Heights Heritage Home & Garden Tour set for Sept. 22

An International-style home, featuring glass-block walls.

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Late September—the end of summer and beginning of fall—is when gardens have reached peak growth and late blooms glow against background foliage. It’s a good time to savor the end of the season with an afternoon tour sampling the “Dazzling Diversity” of some of the homes and gardens in Cleveland Heights.

Dazzling Diversity is the theme of the 36th Annual Heights Heritage Home & Garden Tour, sponsored by Heights Community Congress (HCC). It is sure to dazzle with spectacular interiors, unusual exteriors, and colorful gardens reflecting the unique variety in the Heights. The self-guided tour of six homes and four gardens is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 22, from noon to 6 p.m., and includes a refreshment stop at the landmark Church of the Savior on Lee Road.

Highlights of this year’s tour stops include:

• A creatively renovated 1890s carriage house, incorporating brick floors, barn doors, a hayloft with skylights and a landscaped courtyard.
• A 1915 home, in the Arts and Crafts style, featuring bay windows, period details and furnishings, and a colorful folk pottery collection.
• A 1915 residence, completely renovated between 2004 and 2008, featuring exquisite custom interior work and balcony views of rear landscaping, with stone terrace, waterfall and koi pond.
• A 1938 International-style home, conceptualized as a “machine for living,” constructed with steel framing, plate glass and glass block for a sleek and modern envelope that glows with light.
• A backyard garden retreat, featuring native perennials, trees and shrubs, a bluestone patio, pond and waterfall. Wind sculpture and painting accent the naturalistic plantings.

The 2013 Home & Garden Tour offers a rare opportunity to visit these Cleveland Heights homes and proceeds benefit HCC. Ticket holders will be provided with a brochure containing a detailed tour map and background information on each location.

Tickets for the tour are $20 in advance or $25 the day of the tour, and can be purchased online at www.heightscongress.org, or at several locations in the Heights. For ticket sales locations, visit the website, or contact HCC at 216-321-6775.

To kick off the tour, HCC is also hosting a preview party for sponsors on Saturday, Sept. 21 at the historic McGregor campus and gardens in the Forest Hills district. Honorary co-chairs Peter van Dijk, architect, and Jane Kessler, owner of Appletree Books, will open the festivities with a champagne toast. Guests will then embark on a sneak peek of tour locations, returning to McGregor for a party with live music, hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction. For information about tickets to the preview party, contact HCC at 216-321-6775.

Heights Community Congress is an advocate of social justice, a monitor of fair housing and a facilitator of community building. Each year HCC sponsors the Heights Heritage Home & Garden Tour as a primary fundraising event showcasing the unique variety of historic homes and gardens within Cleveland Heights. Since 1977, HCC has featured more than 300 Cleveland Heights homes which have attracted visitors from throughout Northeast Ohio.