central gardens home tour 2023

Central Gardens tour gives visitors a glimpse inside historic homes

The 47th Annual Central Gardens Home and Garden Tour on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023, featured six historic homes in the neighborhood. (Ziggy Mack/Special to The Daily Memphian)

Six homes, dating back as far as 1906, in the Central Gardens area were part of the tour, spotlighting some of the intricate design and architecture in Memphis. 

Kambui Bomani

Kambui Bomani is the general assignment and breaking news reporter for The Daily Memphian. He is a graduate of Jackson State University’s multimedia journalism program and earned a master’s degree in digital journalism from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School. His work has been published in Pro Football Focus, The Southside Stand, HBCU Legends, FanSided and Wisconsin Sports Heroics.

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Back Live: Central Gardens 46th Annual Home and Garden Tour Returns Sunday, September 11

Region’s best architectural event back live after covid pause.

The Central Gardens Association is thrilled to welcome neighbors and friends from around the region back in person for the 46th Annual Home and Garden Tour on Sunday, September 11 from 1-5pm. Created as a safe and easily walkable event, the tour centers around Belvedere Boulevard, with eight magnificent homes and gardens within close proximity to each other, and anchored on either end by Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and School and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Belvedere will be closed to traffic from Peabody to Central for the event. This year’s tour is designed as a waste-free event with digital tickets and an all-digital tour magazine to allow patrons to control their experience in the order they wish from their phones. Digital tickets will be scanned at the first home and then checked at subsequent locations.

Returning this year is the Hospitality Area, which has become a tour attendee favorite, located at a centralized spot on Belvedere between Glenwood Place and Harbert Avenue, where guests can enjoy beverages, food trucks and live entertainment throughout the day. The Artist Market is back, as well, featuring talented artisans from the Memphis area and will also be located in the Hospitality Area along with other special guests. For touring inside the homes, docents will be available with brief home histories and information at throughout each location.

Tickets will go on sale Monday, August 1. A limited number of advanced tickets will be sold at the discounted price of $20. Price goes to $30 the day of the tour. Tickets will be sold through EventBrite and may be purchased through a docent at any of the homes of the tour. A link to purchase tickets can be found at centralgardens.org/hometour .

This year’s featured properties include the homes and gardens of 267, 619, 655 and 656 S. Belvedere Blvd. and 1654 Harbert Avenue, one block west of Belvedere. Additional gardens along the route and included on a patron’s ticket and in the digital guide include 543 and 644 S. Belvedere Blvd. and 1656 Carr Avenue.

Central Gardens is a National Historic District located in Midtown Memphis, Tenn. Comprised of 83 blocks covering 511 acres, the neighborhood stretches from Union Avenue on the north, Cleveland Street on the west, York Avenue on the South and Rembert Street on the east. More than 1,350 of the residences and churches within these boundaries are listed on the National Historic Register. The neighborhood also boasts certification as a Level 3 Arboretum as certified by the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council. Its vision is to be the premier historic, residential in the Mid-South. 

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47th Annual Central Gardens Association Home & Garden Tour

Category: Event Calendar

Date and Time for this Past Event

• Sunday, Sep 10, 2023    1pm - 5pm

Urban Living at its Best

West Central Neighborhood

Tour Info & ArtsFest

Saturday & sunday, september 7 & 8, 2024 11am-5pm, ticket sales will begin in june, quick links:.

The 2023 tour stops:

Tickets will be $20 at the door. Online ticket sales will begin in June.

Presale tickets are digital. Just bring your QR code (either printed or shown on your phone) to the ticket booth during the tour to receive your paper ticket and brochure.

• Swinney Park tennis courts off W. Jefferson (conveniently located near a ticket booth!)
• Lutheran Hospital lot off Broadway, between Wayne and Washington
• Lutheran Hospital employee lot off Main Street (stay on the west side of the lot near the Main Street bridge)

Paid Parking:

• Electric Works garage on the corner of Broadway and Wilt (free for the first 2 hours)

Free Trolley

Artsfest – free, band lineup, want to get involved.

Sponsor the event – Sponsorships are available for our 2024 event! Your ad will be printed in 2000 full-color brochures. Email [email protected] for more info.

Have your Home or Business on the Tour – Email Kelly at [email protected] if you’d like to be considered for the 2024 event.

Volunteer as a Docent (and get a free ticket!) – Please join our email list to be notified when the volunteer positions are open.  

Our number one goal is the historic preservation of these beautiful homes and the historic character they possess. Because of that, we have a few rules on the types of buildings we will and won’t feature during our event. Only one property per owner entity can be included as a tour stop in any given year. Properties that have improvements that did not seek or follow HPC guidelines will not be eligible for Tour stops. The WCNA Tour Committee and/or Board of Directors will be the final arbiter of these rules, and may reject a stop for any reason.

A special thanks to our key sponsors from the 2023 event:

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Central Gardens: The Tour and the Lessons

Posted by Smart City Memphis | Aug 22, 2022 | Livability , Neighborhoods , Planning and Urban Design | 0

The Central Gardens Annual Home and Garden Tour returns after its COVID hiatus on Sunday, September 11, and there are several reasons to celebrate.

Yes, there is the rich history of the 511-acre district covering 83 blocks and there is the outstanding architecture of its 83 blocks, but there is so much more. 

There is also the inspiration from a neighborhood which organized 55 years ago to protect and preserve its character, its architectural diversity, and how the lessons about the power of place and shared pride become models for other Memphis neighborhoods.

