SHADYSIDE SPLENDOR
Couple decorates 23 trees and 17 rooms for holiday house tour
Can you have too many Christmas decorations? Scott Cavanaugh doesn’t think so. He’s been accumulating ornaments and other holiday finery since he was a kid growing up in Scottdale. And he hasn’t stopped.
“We have so much stuff we can’t put it all out,” he admitted.
Earlier this year, Cavanaugh bought a collection of 25 nutcrackers on Facebook Marketplace. Now they’re displayed next to a 5-foot tall nutcracker on the thirdfloor landing of the 1896 Shadyside mansion he shares with Ron Graham.
It’s just one of countless vignettes on the Symphony Splendor Holiday Fantasy
Tour.
The benefit for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra runs two weekends this
year, Nov. 18-20 and 26-27. Timed tickets are $25 in advance for the 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday tours and $35 for 5-8 p.m. candlelight tours on Friday and both Saturdays. PSO musicians perform inside the house during the one-hour walk-throughs.
This is the second year that Cavanaugh and Graham have hosted the house tour, which features 23 Christmas trees — “one for each year we’ve been in this house” — 17 decorated rooms, seven richly festooned fireplaces and too many glass balls, colored light strings and ornaments to count.
“You have to go through a couple times to see all the decorations and architectural details,” said Cathy Trombetta, who organizes the tour each year with Jean Horne and other members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Association.
She’s in awe at the scale and detail of Cavanaugh and Graham’s work.
“We have done this tour for eight years and I’ve never seen mantels like this,” Trombetta said to the couple. “You win the prize.”
“We keep adding and Scott keeps buying,” Graham joked.
Decorating begins in early October, starting with the 23 artificial trees ranging from 6 to 12 feet high. Color combinations change each year in the rooms and hallways. For the first time, two third-floor bedrooms are decorated as suites for a bride and groom. The former features a real wedding dress next
to a white tree and another in the shape of a dress form and adorned with a tiny bridal shawl. A white top hat is the tree topper in the groom’s room, which will also display a tuxedo.
The formal dining room with oak woodwork and a ceiling mural shimmers in gold this year, and gold baubles pop against new, almost Tiffany blue paint in the kitchen.
The adjacent den features the couple’s ever-growing collection of Christopher Radko ornaments.
New this year are ones featuring Peeps and Pez candy. A peacock ornament by Jay Strongwater, a gift from a friend, may start a whole new collection.
Those who attended last year’s Symphony Splendor tour will find many new things to admire. Some visitors have made every tour for eight years, Trombetta said.
“They’re like groupies. … I can’t wait to see people’s faces.”