The summer edition of the newsletter is now available on our website! Printed versions are in the mail, but you can grab a peek now.
As part of the summer newsletter, we have included two forms pertaining to our Holiday House Tour. First, we are once again planning to produce a program booklet to accompany the tour this year, and so we begin our request for sponsors. Sizes and rates are the same this year as in the past, and the PHW Office can provide more particulars if you are new to the booklet advertising opportunities. Click here for the sponsorship form.
Second, since we took a break from heavy volunteer usage in 2020, we have included a volunteer form as well. We are always in need of volunteers during the Holiday House Tour, and this time we’ve broken down the volunteer options a bit more so you can be paired up with a job you are comfortable with. Click here for the volunteer form.
Sponsorship and volunteer forms can be returned by email to phwinc.org@gmail.com or by snail mail to PHW, 530 Amherst St., Winchester, VA 22601.
Our Friday post this week ended up with a surprise feline in each section. See if you can spot them all! 🐈
We need paper bags of all sizes for the Bough & Dough Shop! All donations welcome, and any bags that are too damaged to use will be recycled.
This week, we took inventory of our Bough & Dough Shop supplies for the upcoming year. We request your assistance in donating gently-used paper bags of all sizes. We will be putting a receptacle on our back porch at the Hexagon House where you can drop off bags if no one is available at the office. Thank you for helping us keep our expenses low by using recycled and donated materials!
PHW is pleased to continue to offer a copy of the reprinted Winchester: Limestone, Sycamores & Architecture book with new memberships or renewals this year. We plan to send the next wave of snail-mail membership reminders out in early August, but you can renew online anytime through our website with a credit card, or download a membership form to mail in a check. Thank you for your support!
Some of you may be familiar with the unofficial PHW cat brigade and the health tribulations of the elder statesman, Severus. After a rough year through 2019 and 2020 with weight loss, high blood sugar, and other complications, he received a clean bill of health from his bloodwork this week. We hope we’ll be able to enjoy his grumpy and hissy (and occasionally greasy, like his namesake) antics for many more years.
We will be virtually attending the second “Dismantle Preservation” online conference next week between our normal office routines. Last year’s recordings are available online, and if you’re intrigued by any topics in this year’s event, you can join the conference through their website. In lieu of registration, the organizer recommends a $10/day donation or to support highlighted organizations through social media or email newsletters. (We admit we were suckered in by the “Cats and Brutalism” talk scheduled for July 28, 4:00-4:30 PM, but there are also more traditional topics.)
Similarly, the PastForward conference is now open for registration. The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s conference will be online again this year November 2-5. The conference subthemes include Promoting Equity and Justice Through Historic Preservation, Sharpening Essential Practices of Preservation, and Adapting to a Changing Climate.
You’ll never guess how someone found this image on Flickr…
Although Flickr does not provide stats for our entire viewing history, it looks like we may have broken our previous record for number of image views in a 24-hour period. We had over 29,000 views, primarily of the Millbank property album, on July 13. Our overall most-viewed image on Flickr is still the 1974 image of the Zayre store at 130 Delco Plaza, one of the long-forgotten collections unearthed from the basement of the Hexagon House (hence the unfortunate staining on the image.)
Since we began the caption project this January, we’ve seen more traffic on Flickr and more people finding our images with relevant, surprising and sometimes amusing text searches (our favorite this week is tiger nuts, the term used to find our feline festoon-holder on the Handley Library). We hope the images are proving informative and useful, and the increased captions are adding more depth and context. If there is an album, building, or photo in particular you would like us to focus our captioning efforts on, drop us a note on social media or at phwinc.org@gmail.com – we’re happy to take requests!
First, a public hearing on the proposed redevelopment at the corner of Cameron and Piccadilly streets Conditional Use Permit will take place on Tuesday, July 20, beginning at 3 PM in Council Chambers at Rouss City Hall. The CUP was triggered due to the size of the development exceeding by-rights use. If you are interested in making a statement on the project at the Planning Commission public hearing, you may review the submitted materials and staff report at the city meeting portal. PHW will note that according to the staff report, a previously approved demolition request and mitigation of the proposed loss of historic ghost signs on walls lining Baker Street has lapsed. PHW is in favor of retaining these ghost signs as they tell part of the story of the business enterprises in the area and the impact of the railroad on local commerce.
Some of the ghost signs on the building lining Baker Street.
