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By Alison Peymann

“An heirloom is defined as ‘something of special value handed on from one generation to another’. We at Heirlooms feel that the most precious thing that we can share is the gift of time with those that we treasure.” - Heirlooms Tea Room website

Mornings means coffee for many Americans, but tea and tea parties have always been Audrey Hollatz’s specialty. “I enjoy the hospitality and slowing down, the old-time values, the etiquette, fellowship and connecting that happens over tea,” she says. “The point with tea is the hotter, the better so that you just sip it. Tea foods are small and dainty so you savor them.”

Her love for the tea tradition began with a tea set given to her by her grandmother. As a working mom living in Burnsville, Minnesota Audrey shared tea parties with her daughter and made a hobby of hosting teas—including a 200 guest event at their church.

Something happened when Audrey traveled to Hutchinson during a college visit for her son in 2003. “Something in my heart just went Ping!” she says, “God had planted a seed. I just didn’t know it. Things were going to happen here in the future.”

The turning point in Audrey’s story came at a retreat in 2005 when a pastor asked the group to ponder, “If every job paid the same, what would you do with your life?” In a journal she synthesized a purpose that would become the theme for Heirlooms Tea Room: “Creating beauty and serenity for women and girls—a haven from the busyness of our modern world—a place to learn what it is to be a lady.”

After becoming empty-nesters in 2007, the Hollatz’s expressed their interest in a Victorian home on Main Street, “I fell in love with that house but it was really dilapidated and needed a lot of work.” The city turned down their request to buy and refurbish the house, a blessing in disguise. “Our realtor called us a year later and said, ‘I have a house for you.’”

Although the 1899 LA Ritter House offered exactly what Audrey needed, “I didn’t like it; there was no life in it,” she says about her first visit. “It was so perfectly Victorian that it felt like a museum, like it should have ropes around everything.” Previous owners had converted the derelict duplex back into a Victorian bed and breakfast renovating it inside and out. “We’re not handy people,” Audrey admits about herself and husband Tim, “so to have all the bones in place is wonderful.”

To lighten the atmosphere indoors they removed the dark ceiling mural in the double parlor, repainted over textured, reproduction, anaglypta wallpaper to lighten the main floor and assembled 30 new ergonomic dining room chairs. “I found in researching that people were really uncomfortable sitting in rickety, authentic, antique chairs. So having a good steady chair made them feel more relaxed.” To put guests at ease, Audrey also spends extra time simplifying her menu.

“Most tea rooms will have a humongous menu of teas that you read through and choose from. I found that completely overwhelming even though I knew about teas,” she admits. Instead, she places herself in the role of the customer, “I want to know ‘Will I like it?’ and ‘Will it taste good with the food?’ So I decided here that we would just offer three different teas each month to complement the foods on the menu that month. “Planning the menu is huge. We like to do all of the thinking ahead so they can come and just enjoy.” Most people come to her with limited knowledge about tea.

Guests begin their experience in the 1950s inspired Powder Room where they can choose from a variety of vintage hats, pieces of costume jewelry and gloves. “Guests come in here and they giggle like schoolgirls. They try on the hats and they just laugh,” says Audrey with a smile. “Once the guests start coming I’m just in my natural element. It’s so fun to bless people like that—to give them this oasis and to watch their faces as they are engaged in earnest conversation.”

Parties for younger girls start upstairs in the Dressing Room  complete with a closet full of vintage prom dresses. “They come in here and choose from all of these vintage gowns—and then we have shawls, scarves, purses, grandma’s jewelry and tiaras. They have a blast,” she says.

Across the hall are the Classroom and Sitting Room where Audrey plans on holding etiquette classes and hosting cross-generational domestic arts sessions that where she sees “senior citizens and young girls learning how to knit, crochet and how to relate.”

Vintage furnishings dot the downstairs double parlor and adjacent Dining Room which hold parties of 8 to 30 guests. Heirlooms Tea Room hosts other events as well—prom dinners, small weddings, showers and anything in want of a removed, charmed atmosphere which fits well with Audrey’s own style. “My favorite room in the house is the Morning room, a small little area where we will have tea. I like intimate spaces.”

Intimacy and Victorian flavor spill out the front door onto the flower lined pathway. The south lawn features a gazebo painted to match the color scheme of the house, a shade garden with a three-tiered fountain and a full-sun garden. According to Audrey, peonies, iris, lilies, Solomon’s Seal, ferns and other heirloom plants are typical of Victorian gardens. “And roses,” she adds, “lots and lots of roses.”

The Hollatz’s purchased the house in March without knowing the garden plan. “Fortunately,” says Audrey, “I had been a gardener for years so I could identify most things by their foliage.” As spring and summer approached, Audrey realized that many plants were placed incorrectly. “They had all of their ferns in the blazing sun, they had hostas out there too. I spent the first year transplanting. Then they had all of their day lilies in the shade, so I spent the next year getting day lilies and iris out front. The gardens themselves are practically a fulltime job.”

Audrey’s greatest hurdle has been time management. With a light in her eyes she adds, “There’s just so much potential, so many ideas, but you just have to wait for the right timing.”