Join the Church Hill Association’s annual Holiday Festival featuring the Holiday House Tour

December 9th

12:00 – 5:00 PM

$25 per person, Register Here

Questions? Twilds12@comcast.net

No tickets mailed. Will Call available at St. John’s Parish Hall 2401 E. Broad St. Richmond VA on December 9th at noon to 4 pm. Credit cards accepted on-line sales and at St. John’s for day of sales. Shuttle services will also be available starting at St. John’s Church (ask at ticket pick up) and at all of the tour homes

Sales at these local businesses starting in November

Check or Cash Only- NO CREDIT CARDS

Hill Cafe – 2800 E. Broad St.

Patrick Henry Pub – 2300 E. Broad St.

Poe’s Pub – 2706 E. Main St.

Shops at 5807 – 5807 Patterson Ave.

Sub Rosa Bakery – 620 N. 25 th

Union Market – 2306 Jefferson Ave.

WPA Bakery – 2707 E. Marshall St.

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Church Hill- Where Richmond Began celebrates the 2018 winter holidays with the Annual Holiday House Tour!

Church Hill, one of the nation’s most historically significant neighborhoods, will host its Holiday House Tour on December 9th 2018 from noon to 5 pm. Designed by Major William Mayo in 1737, we’re the oldest community in historic Richmond with homes built as far back as the 1700s. The neighborhood is an elegant mix of Federal, Greek revival and Victorian homes alongside innovative condominiums within historic structures and a growing number of thriving new restaurants and businesses. Neighbors will open their treasured homes for you to experience the sights, smells and sounds of holidays past and present.

The Church Hill Association of RVA is a 501c3 non-profit. Proceeds from ticket sales support many causes to improve quality of life in the Greater Church Hill neighborhood.

A Preview of This Year’s Homes:

2 09 N. 25th St. Built 1881

This Italianate row house was built in 1881 and maintains much of its original character today. Some of its original fixtures include gingerbread stained glass above the living room window, pocket doors, unique woodwork including door frame rosettes, and three working fireplaces (of the original five). The later addition of a sunroom casts light through the first floor of the house. In the winter months when the leaves have fallen, the front windows provide picturesque views of St. John’s Church. The first residents were Irish immigrants Cornelius & Mary Reardon who first arrived in the states in the 1850s. Cornelius made a living as a stone cutter, including work on the Old City Hall on Broad St.

2607 E. Grace St. Built 1840

The Greek Revival Turner-Turpin House, known for its center hallway, was built by William and Susan Turner in1840. The house was enlarged by E.S. Turpin, owner of a tobacco processing business, between 1853-1892. This sun filled home sits on a large wide city lot that allows for a sprawling landscaped garden. It also has a large double porch with winter city views, beautiful heart of pine floors, an English basement, formal dental molding, and 6 fireplaces.

2608 E. Grace St. Built 1885

Built in 1885, this is one of the few three story houses on the Hill. It was the residence of John Mann, a Baltimore native who set up business in Richmond as a brick manufacturer in 1874. He and James Netherwood, an Englishman who established himself as a stonemason and contractor in the city in 1859, built the 13 houses in the “Mann-Netherwood Block” on the south side of E. Grace, opposite this home, as rental properties. This stunning home was recently completely renovated with top of the line fixtures and upgrades while keeping the historical charm. It has 5 bedrooms and 3.5 baths.

27th St . Built 1890

This single-family home was built in 1890. With its impressive arched entrance, pointed gable, profusion of windows and unusual side garden, this house has great presence and storybook allure. Every room is a corner room, filling the house with cheerful light. Original 1909 period details include mantels, moldings, wood floors and detailed brickwork. A spacious entrance hall with original turned staircase connects the living room to a designer, eat-in kitchen that opens to the garden. The living room has double fireplaces and exposed brick wall. Upstairs are two bedrooms with fireplaces and a tastefully updated full bath with laundry.

307 N. 28th St. Built 1862

The Thomas Morris House has been placed on the tour as a “work in progress” and an example of how, even in an advanced stage of deterioration, a property can be adapted for contemporary living while preserving the floor plan and surviving historic fabric. This hipped roof Greek Revival has two floors above an English basement. Besides a considerable amount of original material found hidden beneath layers of “modernization,” perhaps the most interesting find was a sign for the style icon Saks when the retailer was started in Richmond.

425 N. 33rd St. Built 1910

After a series of fires, botched renovations, and foreclosures, this house was basically a shell when renovation began in January 2011. The only woodwork original to the house are the mantels, and the molding all around the front door, which suffered severe fire damage but was restored. A notable feature is the curiosity cabinet in the parlor. Everything on the top shelf of the cabinet is from this house specifically (found either in or under the house), which includes an old wooden baseball bat and a Victorian shoe, amongst other things. This house was featured on Apartment Therapy in 2014, “House Tour: Tess’s Grand & Colorful Virginia House.”

