Author: PHW

Holiday House Tour Spotlight: 311 Fairmont Avenue

311 Fairmont Avenue
Fair Mount
Home of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Helm
Bruce Downing, House Chair
Brookie Phillips, Decorator

Large boxwoods guide visitors up the slate walkway to one of Winchester’s earliest houses. Constructed in the first decade of the 1800s, this house is an excellent example of a transitional Georgian-style to Federal-style dwelling. Fair Mount was built for Joseph Tidball by a local carpenter named Lewis Barnett. The two-story white stucco main structure is flanked by one and one half story service wings which were added shortly after the central portion was built. The graceful interior woodwork illustrates the influence of national tastes on local builders. The first-floor plan is comprised of four rooms with a lateral stair in the main hall, which is in contrast to the highly formal and sophisticated five-bay Georgian-style façade. Although the house was remodeled in 1929 using the Colonial Revival style, it has retained many of its original features and has great integrity. Fair Mount is known in recent times as the birthplace Preservation of Historic Winchester. The home was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register in 2003 and the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Holiday House Tour Spotlight: 209 North Washington Street

209 N. Washington St. 209 North Washington Street
Home of Mr. and Mrs. Rich Rizzetta
Mark Lore, House Chair
MaryDale Jackson and Sandy Lore, Decorators

One of Winchester’s delightful vernacular Italianate style homes welcomes all visitors to its Tuscan columned wrap-around porch and beckons all to enter through its front paneled door lit by sidelights and a three-pane transom. This two and a half story, eaves-front structure built c.1875 and covered in shiplap siding, has its seam metal gable roof supported by the characteristic bracketed cornice of the Italianate style. Two-over-two sash windows on the second story also exhibit the decorative woodwork of this style with carved lintels. A two-story ell extends the house into the well manicured backyard.

Holiday House Tour Spotlight: 101 North Washington Street

101 N. Washington St.101 North Washington Street
The Long House
Home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Rockwood
Mary Scully Riley, House Chair

Built around 1785 by Robert Long I, this frame house occupies the corner lot at North Washington and Amherst Streets. Sheathed in clapboards, many neighbors recall when it was covered in a 1920s pebbledash stucco. The Rockwoods received a PHW Award of Merit in 2007 after they removed the stucco to expose the original façade. A library has been added to the two-story ell on the north side. This vernacular Federal style home welcomes visitors through its multi-paned front door to the main hallway graced with a carved newel post, delicate stairway and carved plaster ceiling medallion. The Rockwoods’ home is furnished with art and collectibles from both sides of the family. The furnishings include several 1800s pieces.

Holiday House Tour 2010: Homes for the Holiday

HHT WreathPHW is pleased to announce the 34th annual Holiday House Tour, which will be held December 4 and 5 in the North Washington and Fairmont Avenue neighborhood.

The tour kicks off on Saturday with the Preview Party and Candlelight Tour from 6-9 p.m. The party will be held in the home of Mrs. Joseph Manuel, 303 Fairmont Avenue. The home will be open only for the Saturday event.

Four additional homes will be open for the Candlelight Tour. These homes will also open for the Daylight Tour on Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

  • Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Rockwood, 101 North Washington Street
  • Mr. and Mrs. Rich Rizzetta, 209 North Washington Street
  • Mr. and Mrs. Richard Helm, 311 Fairmont Avenue
  • Rev. and Mrs. Dan McCoig, 35 West Piccadilly Street

The Bough & Dough Shop returns this year with a wide array of local talent providing baked goods, handcrafts, greenery and floral arrangements and much more! The Shop, located at the Centre Friends Meeting House, 201 N. Washington St., will be open on Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Tickets will be available after the 15th of November at the following locations:

More information on the houses and the tour will be released over the next week. Check back soon for more information!

Cultural Resource Survey of Historic Winchester to Begin November 2010

EHT Traceries, Inc., in concert with Maral S. Kalbian, LLC, is pleased to be conducting the Survey of Buildings and Properties within the National Register Winchester Historic District. The project is possible thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, plus a shared sponsorship from Preservation of Historic Winchester, Inc. and the City of Winchester, both of which contributed $12,500 to the project. The objective of this project is to document the remaining 600-800 properties in the historic district, beginning on the east side of Loudoun Street, where the 2008 survey concluded, and moving westward.

Continue reading Cultural Resource Survey of Historic Winchester to Begin November 2010

“When This You See Remember Me…”

The Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society and Shenandoah University Community History Project are presenting the program “When This You See Remember Me…Schoolgirl Samplers of Winchester and Frederick County, Virginia.”  The program, presented by Dr. David Powers, will be held October 18 at 7 PM at Stimpson Auditorium/Halpin-Harrison Hall, Byrd Business School, adjacent to the Abram’s Delight Museum on Pleasant Valley Road.

Following the program is a reception at Hollingsworth Mill.  Mary H. Robare, author of the companion book and guest curator, will be available for book signings and a personal tour of the exhibit.

Call the WFCHS at 540-662-6550 for more information on this program.

Patsy Day, September 4

Celebrating Patsy Cline will commemorate the 78th birthday of the legendary singer with a block party on Saturday, September 4, from 10 AM to 6 PM. Activities will take place outside the Cline home at 608 S. Kent St., rain or shine.

The event is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted to aid in the restoration of the home.

For more information on the event, visit the Winchester Star (login required) or Celebrating Patsy Cline, or  call 888-608-2726.

Community Food Store Slated for Demolition

Vic Bradshaw reported on the fate of the Community Food Store, 319-321 S. Kent St.:

. . . Hobbs’s response provides an answer to why the Community Food Store building is still standing – money to rebuild on the site could not be obtained. The structure, at Kent and Cecil streets, could be gone by year’s end, however. The City Council has begun action to declare it blighted and tear it down.

Read the full article at the Winchester Star (login required).

PHW representatives toured the building prior to the public hearing for demolition.  While the building tells a key story in the development and history of the neighborhood, the cost of the necessary stabilization made the project financially unfeasible.  PHW did not oppose the demolition of the structure given that the state of neglect and compromised structural integrity would make the project financially unfeasible.

The fate of the Community Food Store,  like Ruth’s Tea Room before it, is a sobering reminder that  important pieces of history may become empty lots when faced against demolition by neglect.