Historic Homes Walking Tour

Good morning everyone! I hope y'all had great weekends. I don't know what it's like in your neck of the woods, but we've had some pretty amazing weather over the past week. So one day last week, I decided to take my camera out on a late afternoon walk with Jackson and snap some photos of some of the gorgeous historic homes not too far from us. I'm calling it my self-guided historic homes walking tour, and I want to share a bit of it with y'all today!

Remember when I talked about my favorite exterior styles way back the beginning of the "Defining My Style" series? I showed a lot of photos of Cape Cod style shingled houses with a coastal vibe in that post, and I love those, but I've gotta say, I've got a soft spot in my heart for historic homes as well. We're fortunate to be pretty close to a neighborhood that's packed with turn-of-the century (the 20th century, that is) homes that are full of charm and character. Whether it's Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Edwardian or Victorian styles, they're all amazing in my book. They're all so different, which is one of the things I like most about them. No cookie cutter homes here :).

Onto the photos (and some color commentary along the way)!

One of my favorite aspects of these historic homes is the detail and thought that went into the architectural elements. I mean, just look at that front porches in these photos! The millwork on these railings and columns is unbelievable. You just don't see that happening much in new builds these days unless they're high-end, custom homes. It can be very simple like the black, white and gray row house back a few photos up, or complex like the home below. Serious talent, folks.

And it's not only the wood elements that are gorgeous. Take a look at those iron railings on the balcony below. They're just lovely.

Then there are elements like these metal stars (below) I noticed on many of these homes. They certainly look cool, but I figured they had to have some kind of "real" purpose as well. I threw a few keywords into Google and found out that they're called masonry stars - basically giant washers that connect to a long metal rod that go into the brick wall of a building to hold it up or strengthen it. Comforting, huh? Well at least they look pretty :). If you want to read more about them, I found a nice little Q&A about them on the New York Times you can check out.

Continuing on...I just loved these gas lampposts. They definitely make a statement flanking the entrance to (yet another) beautiful old home.

I know that it can be hard to tell scale in a photo sometimes, but just trust me on the fact that the hanging lantern in this next photo was ENORMOUS. It had to be four feet tall. A builder is currently in the process of renovating this building and turning it into condos (which I can't wait to see!). I'm glad that they're keeping the lantern and the original architectural elements on the exterior.

There are also some really unusual and unique doors on these homes. Take a look at this one. With cool doors like this out there, I totally get why those "Doors of (city name)" posters exist - ha!

Finally, to wrap up this little tour de casas historicas, I leave you with some colorful exteriors. Row houses provide a great excuse to use some bright paint since they're all attached. You've gotta find some way to distinguish them!

I hope you enjoyed "walking" some DC streets with me today. Do y'all love these homes as much as I do?

P.S. If you haven't had a chance to fill out my 2013 reader survey yet, I'd love it if you would!