Church Hill Holiday Weekend and House Tour 2012

Once again the Church Hill Association is pleased to present our annual holiday weekend festival, complete with a Vespers service at St. John’s Church followed by a candlelight walk through Church Hill, our annual holiday party, and of course, our much admired holiday house tour; December 14, 15 and 16. A full list of information is available on our holiday weekend page on ChurchHill.org: Holiday Weekend Information

Schedule of events;
Wrap yourself in the spirit of the holidays on Friday, December 14, at St. John’s Church with an inspired Vespers service at 7 pm. We then repair outside to walk with our fellow Hillian’s through Church Hill ending at the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument for caroling and more holiday cheer.

Saturday, December 15, the Church Hill Association ushers in the weekend with our annual holiday party. This year we are celebrating at Old City Bar, 1548 East Main Street, at 8 pm. This year’s party is catered by acclaimed Richmond caterer David Napier’s Whitehouse Catering. Tickets are still available, however they are limited. Please contact Amanda Walker at acwpinrich@aol.com or by calling (804) 937.9290, or email president@ChurchHill.org. Tickets are $35 for this event which promises to be a great time for all with fabulous epicurean delights.

And, of course, our raison d’être in December, the holiday house tour is on Sunday, December 16, from noon to 5 pm. The tour this year is graciously sponsored by Seibert’s Towing and Body Shop, Fulton Hill Properties, and Style Weekly. This year’s feature house on our tour is 5 North 29th Street. A recently renovated Victorian style house with its bracketed Italianate porch and intricate ironwork fence was the residence of Daniel Day-Lewis when he lived in Richmond while filming Steven Spielberg’s highly praised “Lincoln.”

Other features of Church Hill’s house tour this year include the Dr. John Adams Double House. Built in 1809 this duplex is the last standing duplex of its time and one of the oldest homes in Richmond. Other homes on the tour represent the ongoing restoration and preservationists efforts of Richmond’s first Old and Historic District. Two recently renovated homes on East Franklin Street will be open for guests to explore the effervescent and progressive evolution of the best neighborhood in Richmond.

This house tour also embraces homes of newer construction and recently renovated masterpieces. The old Chimborazo School across from Chimborazo Park joins a multitude of reconditioned historic structures in Church Hill. The old school has been lovingly restored from a dilapidated underutilized edifice into acclaimed multifamily apartments, giving an old building a useful purpose again. The apartments on the tour in the new Lava Lofts gives guests to our neighborhood a taste of the ever changing dynamic of Church Hill.

Please wear comfortable shoes for our walking tour, and be prepared for rain or shine. We will provide umbrella bags and shoe covers. We ask that you bring no backpacks, or large bags. Homeowners and the Church Hill Association assume no liability; and homes are not easily accessible for those who may have issues navigating stairs unaided or without motorized assistance.

Our full list of house on the tour is below:
2501 & 2503 East Grace Street – the Dr. John Adams Double House
2603 East Franklin Street
2617 East Franklin Street
2910 East Broad Street
310 North 33rd Street – Lava Lofts, and old Chimborazo School
5 North 29th Street
425 North 33rd Street
1130 North 28th Street
405 North 23rd Street

Tickets for the house tour can be purchased at the Hill Café, Captain Buzzy’s, Poe’s Pub, and St. John’s Church Parish Hall the day of the tour. Tickets are $25 per person; children under the age of 12 are admitted free of charge.

We are still seeking docent volunteers. Please contact Amanda Walker at acwpinrich@aol.com if you are interested in being a docent from either noon to 2:30 or 2:30 to 5 pm. Docents will receive a complementary ticket to the house tour.