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Arts & Entertainment

Annual Holiday House Tour &Twilight Soirée

Please Join Us

SUNDAY • DECEMBER 5 • 2010 

Enjoy a delightful day of architecture, art & antiques

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Tour five festive homes & historic Adams Academy, 11 to 4, then Celebrate,

4:30 to 7:30, at Twilight Soirée, with music, wine, hors d'oeuvres & silent auction.

Find out what's happening in Westportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For TICKETS/DETAILS
BUY YOUR TICKET NOW!

Call: 203.222.1424

Back by popular demand for the 24th straight year, The Westport Historical Society's annual Holiday House Tour and Twilight Soirée benefits will light up the town on Sunday, Dec. 5. Held snow or shine, the room-by-room, docent-guided Tour of five remarkable residences, from 11 AM to 4 PM, is followed, from 4:30 to 7:30 PM, by Twilight Soirée, a festive celebration of wine, hors d'oeuvres, live music and Silent Auction. Ticket information for both fundraisers is available at www.westporthistory.org.

Concurrently, extending its year-long celebration of Westport's 175th Anniversary as a Town, the Historical Society will host free public open houses from 11 to 4, both at its own Bradley-Wheeler House (Tour ticket headquarters and site of the current "Putting Westport on the Map" and "Zooming in on Westport" exhibits) at 25 Avery Place, and at Westport's historic Adams Academy, a 19th century one-room schoolhouse, on 15 Morningside Drive North.

Attracting hundreds of style fans and idea-seekers from all over Fairfield and Westchester Counties, New York City, New Jersey, upstate Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, Westport's House Tour, "a self-guided odyssey of architecture, art and antiques," has something special for every taste. For many, Westport's Holiday House Tour is a standing annual date among friends, and some confide that they use it as design inspiration before renovating or furnishing their homes or shopping for their own seasonal décor and housewarming gifts. The 2010 Tour offers a particularly intriguing array of architectural vintages and interior home design styles, paired with stunning examples of holiday decoration, floral and tabletop design, all described in rich detail by eloquent docents.

The five private homes on the 2010 Tour range in age from 1840 to 2009, plus free bonus stops at the Westport Historical Society's 1795 Bradley-Wheeler House (at 25 Avery Place, to pick up tickets) and at Adams Academy, Westport's own 19th century schoolhouse, on Morningside Drive North. The after-Tour party, Twilight Soirée & Silent Auction (additional ticket required), follows at another lavishly decorated private home.

 "We're very excited about the houses on this year's Tour and the stories behind them," says Dorothy Curran, Westport Historical Society president. "One of the homes won a preservation award ten years ago, but has continued to improve. Antique lovers will adore the interior décor--antique English furnishings matched to the 1840 year of original construction, and kitchen cabinets made from attic floorboards. Another Queen Anne-style home won awards for new construction. Using sumptuous patterns and textures, old and new, and a bit of dry humor, the interior designer reinterprets high Victorian style for today's tastes. By contrast, we have another more recent renovation, near Compo Beach, is a triumph of maximizing views, serenity and casual comfort within the constraints of Zoning and FEMA."

"As always, a major part of the fun is comparing notes after the Tour, at Twilight Soirée. This year, concert violinist, Gabriela Stastny, will be serenading us, as we sample wine and hors d'oeuvres and bid on Silent Auction items."

Major sponsors of this important Westport Historical Society fundraiser include BNY Mellon Wealth Management, Weichert Capital Properties, Berchem Moses & Devlin, Patriot National Bank, Kowalsky Brothers, Connecticut Cottages & Gardens, Cohen & Wolf and Venture Photography.

