Holiday House Tour: A Magnet

It's the first weekend in December and that can only mean one thing in this neighborhood: it's time for the Chestnut Hill Community Association's Annual Holiday House Tour. 

A trolley will be on hand Saturday to ferry festive visitors from one section of homes to another, as five enchanting residences are opened up, previously to professional decorators, and then to more than 600 curious registrants from across the region. 

"The housing stock in Chestnut Hill is so interesting.  These are places you've always wanted to see," said Philip LeCalsey, community manager with the Chestnut Hill Community Association (CHCA). 

Built between the 1860s and 2007, the participating homes entice architecturally, independently of their special holiday makeovers, LeCalsey added.

About 22 area florists and merchants are volunteering their expertise, creativity and wares to this fundraiser, which supports the CHCA's operations and philanthropic activities. 

CHCA is nearly sixty years old, founded in the 1950s to enhance the social and economic life of the community. CHCA publishes the Chestnut Hill Local, the neighbohood's weekly newspaper; sponsors community blood drives; hosts concerts; and engages in a variety of other civic programs.

This year, a special attraction is being offered by Woodmere Art Museum, which will have decorated their Founder's Gallery to host a wine and cheese reception for all tour participants, along with providing them free admission to the entire gallery from 2- 6 p.m. (The house tour is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.).

"I don't know what we'll do to top that next year," LeCalsey said.

"We've developed quite a following," said Jane Piotrowski, a graphic designer and vice president of the community association's social division. 

Piotrowski made mention of the house tour regulars who like to purchase arrangements and specialty items at the end of the day.

Piotrowski is one of the "Garden Girls," a design group that has decorated houses for many Holiday House Tours in the past, and who is decorating and showing her own home for the event this year. 

"Mine is a challenge," she noted.  "I love stuff, but I'm learning to simplify. I look at things differently now. I'm changing."

Inside her home, you'll likely see whimsical garden vignettes.  She loves natural materials, particularly rocks, which she collects from all over the world.  Piotrowski's motto is, "If you can't identify it, put it into the arrangement."

Planning for the annual Holiday House Tour begins in late July, when display homes are sought out.

"We pay attention to the way people live," Piotrowski said. "They're not all big houses, reflecting the variety in how people live in Chestnut Hill."

The event draws people from New Jersey to Reading to enjoy the Chestnut Hill community, its shops, restaurants and attractions. A written program will be available to registrants that, among other information, names the merchants and designers who have contributed to the event. 

LeCalsey generally purchases items from these businesses for his own holiday decorating. Asked what he has learned from attending these shows throughout the years, he said, "I experiment more, beyond the traditional approach. It has expanded my design sensibilities." 

Tickets for the tour are $35, or $30 for CHCA members. Groups get a small discount, and all tour participants receive a 10 percent discount in many local restaurants the evening of the tour.