The Albany and Old
Decatur Historic Districts will present their annual Historic Decatur Christmas
Tour on Saturday, December 13, 2014. Ten homes and sites, trimmed in
traditional decorations, will be open for viewing as part of the self-guided
tour from 3 to 8 p.m. Along with the tour, the annual event offers holiday
decorating tips, carriage rides, refreshments, and live holiday music.
Residences in the Albany and Old
Decatur Historic Districts are not normally open for public viewing except when
a select number of homes open their doors during the annual holiday tour. This
year’s tour features 10 beautiful homes and sites each beautifully decorated
with luminaries, fruit, greenery, and thousands of lights.
Participating homes and sites
include:
-
The Lighton House (506
Ferry Street NE)
This
one-story Queen Ann style Victorian was built in 1906. From an inscription
found on the basement wall, indications are the Brown family was one of its
first inhabitants.
-
The Lyons-McNeill
Apartments (406 Lafayette Street NE)
The
Lyons-McNeill Apartments are located on land that was part of a 307-acre land
grant in 1821 from President James Monroe to five north Alabama citizens. Some
of the family names of these citizens were Garth, Rhodes, Peck and others. (Two
apartments will be open for viewing.)
-
The Jacobs House (515
Canal Street NE)
This home
was originally built in 1910 as a Victorian style one-story house using
“balloon” framing techniques. The home has a truncated hip room pent at the
porch and the front entry features pilasters, which flank the front door.
-
The LeVenne Terrace
Apartments (508 Oak Street NE)
The
Tillery family built this historic home in the Greek-Revival style in the early
1870s as a two-story, single-family home of about 2,000 square feet. More than
70 years later, the Harris family converted the home into the LeVenne Terrace
Apartments.
-
The Williams-McKay
House (1044 Jackson Street SE)
Prevalent
in the United States in the early 1900s through the 1950s, the Williams-McKay House
is an excellent example of the Colonial Revival style. Based on the English and
Dutch colonial styles popular in the early colonies on the Eastern seaboard,
there were many variations on the shape of Colonial Revival homes.
-
The Pirie-Johnston
House (634 Grant Street SE)
This
location was originally part of a land grant from the U.S. Government to the
State of Alabama in 1828. In 1887, it became part of the incorporation of the
Decatur Land Improvement and Furnace Company, Inc. The home was built around
1909 as a two-story residence.
-
First United Methodist
Church (805 Canal Street NE)
Decatur’s
First United Methodist Church was officially organized in 1834.
-
St. John’s Episcopal
Church (202 Gordon Street SE)
Serving
as Tour headquarters this year, St. John’s Episcopal Church is one of the most
beautiful structures in Historic Decatur. After a fire burned St. Paul’s
Episcopal Church, originally organized in 1867, to the ground in 1888, its
parishioners differed over where to rebuild, in Old Decatur or in New Decatur
(now Albany Historic District).
-
The Old State Bank
(925 Bank Street NE)
The Old
State Bank remains at its original site from when it first opened in 1833. The
two story structure sports Federal Empire period architecture, which was popular
in the 1830s.
-
The Carnegie Visual
Arts Center (207 Church Street NE)
Originally
constructed in 1904 as The Carnegie Library with funding from the Carnegie
Foundation, the Carnegie Visual Arts Center is one of the few remaining
original Carnegie Library buildings in the nation.
Along with the self-guided tour of
homes, neighborhood churches will open their doors for inspirational concerts
and refreshments. Carillon Christmas music can be heard throughout the
afternoon and evening at First Presbyterian Church and Westminster Presbyterian
Church. During the Tour of Homes, refreshments from local eateries and
restaurants will be served in the Parish Hall at St. John’s Episcopal Church
and carriage rides will be offered beginning at 3 p.m. departing from the
Carnegie Visual Arts Center (weather permitting).
Designers from Townhouse Galleries
will demonstrate ways to transform the dining table into an inspiring holiday
tablescape. Set for 5 p.m., the workshop will be held in the Parish Hall at St.
John’s Episcopal Church. The Decatur Youth Symphony will present a program of
holiday music at 4 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church and the Alabama Center for
the Arts will offer a tour of their facility, a variety of activities including
a pop up art gallery with original works of art for sale, and a Painting Pizazz
class beginning at 3 p.m. Cost for the painting class is $35 per person (all
supplies provided) and pre-registration is required by calling 256.260.2462.
Tickets are $20 each and can be
purchased in advance at the Decatur-Morgan County Convention & Visitors
Bureau, Bank Street Art and Antiques, the Carnegie Visual Arts Center, Tammy
Eddy Antiques and Interiors, and Jimmy Smith Jewelers. On the day of the tour,
tickets can also be purchased at the Old State Bank, the Carnegie Visual Arts
Center, and First United Methodist Church from 2 to 7 p.m. Proceeds from the
tour are used to preserve, protect and enhance the character and legacy of the
historic neighborhoods.