The five featured homes for 2010 include:

1840 GREEK REVIVAL REBORN as STYLISH 1877 ITALIANATE

A number of Westport's prosperous Victorian-era fashionistas shed their "dated" Colonials or Greek Revivals by expanding and encasing them in new, Italianate facades and rooflines. The Historical Society's own 1795 Bradley-Wheeler House is one example; this 1840 Jesse Bradley house is another. Its current owners found the missing staircase, created an exposed brick bath by the central chimney, added a chic butler's pantry, mudroom, bedroom and master bath, converted the lookout attic and cupola to fabulous work/play space and restored the barn/garage.

WIT and WHIMSY in a QUEEN ANNE REVIVAL

This eye-catching, custom-built, award-winning 2002 Queen Anne Revival house successfully melds high Victorian style with today's kitchen, bath and lifestyle amenities. Fancy millwork and sumptuous patterns and textures, choreographed with wit and whimsy by the owner-designer, extend the Victorian idiom throughout. The main level's stenciled floors, long windows and staircase open to the rooftop cupola offer perfect framing for holiday trimming, including a homemade gingerbread house.

COMPO BEACH HAVEN

Serenity and clean lines pervade the flow, floor plan and décor of this thoughtfully designed 2008 FEMA-compliant renovation of a 1928 cottage. Sited just steps from Compo Beach and bathed in shore light and salt air, this active family's home--raised over 4 feet, flood-vented and framing strapped for hurricanes—rewards its owners daily with Sound views, casual comfort, year-round lifestyle space and holiday readiness. Enjoy the stars!

 

CONSUMMATE CONNECTICUT COUNTRY RETREAT

The curving approach, stone walls, long setback and festive holiday greenery to this 1930's Colonial revival house and cozy guest cottage suggest that only a horse and sleigh are needed to complete the Currier & Ives tableau, but the expanded interior's exuberant and eclectic blend of furnishings, 20th century art and lighting—including the dining room's Murano glass chandelier--will surprise and delight modernists.

RIVERFRONT SPLENDOR, GEOTHERMAL & SMART

Sited on a knoll by a branch of the Saugatuck, this splendid new shingle-style geothermal "smart" home pays homage to woodland surroundings while celebrating its owners' elegant cultural and lifestyle tastes with a grand foyer, magnificent domed ceiling dining room and 3-storey skylit kitchen. The lower level has a stunning wet bar, home theatre and French doors overlooking the outdoor fireplace, pond, river and twin bridges to a private island.  

Please note that Tour-goers will be asked to remove their shoes upon entering each home. Photography inside the homes is not permitted, nor children under 12. Ticket forms are available at The Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place, Westport, or at www.westporthistory.org. No tickets will be mailed. Tour-goers may pick up their tickets at the Westport Historical Society, Mon. Nov. 29 to Sun., Dec. 5, 2010, 10 am to 4 pm. All sales are final and the events will be held, snow or shine.

 

Along with Westport Historical Society president, Dorothy Curran, and executive director, Susan Gold, the 2010 Holiday House Tour & Twilight Soirée committee includes Katie Chase, Joni Andrews, Totney Benson, Susan Wynkoop, Miggs Burroughs, Larry Untermeyer, Sue Kirby, Margaet LeBedis, Dave Matlow, Lorraine Feliciano, Leah Scherzer, Mary Ann Laurita, Maggie Feczko, Lois Harner, Barbara Brauner, Mimi Burroughs, Hope Trowbridge, Dick St. Francis, Mary Lee Clayton, Nancy Sherter, Deborah Kulback, Mindy Wolkstein, Beverly McArthur, Ann Meyerson and Anne Landis.

Advance tickets for the Dec. 5 Holiday House Tour are $40 for Historical Society members and $50 for non-members and may be picked up at the Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place, Westport, beginning Nov. 30. Children under 12 not permitted. On the day of the event, which will be held snow or shine, all Tour tickets are $55.

Twilight Soirée, including wine, hors d'oeuvres and silent auction, requires an additional $50 ticket. All proceeds benefit the Westport Historical Society, a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization.  For more information about the Holiday House Tour or Twilight Soirée, contact the Westport Historical Society at 203-222-1424 or at www.westporthistory.org.

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