3307 E. M St. Built 2016

Incredible, one of a kind modern home in Church Hill with a 2.5 car garage and open concept floorplan with 3 bedrooms and 2 and a half baths. Fully automated power solar shades throughout. Beautiful two-sided contemporary fireplace in the living room and gorgeous hardwood floors throughout. State of the art kitchen with white shaker cabinets, quartz countertops, glass tile backsplash and awesome cedar wood island. This home includes new landscaping, hardscaping, lighting and Irrigation system to create a backyard Zen Garden. Built-In natural gas grill and great patio for outdoor entertaining. This house is located on one of the largest lots in Church Hill.

The Rebecca Brett House 2815 E. Grace St. Built 1852

Rebecca Brett, a young newly widowed mother, built this unique Greek revival house. It has two pairs of chimneys on both sides. Later, a full width porch replaced the original entrance. In the late 1980’s the house underwent major restorations when the front porch was restored to its original appearance. In 2009 the house underwent a further significant renovation with the addition of a double sunroom, a completely new basement apartment, new bathrooms. The house is rounded out with a professionally designed rear garden with recirculating pond.

2908 E. Franklin St. Built 2017

This modern-style rowhouse is tucked in a valley between Libby Hill Park and Chimborazo Park, near the eastern end of the sealed Church Hill Tunnel. The area known as Sugar Bottom, is part of the first new construction in this area in decades. This lovely home offers a custom level of finish throughout. The open first floor plan has 10′ ceilings and site finished oak floors. The kitchen features quartz countertops, dual fuel range and a vented hood with a marble backsplash. The unique rear stairs feature casement windows in-between each floor and a triple covered 8×16 rear deck for air and entertainment! The gracious master bedroom with 9′ ceilings, leads to the beautiful master bath featuring penny tile floors and vanities topped with Carrera marble.

Church Hill Gables 2418 E. Franklin St. Unit 110 Built 1910 & 1960

When the owners decided to buy an urban condo three years ago, they had clear goals – no more yardwork and “spontaneous living”. After buying a 600-square foot condo in the Church Hill Gables, they spent four months remodeling it. Among their projects was installing bookcases and a built-in bar and entertainment area near the front door. The loft platform over the unit’s bedroom contributes nearly 100 square feet to the living space. They replaced the laminate and tile upstairs flooring with tongue and groove black walnut that had been milled in Orange County. The underside of the loft – the new ceiling over the bed – also features black walnut accentuated with LED strip lighting. The bathroom door dates to the 1850’s and has a one-of-a-kind feature — a rat chewed corner! The bathroom has a marble tile shower and heated marble tile floor. Read more here.

2209 E. Grace St. Built 1894

Richmond Hill, the highest hill in Richmond, has been a place of prayer for several millennia. Native Americans confirmed this use when it was known as Tsenacomoco. The hill overlooks the Falls of the James and faces the setting sun. In the mid 1780’s, Col. Richard Adams built a mansion on Richmond Hill. In 1866, at the request of Bishop John McGill of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, the Sisters of the Visitation in Baltimore sent six sisters to establish a monastery and girls’ school in the devastated city of Richmond. Bishop McGill purchased the house that Col. Richard Adams had built for them. In 1894, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Fortune Rya gave a new Chapel to the Sisters of the Visitation. The sisters sat in one wing of the Chapel behind a screen, and the students and the public sat in the other. The Second Vatican Council prompted architectural changes. The screen separating the Sisters’ Chapel from the main Chapel was replaced with a railing, the altar was brought out from the wall, the stenciled walls were covered with vinyl, and the 30’ ceiling was lowered in the main Chapel, obscuring the wainscoting and six second story stained glass windows.

L.B. Robinson House: 600 N. 23rd St. Built 1863

Mr. Robinson built this Greek Revival dwelling as a modest one-story center hall raised cottage with a central passage floor plan. The raised foundation likely came about later as a result of street grading that occurred around 1882. The 1st story is stretcher-bond brick. The 2nd story is frame with Masonite siding. The home was renovated around 2007 by previous owners who removed both the rear entrance and staircase, and covered over the void to create a continuous rear frame. The current owners exposed the brick fireplaces and removed layers of paint to restore the mantels throughout the house. The kitchen, dining room, and connecting hallway display original brick walls that were once the exterior of the home. Approximately half of the hardwood floors on the second level are original to the home. During a recent restoration, flooring from a similarly-aged house in Norfolk was used to replace modern flooring for the 2007 renovation.

Fire House Number 1 308 N. 24th St.

The House Tour includes antique fire equipment and an antique car show across the street.