By Sue Strachan, Mid-City Messenger
For its 45th annual Holiday Home Tour, the Preservation Resource Center is giving tour homeowners and tour-goers a new experience. Because of the concerns of the coronavirus pandemic, the home tour is not only going virtual and forgoing the walking tour, it is including neighborhoods outside of Uptown.
“Our Holiday Home Tour is typically held in the Garden District and Lower Garden District, and the homes are chosen in part so that the route can be walkable,” said PRC Executive Director Danielle Del Sol. “This year, the houses on tour are all over the city!”
In Mid-City, the featured home, an Eastlake Center Hall, is that of Alexa Pulitzer and Seth Levine.
“The opportunity to showcase houses that we may not have been able to feature in a ‘normal’ year was thrilling for us,” said Del Sol, who shares virtual hosting duties with Susan Langenhennig, the PRC’s director of communications and marketing and Preservation in Print editor. The tour was filmed and produced by Calm Dog Productions.
The showcased homes are decorated for the holidays. The Uptown homeowners featured in the tour include political operatives James Carville and Mary Matalin (Raised Colonial Revival); actor Bryan Batt and theater director Tom Cianfichi, the owners of home decor shop Hazelnut (West Indies style cottage); and interior designer Penny Francis, owner of Eclectic Home, and financial planner Todd Francis (Colonial Revival).
The tour also features the French Quarter home of media executive Deb Shriver (Greek Revival Townhome) and the Bywater home of developer Pres Kabacoff and Vodou priestess Sallie Ann Glassman (Camelback style, newly built to be environmentally sensitive.)
“It was thrilling to get a sampling of styles and peek into the lives of homeowners across different neighborhoods,” said Del Sol.
The home owned by Pulitzer and Levine is located near Bayou St. John: the front half of the house dates from 1862, and the kitchen and second floor is from 1905. When Pulitzer and Levine purchased the home, they renovated it, reconfiguring the floor plan, some of it including taking down walls, thereby opening up spaces, particularly in the rear portion of the house, where the kitchen is. The renovations also created a better flow for entertaining; the couple hosts jazz salons, fundraisers and dinner parties with guests mingling inside and outside, where there is a pool and sizable backyard. A former horse stable is now a guest house.
Some of Pulitzer’s favorite art on the walls is by her grandfather, Leonard Flettrich. “I don’t have a lot of belongings, I don’t have a lot of furniture; I have great art,” Pulitzer told a Garden & Gun reporter in 2016. “I used that as the starting point for both the color scheme and the floor plan.” Pulitzer founded her eponymous luxury paper good company in 1995; Levine is an attorney.
The holiday home tour is a continuation of virtual programming that the PRC has been doing since the coronavirus pandemic started. Their virtual workshops and other events are able to attract a wider audience.
“During our spring and summer virtual programming, which included classes and building tours,” said Del Sol, “we had viewers from more than 500 zip codes and 13 countries.
“And already for the Holiday Home Tour, we have sold hundreds of tickets, and only 54 percent of purchasers are from Louisiana. We’ve had people from Canada and France purchase tickets for this year’s tour.”
Because of the positive response, Del Sol expects that there will be a virtual component going forward, even when the walking tour eventually returns.
Ticket sales are still a concern, because the tour is a major benefit for the PRC, a nonprofit founded in 1974 to preserve New Orleans architecture and neighborhoods by providing resources, education and advocacy. Among its programs are the Revival Grants, which help low-income homeowners make important repairs to their homes.
“PRC has suffered financially this year from the loss of event revenue,” said Del Sol, “and it has been hard to look at a budget that suddenly has huge holes. I know PRC is not alone in that, but it’s still hard. We’re hoping this can help.”
Del Sol also noted, “We’re immensely grateful to our tour homeowners because they are providing an amazingly generous gift to the PRC.” And no doubt, a gift to New Orleanians and those around the world who want to peek into the city’s historic homes and support the PRC.
If you go …
The PRC Holiday Home Tour runs Dec. 12 and 13. Ticket holders will receive a link via email to view the Holiday Home Tour Video Series.
Tickets are available here at PRCNO.org. Early bird tickets purchased before midnight on Friday (Nov. 27) are $35; tickets purchased after Nov. 27 are $40.
The 2020 tour, presented by McEnery Residential, is co-chaired by Courtney Lane and Jenny Longwell.
The virtual Holiday Home Patron Party presented by Kathryn and Gordon McLeod on Dec. 11. The ticket price ($250 to $1,000) includes a three-course dinner and wine from Brennan’s (must be ordered by Nov. 30), a virtual Q-and-A with a few of the homeowners and a special swag bag, as well as a listing as a contributor in the PRC’s Preservation in Print magazine.
"center" - Google News
November 26, 2020 at 06:20AM
https://ift.tt/2KIQ9Qj
Mid-City center hall residence featured in this year's virtual PRC Holiday Home Tour - Mid-City Messenger
"center" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3bUHym8
https://ift.tt/2zR6ugj
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Mid-City center hall residence featured in this year's virtual PRC Holiday Home Tour - Mid-City Messenger"
Post a Comment