Sacramento's 48th Annual Historic Home Tour is Sunday, Sept 22

 Showcasing Midtown Sacramento’s Boulevard Park area, Preservation Sacramento is proud to present the 48th Annual Historic Home Tour on Sunday, September 22, 2024. The highly anticipated event takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and includes a lively, fun and free street fair. With a mission to highlight the historically significant architecture, timeless designs, and beautiful décor of some of Sacramento’s most prized historic homes and buildings, the 2024 Historic Home Tour will showcase six historic properties.

While touring the historic homes is the highlight of the annual event, a popular street fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 23rd & F Streets (2211 F Street – former Rite Aid parking lot). The street fair will include vendors and live musical entertainment, and will be the end point for the spirited Sacramento Tweed Ride 2.0, expected between noon-1 p.m.

• Bonnie Fitzpatrick House: This historic home was designed in 1910 by architects James Seadler and Ernest Hoen for retired Nevada rancher Joseph Marzen and his wife Catherine. After operating as a boarding house for 50+ years, the house was restored and returned to single-family usage in the 1980s. In 1904, shortly after he announced his plan to retire from ranching and move to Sacramento, Marzen was described as “one of the most extensive breeders of fine cattle west of the Mississippi River.”
• Huston/Knutson House: Dating from 1906, this two-story “Colonial residence” was designed by architect Alden Campbell for Edward P. Huston, a realtor and manager of an insurance company. Huston and his wife Vena lived in the home for only two years before moving into a new house next door, also by Campbell. The historic property includes a new one-car garage (designed by Eric Knutson, an architect).
• Little House on 22nd: This small, one-story house (approximately 780 sq. ft. in size) is the sole survivor of a row of four identical houses that were built in about 1890 as rentals for tenants that included railroad employees. The house originally had just four rooms arranged in a single file, shotgun style. It is the sole surviving residence of Grant Cross, an African American community organizer and entrepreneur, and a founder of the West End Club.
• Pritchard/Edmonds House: Built in 1909 for William and Lulu Pritchard, this Craftsman-style house has beautiful interior woodwork and windows, some filled with stained glass. With its front porch extending along the south side, extensive brickwork, varied exterior treatment (both shingles and lap siding), and deep eaves, it resembles a Poverty Ridge house from 1908 that may have been built by brick contractor John Haley.
• Renwick/Small Apartments: This fourplex was built in 1922 for Frank Renwick, an employee of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and his wife Laura. The contractor was William R. Saunders, who designed and built several multi-unit residences in Boulevard Park and elsewhere in Midtown. The Renwicks lived in one apartment and rented out the others. Each of these “five room flats” has a living room, dining room (originally fitted with a built-in wall-bed that was concealed inside a closet), kitchen, two bedrooms, and a bathroom.
• Winters House: Built in 1890, this brightly colored, three-story Queen Anne-style house is one of only two buildings in Boulevard Park to have an individual listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The first recorded owner, Herman Winters, was a wealthy grocer turned investor who had emigrated from Germany in 1849. In 1909, Herman’s widow Effie had the house elevated and the ground floor converted into a six-room apartment. Later, owners divided that space into two apartments and a third apartment was created on the second floor by walling off the house’s second parlor and replacing a back bedroom with a kitchen. For the 2024 tour, the main residence on the second floor will be open to the public.