earlier days to keep such a huge house toasty – and those stayed. The kitchen, they say, was the “biggest problem” and was reconfigured out of three rooms. The result is a large, airy space with French doors leading to the deck and an attached gazebo. A friend’s concept drawing came to life in part thanks to a Bechtelsville cabinet maker’s expertise.
“It was the only place where we had walls removed,” says Carolyn.
An old cast iron bell off the kitchen area left behind became instrumental in calling the couple’s six children and guests to meals.
Setting the Bar
Jerome particularly fell in love with the ground level where the Brights had their nursery.
“I had an Irish bar built there,” he says. The original fireplaces remain intact. A large leather sofa faces one, and the other is flanked by comfortable chairs facing the wood bar. A variety of steins grace the fireplace mantel catacorner to a shelf filled with colorful beer taps. On one side of the shelf is a Sunshine Beer sign with a Reading Premium Beer counterpart on the other. The home’s utility room is hidden behind a period wooden door.
Alvernia has honored Jerome by calling his beloved bar “Holleran’s,” and it has become a favored entertaining venue with its impressive slate flooring with doors that open to a covered brick patio that runs the length of the house. The Hollerans note that the extensive renovations, infrastructure and cosmetic, were not cheap. And they did not move in until 1985, two years after the purchase.
“We put three times what we paid (for the property) into the renovations,” Carolyn says.
But, they didn’t stop with the house. One of the attractions of the property was its river access. In the days when Felix Dam was a part of the Schuylkill waterscape, the Hollerans, like so many others, enjoyed the recreational water sports offered by the pooled water. But when the circa 1845 wooden dam splintered in the wake of ice damage in 1998 and was breeched by Hurricane Floyd the following year, the shallow water level changed things.
So, in 1999 the Hollerans had a large pool built to the rear of the house, just past the courtyard. It was a favorite of the couple’s children’s growing families. Three years later, in 2002, a deteriorating stable gave way to a new two-level multivehicle garage. Jerome, an avid and accomplished artist, made the upper level his studio. The Hollerans, community leaders and philanthropists, opened the property to scores of nonprofit gatherings and fundraisers during their occupancy of Cedar Hill.
Time for a Change
As a quarter century-plus passed and their children now adults and long on their own, the Hollerans began to notice there was a lot of space they just weren’t really using.
“It got to the point where we were only basically using four rooms, and this was telling us it was time for a change,” she says. “We were then 70 and 72 so it was to The Highlands or a smaller house.”
The house won out – and it was an enviable accomplishment: the first LEED-certified new residential construction in Berks and the fourth in Pennsylvania. Located on an unspoiled property that was owned by Carolyn’s son abutting the Cacoosing Creek in Spring Township, the house, featured in the April 2010 issue of Berks County Living, is a homage to the creature comfort for the humans who call it home and the native flora and fauna who live compatibly on the grounds. Its clean contemporary lines and use of native wood and stone material and solar and natural energy make a visit memorable from the moment the huge front door swings open.
Once the downsizing was determined, the offer of Cedar Hill was made and graciously accepted by the Alvernia board and its then leader Cathy Herbein, a friend of the couple. In addition to gifting the property, the Hollerans provided an endowment to help maintain its pristine condition.
“The best way to take care of it was to keep it in the same state,” says Jerome, “so we included the funds for maintenance and upkeep.”
Maintaining Ties
The Flynns resided at Cedar Hill for more than a decade. Alvernia did some landscaping updates to accommodate gatherings. The open field provides lots of space for visitors’ vehicles, but seasonal rain storms have created some infrequent muddy challenges along the way. Loyack loves both the rural quality of the 13- acre property as well as what he calls “the Old City Philadelphia” inspired by Okie’s attention to colonial and Georgian design influences.
“He clearly ‘manorized’ this house when he added the wings,” says Loyack.
The wings aligned to create an open concept feel long before the term became part of décor vernacular. One can peer straight through the first floor from the end of one wing, through the original house to the end of the opposite wing. Loyack first saw the house in the winter. Sans leaves he could peer through the trees to the river.
“My last stop in the three days of the interview process was to Cedar Hill,” he says. “Tom and Helen Flynn showed off the residence, and it was clear they loved it and would miss it.”
Loyack returned in the spring when the property was literally blossoming.
“I always think this house has two seasons: the blooming season outdoors and the inside season with the fireplaces blazing,” he says. “It’s almost like it has two personalities.”
Which brings us back to the subject of Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana... indeed, their spirited presences do dominate the Loyack occupancy of Cedar Hill. But lest a reader thinks the recently deceased British monarch or the late Princess of Wales are resident apparitions, well, that is absolutely not the case. These noble names belong to Loyack’s two corgis, the longtime favored breed of the queen. Their names were inspired by The Crown, a Netflix series about the British royals. The corgis are sisters and Loyack describes them as very social and addicted to attention they receive from the family or during university gatherings.
“They love to herd and chase, whether it’s deer, rabbits, squirrels, you name it,” he says. “They’re either in full gear or pooped out in front of a fireplace.”
Loyack says the connection between the Hollerans and Cedar Hill remains strong a dozen years after their departure.
“We get together every two months or so,” he says. “Carolyn loves to reminisce about her children running around.”
The extensive Holleran family returns every summer to gather and enjoy the pool. All 10 grandchildren especially enjoyed their summers splashing away from babyhood on. And one granddaughter, come 2023, will add a new memory to that bank when her wedding will take place at Cedar Hill.
“There are so many memories for our family,” says Carolyn, “and we are looking forward to this new one.”
