Come for the beautifully preserved post-Civil War row houses, stay for the grand Mediterranean-style villa where a Washington power couple once held court. The Capitol Hill Restoration Society’s annual House & Garden Tour will be held Saturday and Sunday, May 11-12, Mother’s Day weekend.
Ticket holders will be able to visit a dozen homes and other buildings over the course of two days. The route stretches east from 5th Street SE to 13th Street NE and south from Massachusetts Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital on Pennsylvania Avenue SE will be the tour’s headquarters. There will be architectural tours of the building.
The Hill Center won’t be the only check-in location. You will be able to check in using Eventbrite and start the tour at half a dozen of the homes on the tour. Ticket holders can take their time and visit the houses on either or both days.
Tickets will go on sale through Eventbrite on April 1. The cost is $40 in advance and $50 the weekend of the tour.
Highlights include:
• A newly renovated, nearly 5,000-square-foot stucco villa-style house once owned by Democratic political strategist James Carville and Republican operative Mary Matalin.
• A detached brick home from the 1870s with a double-sized living room with deep plaster moldings and a terraced private side garden.
• A brick Queen Anne row house with spectacular views of the skyline, including the Capitol dome, from its third-floor balcony and an epic dining room mural.
• A 16-foot-wide row house with spaces (including a wide new galley kitchen) so well-planned, a family of five could live there comfortably.
The tour is the year’s biggest annual event for CHRS. It’s the 67th year the organization has offered a Mother’s Day tour of Capitol Hill homes and gardens. CHRS is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote, preserve and enhance the history and character of our neighborhood. CHRS also offers walking tours in the spring and fall and a House Expo in October. CHRS sponsors monthly free Preservation Cafes online and a monthly newsletter that includes zoning and preservation news. Chrs.org