Second, tomorrow, Saturday July 17, is free admission to the MSV and a car show. The car show coordinated by the Shenandoah Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America will feature 60 vehicles at least 25 years old. Families are encouraged to stop by the picnic area next to the garden entrance to pick up a take-and-make car-themed craft and a brochure with a seek-and-find scavenger hunt activity for the gardens. Visitors may also enjoy free admission to several special exhibitions, including Norman Rockwell’s America and the MSV Invitational Outdoor Sculpture Show. The Roaming Bistro and Shaffer’s BBQ food trucks will be on site offering food and drink for purchase from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. We’re excited to see this MSV tradition return this year!
Third, there is a call for proposals for the 2022 Main Street Now Conference. Proposals are due August 13 in three themed categories: Main Streets for the New Economy, Community Preservation and Expression, and Housing and Small-Scale Development. Visit the link for more information and how to submit proposals. Winchester was one of the three test programs for the Main Street Approach, and it may be time for us to show how our downtown is surviving and thriving forty years after the program launch.
We are pleased to inform you our quest last week to help a descendant find a copy of the Keith Williams print “Historic Buildings of Winchester” has borne fruit. Thank you to those who helped and shared stories related to Keith. By a confluence of events, we came across his resume as one of the applicants to the Kurtz Cultural Center RFP in the late 1980s. A select list of Keith Williams’ local projects include: the F&M Banks on Cameron Street and Valley Avenue; alterations and additions to First Christian Church and Opequon Presbyterian Church; renovation and organ installation at First Presbyterian Church; the Religious Education Building at First Baptist Church; the Winchester Church of Latter Day Saints; Robinson Memorial Elementary School and Gibson Elementary School buildings; Fremont Nursery School; the Child Day Care Center for Amalgamated Clothing Workers Health & Welfare Fund; Shenandoah University’s Armstrong Building, Howard Building, Funkhouser Building, Cooley Building, Racey Building, Student Center, Field House (1969), 100-Student Dorm (1972), and Library; showrooms for Molden Electric Company and Pifer Office Supply Company; offices and plant for Perry Engineering Company; Beltone Hearing Aid Center; factories for Monoflo International Inc. and Capitol Records; additions to Fulton Trucking Company and Burger King; the Golf & Country Club; the War Memorial Recreation Center; Country Club Pines Apartment Complex; Prospect Hills subdivision; tennis pavilion and club house complex at Lake Holiday Estates, The Summit; Winchester Seed Processing Plant; two Automatic Soft Cloth Car Washes in Winchester; and an acoustics consultant to John Handley High School renovation. We don’t quite recognize all the location names for his Winchester work and addresses and dates for most were not provided, so if you know any details about the above projects, let us know and we will compile them for our fledgling “architects of Winchester list” we’re developing at the office.
Save the date for the 2021 Holiday House Tour! Current plans are for the daylight tour only on Sunday, December 5, noon-4 PM. Plans and dates for the Bough & Dough Shop are not yet finalized, but we anticipate it will be held at the Hexagon House concurrent with the ticket sale window. All plans subject to change!
Behind the scenes at PHW, we are considering some tweaks to the Bough and Dough Shop for 2021. While we can’t peer into the crystal ball and see what our day to day life will be like by November, our highest priority with holding a gathering of any sort is safety for artists, visitors, and volunteer workers. If you enjoy shopping at the Hexagon House in the holiday season, we’d like your thoughts on how we should proceed this year. Please follow the link or answer the survey below to help us plan for the dates, format, artist/product selection, and shop layout for the 2021 Bough and Dough Shop. Make sure you give your answers to us by noon on February 8 so we can share the information at our next board meeting.
PHW is slowly returning to normal services following our Bough and Dough Shop. We are still operating on an appointment system for visitors to the office. Call ahead or email phwinc.org@gmail.com to schedule your visit. Most questions can be answered via email, so we recommend utilizing that method of contact.
A limited quantity of PHW-produced items that were available at the Bough and Dough Shop like our books and decorative items with local historic buildings can still be ordered through our online store. If you want to save money on shipping and take advantage of curbside pickup at the Hexagon House, use the promo code “Curbside” at checkout. Pickup is available Monday-Friday.
Effectively immediately, the Bough and Dough Shop will be implementing the following procedures to comply with the updated restrictions for limiting the spread of COVID-19:
Shopping is now appointment only. Please make your appointment in advance (no walk ins) on Facebook, or by leaving a message at phwinc.org@gmail.com or 540-667-3577.
Guest size is now limited to 6 per appointment slot (down from 10).
Shopping time remains a half hour for an appointment.
Masks are required for all shoppers at all times. There are no public restrooms or free samples.
