It’s the Museum District Mother's Day House & Garden Tour. For 18 years now, this neighborhood near the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Virginia Historical Society has presented its home and garden tour on Sundays in mid-May. It’s become a Mother’s Day tradition.
This year, eight homes and gardens in this district will be open for viewing from 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, May 13. The included houses are at:
3308 Park Ave.
3125 Floyd Ave.
3420 Grove Ave. (in English Village)
3326 Grove Ave.
3201 Grove Ave.
3133 Monument Ave.
3316 Stuart Ave.
3218 Patterson Ave.
One of my favorite aspects of this delightful neighborhood is its rich variety of architectural styles. (I also love how one full block on West Franklin Street still has gas streetlights.) Most of the homes in the neighborhood were built between 1911 and 1930, and many are period revivals. Walk and observe the Tudor, Georgian and Italianate Revival homes, among other styles.
When I first moved to Richmond, I rented a teeny house on North Tilden Street. It’s a part of this charming neighborhood which was then referred to as “West of the Boulevard.” It’s a row house in the Federal style.
The street views and front yards will charm on their own, and the interiors and gardens of the eight homes on the tour will provide rare glimpses behind closed doors.
Click here for information on how to purchase tickets online. Tickets bought in advance are $20, and on Mother’s Day, the day of the event, they’re $25 at St. Benedict’s School at 3100 Grove Ave. Parking is available nearby, as well, at Emmanuel Baptist Church at 3601 Monument Ave. Carytown, don’t forget, is also blocks away.
