Olympia’s holiday tour of historic homes returns after pandemic hiatus

The Olympia Historical Society’s Holiday Tour of Historic Homes, once an annual tradition, is back after a five-year pandemic pause.

“Our Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum members, docents and friends have repeatedly and increasingly been asking us, ‘When are you going to bring back the home tours?’ ” said Greg Griffith, one of the society’s trustees. “We sensed that most prospective homeowners are past fears of opening their homes to the public.”

The tour, which offers glimpses into festively decorated and historically significant homes, this year spotlights the South Capitol Neighborhood, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Bigelow House, in northeast Olympia, is a perennial part of the tour, too, and will serve refreshments and feature music by pianist Jean Johanssen-Kuehn.

The South Capitol Neighborhood, one of the largest historic districts in the state, showcases a broad range of late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural styles and building traditions. One of the tour’s featured homes, the Baude-Meyer House, is a small but distinctive Tudor Revival at 215 19th Ave. SW, Olympia.

Custom-designed for longtime Olympia barber Max C. Baude and his wife, Mary Baude, the house resembles an English country home — a choice that was perhaps inspired by Mary Baude’s youth in Yorkshire, England, and her interest in history. She was a lifetime member and an officer of the State Capital Historical Association.

The house’s most distinctive feature is a semi-octagonal tower that encloses a dramatic winding staircase. The first floor of the house, the part that will be open for the tour, has numerous multi-paned windows that let in lots of natural light. It’s a small house, with three bedrooms upstairs and a multipurpose room in the basement, but it’s both striking and inviting.

Andy and Karen Meyer, who’ve owned the home since 2017, were charmed when they first saw it, though they chuckle at the fact that, at the time, it was painted eggplant purple. (It’s now a tasteful gray.)

“The house was very different when we looked at it,” Karen Meyer said. “The people we bought it from had more of a farmhouse aesthetic. It was dark and had big oversized leather furniture, but we could see and feel the history of the home.

“It was built the same year as the house I grew up in, in Southern California,” she said. “The coved ceilings and stucco finishes were a real attraction to me, and the built-ins and the fireplace.”

The Meyers had to have main-floor windows repaired and upstairs windows replaced with historically accurate replicas.

“We were doing a number of updates and repairs,” Andy Meyer said. “We applied for the city’s historic preservation tax credit, and in order to do that, you have to certify that you are going to keep everything original, and repairs to the outside need to approved by the city’s historic preservation commission.”

The Meyers moved to Olympia from Port Angeles, where they’d raised their children. Andy Meyer had been commuting to a job at the Association of Washington Cities, and Karen Meyer had taken a job in Tacoma. When they decided to move to Olympia, the couple knew they wanted to live in South Capitol and to be in a historic home.

“This was the neighborhood we wanted to be in, and it’s turned out to be great,” Andy said. “We’ve formed a lot of friendships in the neighborhood, and that’s been a nice addition to our lives.”

It was one of those friends — architect Craig Swalling, who’s long been involved with historic preservation — who got the Meyers involved with the holiday home tour. “He said, ‘We’d really like to include your house this year,’ and we just decided to go for it,” Andy said.

Holiday Tour of Historic Homes

What: The tour, back for the first time since the pandemic, spotlights Olympia’s architecture and history and raises money for the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. This year’s tour focuses on the South Capitol Neighborhood.

When: Noon-4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8

Where: Six historic Olympia homes plus the Bigelow House Museum, 918 Glass Ave. NE

Tickets: $35, available Sunday at the Bigelow House and the Coach House, 211 21st Ave. SW, Olympia; and in advance at http://olympiahistory.org; Childhood’s End Gallery, 222 Fourth Ave. W., Olympia; Drees, 524 Washington St. SE, Olympia; and Thompson’s Furniture, 5407 Capitol Blvd. SW, Tumwater

More information: http://olympiahistory.org

THE HOMES

Private homes featured on the tour:

• Overton House, 2217 Columbia St. SW, a 1932 Colonial Revival.
• Christensen House, 2020 Water St. SW, a 1921 home inspired by medieval thatched-roof homes.
• Baude-Meyer House, 215 19th Ave. SW, a 1926 Tudor Revival.
• Tamblin-Meyer House, 218 18th Ave SW, a 1924 ready-cut home, one of 500 or so of the kit homes made and marketed by the Anderson Brothers, who owned the Tumwater Lumber Mill.
• George and Addie Talcott House, 2003 Capitol Way S., another 1924 ready-cut home.