Boston tour to showcase Victorian homes

The South End Historical Society will hold its 43rd annual house tour from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15.

Six beautiful homes and three public spaces will be showcased. All are quite different, yet special in their own way.

Built between 1855 and 1866, these homes have handsome brick facades, many with bow fronts and high stoops presenting a striking uniformity along the tree-lined streets.

Inside, each home offers a different story.

One of the houses is believed to have been constructed as a model for the other row houses on its block and features beautiful plaster moldings and medallions and marble fireplaces.

In restoring this home, the owners reclaimed architectural elements from other nearby houses and even had a mold of another neighbor’s ceiling medallion made to create a replica for their own home.

During the restoration a few years ago of another home that is on the tour, workers uncovered an original marble floor in the vestibule, which was refurbished along with the home’s original marble mantelpieces.

Victorian details abound in all of the homes, but none of the houses is a museum. Owners have updated their homes for 21st century living, building state-of-the-art kitchens.

One of the features of Hayes Park off Warren Avenue is the sculpture “West Canton Street Child” by Kahlil Gibran, who had lived on that street.

In one home, the dining room, traditionally on the garden level next to the kitchen, was moved upstairs.

In another home, the back end of the lower level was replaced with a wall of windows that give views of a charming garden.

One of the largest homes on the tour features six levels of living space after a nearly three-year-long overhaul that expanded the area by nearly 50 percent. These owners added a garden level and built an addition of copper and glass.

When craftsmen discovered that each tread of the staircase had been inserted directly into the wall, they theorized that shipbuilders probably built it.

Another house on the tour that dazzles was in rough shape six years ago after having been vacant and exposed to the elements. Today the home stands as a “new house within a house.”

Bold, bright colors are the hallmark of the sixth tour house, which was featured in “Old House Interiors” magazine 12 years ago.

“We are particularly excited about this ear’s house tour,” said Hope Shannon, executive director of the historical society.

“Step on Board,” a bronze sculpture commemorating Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad stands in a park on Columbus Avenue, near Pembroke Street and the route of the house tour.

“Whether you are looking for fine historic architectural details, seeking design inspiration or simply wanting to get a glimpse of the view from one of the South End’s best located roof decks, there is something for everyone on this tour,” she said.

She added that this year’s tour is more vertical, encompassing garden, street and parlor levels and more. “There are 28 floors,” she said.

Tour tickets are available in advance for $25 and can be purchased online at www.southendhistoricalsociety.org/programs.htm through PayPal or by calling the society at 617-536-4445.

Real estate offices selling advance tickets include Sprogis & Neale Real Estates at 679 Tremont St.; Hammond Residential Real Estate at 10 Berkeley St.; Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty at 556 Tremont St.; Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage at 633 Tremont St.; Keller Williams Realty, 476 Columbus Ave., and Rondeau-Tierney Real Estate at 69 Appleton St.

Street & Company at 78 Charles St. on Beacon Hill will have advance tickets as well.

Rondeau-Tierney also will have day-of tickets for sale for $30, as will the Boston Center for the Arts at 539 Tremont St., where the tour will begin.

These tickets are payable by cash or check.

The charming Union Park was designed circa 1851 to attract residential development.

Ticket holders will receive a keepsake booklet that offers descriptions of the homes and highlights of the neighborhood as well as a map. Visitors should anticipate removing their shoes when they enter the homes.

The historical society is a non-profit membership organization, and it uses the tour proceeds to support ongoing efforts to preserve the architecture of the South End and conduct research about the largest Victorian landmark district in the country.

This event is the organization’s biggest fundraiser of the year, Shannon said.

The historical society was founded in 1966 to preserve the “unique architectural fabric of this urban neighborhood,” which had been slated for renewal in the late 1950s, just as the West End had been.

The Union United Methodist Church on Columbus Avenue is among several churches on the route of the tour.

By 1972 the society members succeeded in placing the South End on the National Register of Historic Places. Eleven years later the South End was designated as a Boston Landmark District, providing added protection.