If you know what items you are looking for, we will put items directly online for you to purchase from our online store so you can buy and use curbside pickup to reduce contact. We may be able to do limited phone or email ordering the same way. We ask no credit card orders over the phone or email, thank you!
Please continue to follow our social media for further updates and item showcases as we finish our 2020 Bough and Dough Shop. Thank you for your patience and helping us keep the Hexagon House a safe place to shop this holiday season!
Thank you to everyone who has come out to visit the Shop so far this year. There is still plenty of time left to visit before December 23, but after our opening weekend we have a better understanding of how operations are flowing. Here are a few more points to keep in mind:
We will be staggering larger groups of four or more into two people at a time. This will help with the congestion inside of the house to help everyone maintain social distance.
We are extremely pleased with the appointment system. If you have limited time to shop, please visit our Facebook page or leave a message by phone or email at least half a day in advance so we can confirm your time slot.
Walk ins are still accepted, but visitors with a reservation will be given priority for their half hour time slot.
While we know it is difficult to resist, please try to handle items as little as possible. If you would like to touch items, hand sanitizer is located in the kitchen at the entrance, in the dining room near the wood, and in the living room by the pottery.
Loose greenery has not been stocked and several of our suppliers are not able to provide items this year. When loose greens arrive, we will post on our social media accounts. If you have a known item of greenery you are looking for, you may send a request and we will try to fulfill it.
As a reminder, the Shop will be closed every day between 2:00 and 2:30 PM for cleaning and a small lunch break for our workers and volunteers. We are letting the last group of shoppers in at 1:45 PM so you can finish your walk through the shop. Likewise, we are closing the door at 4:45 PM each day to help us finish up by 5 PM.
In the event of inclement weather, please watch our social media for delays or closing information.
Thank you for your understanding of these procedures so we can keep the shop open and safe for you and us!
It is one week until the Bough and Dough Shop opens at the Hexagon House! If you’ve been following our Instagram, you might have gotten glimpses of the fun goodies as the artists have been setting up over the past few weeks. If you don’t have an Instagram, here’s a video preview just for you!
As a reminder to help keep everyone safe, we are limited to ten shoppers inside the building at a time, and hard limited to 25 people on the grounds. We strongly recommend setting up an appointment for a shopping block on Facebook if you have limited availability. We also encourage you to order online through our store and preorder perishable goods whenever possible to reduce congestion. Remember to enter promo code “Curbside” during checkout from our online store for free pickup at the Hexagon House during normal shop hours!
The Shop will be a little different this year, but we want everyone to be safe while you enjoy this holiday tradition. Please remember to be courteous and patient with our volunteers and staff as we find our new rhythm and adapt to any upcoming changes.
One of the items we have for sale online is this scarf by Brenda Fairweather. See the item description in our online store!
Time is flying as we move through November! In just two weeks, PHW will be opening our holiday pop-up boutique at the Hexagon House, 530 Amherst Street.
If you haven’t explored our Instagram yet, make sure you do! We are posting photos and short videos as the goods trickle into the physical store. Larger and more delicate items like furniture and fine art will be highlighted in our stories and videos.
We are also adding select items to our online storefront. Not all our artists or goods can be featured here, but easily-shipped items continue to be added as they come in.
If you see an item on our social media updates you are interested in purchasing for curbside pickup and it is not yet listed, drop us a message and we can arrange your item sale. Don’t forget you can also work out a preorder wishlist for greenery and sweet treats – we will be happy to send you a complete invoice so you can pay online with credit card!
We also strongly encourage you to set up a shopping appointment on Facebook if you have a limited day and time you are available to shop. We anticipate there may be lines to enter the store due to our lowered guest capacity. If you reserve a shopping time, you will be allowed to “skip the line” during your half hour shopping appointment.
Thank you to everyone who voted in our final round and through our sixteen week bracket. The people have chosen the all time favorite Holiday House Tour: Potato Hill Promenade!
While we know the voting bracket is not a replacement for touring homes decorated for the holidays, we hope the Holiday House Tour Championship provided a wonderful trip down memory lane. Now you can revisit the descriptions of the homes and buildings at any point, as the descriptions we digitized and edited from our old tours will always have a home on PHW’s blog.
If you haven’t used the feature yet, you can visit the blog directly and use the search function to look up addresses or common house names to see what information we may have posted about the building in the past. You may also want to revisit PHW’s newsletter collection, which is so far digitized and available from the present day back to 2005. If you have a request for a building to be featured on the blog in the future, drop us a note. We are collecting ideas for posts in 2021 now!
