For visitors who mark their calendars for the annual Victorian Christmas Tour in Newport’s East Row Historic District, the event often signals the beginning of the holiday season. This year, the East Row Historic Foundation presents its 15th Annual Victorian Christmas Tour on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6-7, 2008. The tour runs from noon to 6 p.m. each day in the East Row Historic District, which is the second largest district in Kentucky and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The district has been called “one of the finest urban historic areas in Kentucky.” In May, it was named by Cincinnati Magazine as one of 15 great neighborhoods in the Greater Cincinnati area.
The tour will showcase six historic homes and the beautifully restored Gen. James Taylor Mansion. The mansion features massive mahogany doors and silver-plated hardware from the Cincinnati-based Eagle Ironworks throughout the rooms, elegant double parlors with original Rococo plasterwork, a spectacular mahogany and cherry semicircular staircase and painted glass windows.
Taylor, who founded Newport in 1795, originally built the home as a grand Federal
style in 1815. The residence was remodeled into a Greek revival style after
a horrendous fire in 1842, and then further remodeled it in 1889. Dave and Maureen
Gerner totally restored the mansion in 2005, and it now houses the law firm
of Gerner & Kearns Co. The home is featured in Great Houses Of The Queen
City written by Walter E. Langsam and photographed by Alice Weston. Professional
florists will decorate the mansion.
After touring the mansion, which is also the site for ticket sales, visitors can walk through the homes, which reflect Victorian style architecture, specifically Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Italianate styles, with ornate details such as artistic stained glass windows, patterned masonry and carved stone ornamentation. Many interiors feature original staircases, fireplace mantles and woodwork. While garlands and greenery are hardly needed for the homes, which were selected for the 2008 tour for their distinctive creativity and historic design, the residences and mansion will be decorated in their most beautiful — and sometimes funky — holiday finery.
Three homes are opening to the public for the first time while two have undergone major interior renovations, one under a new owner. Also, the gardens at two homes were featured on the 2008 East Row Garden Walk.
Among the homes’ highlights:
• Interior rooms in a circa 1890 Queen Anne-style home are described as a “contemporary twist on a traditional Victorian.” The 12-month renovation was completed in 2006, and includes a gourmet kitchen along with a third-floor media room featuring French doors that lead to a rooftop deck. The Christmas décor will include a leopard and fur-themed floor.
• An 1874 Italianate townhouse is filled with family antiques including a parlor set brought to America from England by the homeowner’s grandmother in 1870. On the walls hang numerous reproduction samplers all stitched by the homeowner, an accomplished needlework artist. (For nearly 200 years, beginning about 1650, young American schoolgirls learned to sew by embroidering and stitching samplers.) Intricate stenciling, created by the second homeowner, also decorates the rooms.
• An 1865 Italianate, the oldest home on the tour, still retains many original amenities including English encaustic tiles, wallpaper, parquet floors and decorative plaster moldings. The home is decorated with vintage textiles, reproduction wallpapers, family antiques and collections. On display are wedding gowns from the homeowner, who wore a vintage 1903 dress, and her mother who was married in 1950.
• Besides a collection of Father Christmas figures, a 1913 Colonial Revival, owned by self-confessed Christmas decorating enthusiasts, showcases many family photographs from the late 19th and early 20th centuries along with work from local artists Tyler Hildebrand and Lenore Davis. In 2006, the homeowners renovated the kitchen and a third-floor guest room/dance studio.
• Referred to as the Katherine Goetz House, a circa 1899 Colonial Revival residence is now owned by the great-grandson of Goetz who purchased the home in 1927 and lived there until her death in 1949. Since 2005, the homeowners have been restoring its historic elegance, furnishing it with antiques and family memorabilia, and renovating the kitchen. A Victorian Christmas is the holiday theme.
• An 1886 Queen Anne home was a Christmas tour favorite for many years. Now new homeowners have totally transformed the second floor by repurposing and renovating the space to make it more conducive to modern living yet still maintaining its historic integrity.
Among additional tour highlights:
• St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, an 1897 Victorian Gothic building at Eighth and Monroe streets, will present organ music and refreshments.
• St. John’s United Church of Christ, www.stjohnsuccnewport.org, 315 Park Ave., will host daily entertainment and refreshments, and will be open for tours. The schedule is as follows:
Saturday, December 6
2 p.m., Cynthia Priem, violinist
4 p.m., St. John’s Chancel Ringers handbell choir
Sunday, December 7
2 p.m., Amy Wiedenbein, cellist, accompanied by Michael Sullivan
4 p.m., Main Street Ringers handbell choir
For the convenience of visitors, a shuttle bus will make periodic stops along the route throughout the hours of the tour. Restrooms will be available, too. Although the East Row Historic District may be easily maneuvered by wheelchairs, the homes on the tour are not handicapped accessible.
Tickets, which are $15 per person, may be purchased at the Gen. James Taylor
Mansion, 335 East Third Street, during tour hours. Children under the age of
12, when accompanied by an adult, will be admitted free. Advanced tickets may
also be purchased online here at the web site (PURCHASE
TICKETS)— or at the following Newport businesses: Kentucky
Haus, 411 E. 10th St., Steamboat Bagels, 336 Monmouth St., and The Galleries
Together, 701 Park Ave.
Directions to the James Taylor Mansion: From I-471: Take Exit 4 West (KY 1120
-10th Street). Continue West to Washington Ave. Turn right on Washington Ave.,
Right on 5th St., Left on Overton St., and continue 2 blocks to 3rd Street.
The Mansion is located at 335 East Third Street. (Map
to the Taylor Mansion)
You may park at Riverfront Place parking lot located at Dave Cowens Drive and Park Avenue for $5 for the day. Free parking is also available at the lot at the SE corner of 5th Street and Washington Avenue and also at St. John’s United Church of Christ parking lot at 4th and Park Avenue.
A portion of the proceeds from the tour will go toward the Brighton Center, Inc., Newport, www.brightoncenter.com, which provides 41 programs for individuals and families throughout Northern Kentucky including employment training, youth services, and community, family and child development. Approximately 66,000 persons were served in 2007.
