Home and garden tour spotlights Harcourt Manor

Harcourt Manor will be one of eight tour stops this year.

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The 41st annual Heights Heritage Home and Garden Tour, presented by Heights Community Congress (HCC), will be held this year on Sunday, Sept. 16, from noon to 6 p.m. The theme, Our FAIR City, honors the fact that this year, 2018, marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark Fair Housing Act of 1968.

The tour will be special in another way, in that Harcourt Manor will be the featured home. This is the estate that many see driving up Cedar Glen Parkway, or riding bikes in the neighborhood, and many have watched the progression of the painstaking renovation of this magnificent house, and the spectacular landscaping that has evolved. The first floor of the home will be open, as well as its awe-inspiring grounds. The very generous owners are eager to share their new home with the community.

Other houses and gardens on this year’s tour are:

• A stately, red-brick Colonial in the Ambler Heights Historic District, with lovely architectural features, that has been thoroughly renovated and brought back to life.
• A quintessential Tudor home, with touches of India and Europe.
• A small, cozy home that has retained its 1930s’ character, with an impressive garden curving around the large backyard.
• A traditional red-brick Georgian, with a stunning and colorful contemporary interior, along with its lovely garden filled with garden art.
• A comfortable mid-century home, in the friendly and charming Noble neighborhood.
• Two newly renovated apartments in The Alcazar—identical in layout, but uniquely decorated.
• The formal, courtyard garden of The Alcazar—an urban oasis, surrounded by this historic building.
• A permaculture garden, originally based on a “gardens not lawns” concept.
  
  

From 2 to 4 p.m., tourgoers will be welcomed for refreshments at The Alcazar, a Cleveland Heights Historic Landmark with gorgeous Spanish/Moorish tilework defining its stunning atrium. There, guests will be free to see the first floor, along with the formal gardens not visible from the outside.

Tickets for the Sept. 16 tour ($25 each if purchased after Labor Day; $20 if purchased before the holiday) can be purchased online at www.heightscongress.org, or at one of the businesses listed on the website.

The night before the tour, on Saturday evening, Sept. 15, patrons are invited to a Preview Party Gala, to be held at Harcourt Manor, where guests will be free to roam all four floors of the home, and explore its spectacular grounds. Guests will partake of delicious food, live music provided by a local jazz ensemble, and a talk by featured keynote speaker Sarah A. Leavitt, curator of the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. (The entire evening will be spent here, in lieu of the traditional trolley tour of past preview parties.)

Several levels of sponsorship are offered for the preview party. For additional information, and group rates, visit the HCC website, www.heightscongress.org; e-mail info@heightscongress; or call the office at 216-321-6775.