Held biennially is the Linwood Tour of Homes. The Linwood Preservation District & Friends Association (LPD&F) along with the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier collaborate to open nine homes on Linwood and three homes a block away from Linwood. Ramona Whitaker, the tour’s committee chair for the LPD&F says, “It’s a great way to spend an afternoon.”
In 2006, the last time a tour was held, nearly 800 people walked through the open homes and the association hopes to have at least this many this year. Last year the tour was not held because it conflicted with the Decorator Show House put on by the Junior League. Not wanting the conflict, the LPD&F decided to make the tour every other year, just like the Decorator Show House , therefore never conflicting again. This year’s tour is this Sunday, April 27th.
The LPD&F is the name of the Linwood block club, which has an open membership to anyone who likes or is interested in Linwood – you don’t need to live on the street to join. Whitaker explains that, “a lot of people like this street a lot” and that they even go out of their way to drive down it on their way home from work.
A tea was being offered with the tour at the Beu Fleuve Bed & Breakfast Inn at 242 Linwood Avenue. Unfortunately, even with two seatings at 1pm and 3:30pm with 30 seats available each time, the tea has already filled up! The traditional tea features scones, finger sandwiches, petit fours, premium full-leaf tea, served with traditional condiments on fine china and linens. For $18, people lucky enough to have made reservations well in advance get to have afternoon tea as well as a tour of the inn which is not otherwise on the tour.
The tour features a wide range of properties. The Artspace building is one of the buildings not on Linwood that was included and tourists will get to see an artist’s studio. The tour also features last year’s Decorator Show House, the Silverthorne Mansion. According to Whitaker, one of the homes featured in 2006 was an old convent and so much restoration work has been done since then to restore it back into a single family home. Other homes include the district’s oldest house, a belvedered Italianate and a redone Arts & Crafts/Tudor.
Tickets for this event can be purchased at Art Dialogue Gallery for $17. Their hours are Tuesday-Friday 11-5pm and Saturday from 11-3pm. If you don’t get your tickets there before Sunday, you’ll need to purchase them the day of the tour for $22. The gallery will be open around 11am on Sunday for people to come and get their tickets and guidebooks and will stay open till around 4pm. The tour itself runs from noon till 4:30pm and Whitaker says, “It’s self-guided. People can go on their own. They can start on any property.”