One of Genva’s most notable homes highlights house tour
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Looking for holiday decorating ideas? Get inspired at Geneva's annual Christmas House Tour Dec. 7 and 8.
Five distinctive homes decorated for the holidays by area businesses will open their doors to visitors for self-guided tours.
Tour highlights
While on the 2012 house tour, don't miss these features:
Arnold family home
Ÿ Lovingly displayed antiques grace the shelves and walls in the kitchen, including a fluted iron from Geneva's Howell & Co. and inherited china.
Bellano family home
Ÿ A stately grandfather clock, passed down through generations, acts as a time marker for counting down the hours. Can you find the "B" in the stained glass window?
Kirtley family home
Ÿ Bright light streams through a crescent foyer window illuminating a grand staircase where, from above, a Santa keeps watch over the white flock tree, adorned with the homeowner's Mercury Glass ornament collection.
McFadden family home
Ÿ As you stroll to the current kitchen, added in 2011, you pass through the "first kitchen" now furnished with a custom wet bar fully prepared for parties this holiday season.
Rittenhouse family home
Ÿ An impressive foyer is lit by a decorative chandelier, original to the home.
These homes range from an 80-year-old Tudor in Geneva's historic district to a modern-day beauty overlooking the rolling hills of the Eagle Brook Country Club golf course.
One of the true gems of the tour is the Rittenhouse family home at 502 S. Fourth St., which was built in 1864 and wears a plaque presented by the Geneva History Center for its significance in the community. Its striking wraparound veranda adds to the grandeur of this Italianate villa.
A belvedere cupola is perched atop the roof. The house was built by Alexander B. Moore, who designed the cupola with 16 panes of glass to resemble a railroad car; a special place he could watch the trains come into the Geneva station, just one block away.
For the tour, the home's interior holiday decorating and landscape designs will be done by decorator Debra Phillips, owner of Scentimental Gardens on West State Street. Each home on the tour will be decorated courtesy of local businesspeople.
Tour hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. House tour tickets are $30.
A traditional tea at the Congregational Church in Geneva and a keepsake decorating and entertaining ideas booklet are also included in the tour price.
For more information, call the Geneva Chamber of Commerce at (630) 232-6060 or visit www.genevachamber.com/christmaswalk.html.
