by Kim T. Davis
Photo by Craig Davenport courtesy of Historic Garden Week
Catmint and bee
For 91 years, Virginians have celebrated the advent of spring at the Garden Club of Virginia’s annual Historic Garden Week home and garden tour. Offering a glimpse into some of the most remarkable homes and gardens Virginia has to offer, it is the only statewide garden tour in the nation, drawing tourists from across the country. Steeped in the deep history of the Commonwealth, the annual tour kicks off in Old Town on Saturday, April 20 and is not to be missed.
This year’s Old Town tour showcases six historic properties adorned with exquisite floral arrangements designed and executed by blue-ribbon garden club members. Tickets also include admission to six historic public properties in the Alexandria area.
This year’s tour highlights include a stunning home and garden at 410 South Fairfax St. Built in 1870, the home's owners are Lauren and Christopher Bishop, who bought the property in 2016 from Polly Theban whose family purchased it in 1962.
“We were fortunate to know Polly and how much she cherished this home,” Lauren said. “And, when we updated it, we felt an obligation to ensure our restoration would honor the legacy of the home. It was truly a labor of love."
In 2019, the Bishops added a tasteful mudroom, kitchen and family room, in keeping with the character of the home. The living room features its original spacious 12-foot ceilings and original plaster moldings. Substantial front windows are original and restored in 2020. The basement was excavated and converted into a finished space in 2021.The home features elegant furnishings, beautiful abstract art and a charming garden filled with spring flowers.
Across the street is 417 South Fairfax Street, purchased in 1796 by a cooper who crafted wooden containers. The back half of the parcel featured two dwellings that were homes to free Black tenants as early as 1823. Current owners purchased the property in 2022 from the estate of Richard Simmons, president of The Washington Post. Throughout the years, owners added a kitchen, baths, flooring, lighting, slate, stone and brick patios as well as a stone wall. An early 19th-century carriage house is now a pool house. During renovations, beautiful interior brick work and exposed beams were revealed. A large magnolia and a crepe myrtle anchor the patios, where extensive new landscaping provides space for entertaining.
An Irish whiskey distiller built 213 North Fairfax Street in 1815. Current owners, Iris and Ari Karadaghi, acquired the home in 2016, and embarked on a significant renovation and addition, resulting in 6,000 square feet of meticulously restored living space. The historic windows, staircases, stair railings and mantles are of note. An addition overlooks the garden, creating a covered patio with a walled garden and a delightful half-moon fountain.
The residence on 513 Queen Street has existed for 234 years. Records from 1789 describe a one-room, one-story log and frame structure. A garden of outdoor “rooms” features a mature Kwanzan cherry and a majestic Natchez crepe myrtle, creating an intimate patio retreat in the heart of the city.
“Like most of Old Town, our home has an interesting history,” the current owner said. “The owner in 1946 allowed chickens in the house in defiance of a new law banning farm animals from being in yards, resulting in deplorable conditions within the house,” he said. “We loved the gardens, so we bought the garden and took the house." The couple unearthed a milk bottle in the garden, likely a gift left from the adjacent former dairy bottling company.
The lot at 611 Queen Street was purchased in 1803 and sold twice before William Veitch acquired it in 1807 for $250. He built a home between 1808-1810, later adding a two-story addition. In 1815, the property sold for $4,000 to William Vowell, president of the Common Council of Alexandria. In 1824, he shared honors with Mayor John Roberts when the Marquis de LaFayette visited Alexandria. Current owners Dominique and Dorn Wenninger purchased it in 2021, undertaking significant renovations. The home has an eclectic mix of artwork and furnishings from the Wenningers’ travels in Asia, South America and Africa. The garden has been replanted and the patio expanded to create, according to the owners, “a whimsical secret garden with cozy spaces and quirky corners of interest, complete with Mexican stone carvings and an antique bench from Mexico.”
Lee-Fendall House Museum & Garden is a featured property of the tour providing a look at American history through the experiences of those who lived and worked on the property for two centuries. This year, Lee-Fendall will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its opening as a house museum and garden. The newly designed garden for the Museum, which incorporated the bones of the 1850s pleasure garden created by the Cazenoves, was a bicentennial project of the Garden Clubs of Northern Virginia.
The tour also includes six public properties: Carlyle House, built in 1753; River Farm, once home to the Piscataway Native Americans and land acquired by George Washington in 1760, now home to the American Horticultural Society; George Washington’s Mount Vernon, a national treasure and historic landmark dating to 1674; Green Spring Gardens, featuring native plant gardens, a wooded stream valley with ponds, 20 thematic gardens, a historic house and a garden wall designed by acclaimed landscape designer Beatrix Farrand and Gunston Hall, home of George Mason, author of The Virginia Declaration of Rights and a 550-acre National Historic Landmark. The estate houses a Georgian mansion, c.1755, with a historic boxwood garden on the scenic Potomac River.
Tickets are $55 at www.vagardenweek.org and at the Alexandria Visitor Center, 221 King St. on tour day.