The upcoming tour is the 46 th Annual Home and Garden Tour, the first since 2019 when the pandemic shut down personal interaction.  It will be held from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, September 11. 

The Tour Focus

It is the kind of event that speaks to the essence of Central Gardens: its walkability and how the best view of the neighborhood is as a pedestrian. 

This year’s tour is centered on Belvedere Boulevard between Glenwood Place and Harbert Avenue, according to Shelly Rainwater, Association President in 2020-1.  The tour route is anchored on one end by Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and on the other by Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.  Belvedere Boulevard will be closed from Peabody to Central.

This tour’s featured houses and gardens are at 267, 619, 655, and 656 S. Belvedere Boulevard and 1654 Harbert Avenue and gardens at 543 and 644 S. Belvedere and 1656 Carr Avenue. Docents will be on hand to provide historical information and answer questions.

A tour favorite, the Hospitality Area, will be located at a central point and will feature food trucks, beverages, and entertainment throughout the day.  Also located there will be the popular Artist Market.  There is also the promise of special guests who’ll be coming by.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $30 on the day of the tour.  Tickets can be purchased at centralgardens.org/hometour .  The same site provides interesting thumbnail sketches about each house and garden on the tour.

More Than Just A Tour

Ms. Rainwater said the tour is popular because “people love old houses, the history of them, and how their interiors and landscaping has changed and how people have adapted old houses to modern uses.”

As chair of the landmarks committee of the Central Gardens Neighborhood Association, Ms. Rainwater recognizes that the tour is important also for proving that a neighborhood united behind a shared agenda and motivated by unrelenting advocacy can control its own destiny.

The Association is proud of how it has advised other neighborhoods on how to get organized, to mobilize as advocates, and to have a powerful voice in attracting allies and articulating positions in places like City Hall.    

That’s why the tour is about more than beautiful houses and history.  It is a lesson in neighborhood activism, which holds important lessons for other neighborhoods. 

Looking Ahead

The Association was born in 1967 at a time when Midtown was threatened by population moving eastward and a growing disregard for how important it was to the future of the city itself.

“Many people don’t understand what we’ve done,” said Ms. Rainwater, who has lived in Central Gardens since she was five years old and remembers when things were touch and go.   “In the 1970s, t-shirts said ‘Midtown is alive and well.’ We stood strong as a neighborhood where there were 1,000 square foot bungalows and 10,000 square foot mansions.  My house was a boarding house, and in the 1980s, there were plenty of neglected homes.”

One key lesson learned from the Association is that it never rested on its laurels.  It has always had another goal to pursue. 

It would have been easy to say mission accomplished in 1982 when the neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which comprises 1,540 structures on 511 acres. 

In 1992, the Association began the steps that led to it achieving landmarks designation as a historic conservation district, which gave it the protections in City of Memphis Landmarks Commission.  Ms. Rainwater, chair of the landmarks committee, said that the Association has helped other neighborhood associations get their own landmark designations.

Legal Protections Matter Most

Acting on the mantra to always look to the future, the Association’s landmark committee is working on the next goal: to become a pedestrian overlay district that ensures the neighborhood remains pedestrian-oriented. 

If there is an over-arching message from Central Gardens’ history for other neighborhoods, it is the crucial role of legal protections that comes with historic district guidelines, planning rules, and city ordinances. 

For all of these reasons, the September 11 tour is more than just a pleasant time to walk through a historic Central Gardens neighborhood.  It is also an opportunity to consider how the lessons that have defined it can be applied to other Memphis neighborhoods whose character and personality are equally deserving of preservation and protection.

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Since 2005, this has been Smart City Consulting’s blog with the aim of connecting the dots and providing perspective on issues and policies shaping Memphis.  Editor and primary author is Tom Jones, columnist, author of two books, and consultant on public policy.  Smart City Memphis was called one of the most intriguing blogs in the U.S. by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change; The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal wrote that “Smart City Memphis provides some of the most well-thought-out thinking about Memphis’ past, present, and future you’ll find anywhere,” and the Memphis Flyer said: “This incredibly well-written blog sets out to solves the city’s ills – from the mayor to MATA – with out-of-the-box thinking, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ideas. If you have questions, submissions, or ideas for posts, please email Tom Jones, at [email protected].

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Not a Kew Gardens but, - Central Botanical Garden

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the best place for running and jogging always fresh air and very easy to get here with the moscow... read more

The garden is tucked away in between houses and restaurants; it was a peaceful oasis with lots of... read more

Not a Kew Gardens but,

very nice place, where you can find some unusual for Central Russia species of trees etc.. If you are not botanics nerd, may be you can find better places.

Fourth And Gill Tour Of Homes And Secret Gardens 2023, Part One

Fourth And Gill Tour Of Homes And Secret Gardens 2023, Part Two

  historic fourth and gill tour of homes and secret gardens .

On Sunday, April 30, 2023 , a National Register historic district, Fourth and Gill, will present our Tour of Homes & Secret Gardens from 1:00 - 6:00pm in the afternoon. The 2023 tour will boast seven historic homes, two historic structures and eight open gardens for guests to enjoy. 

The houses in this community represent two distinct period of american architecture. the oldest structures (1880 – 1915) closer to downtown are generally two-story victorian homes characterized by complex roof forms, asymmetrical massing, and scroll-cut decorative, ticket information, now thru april 29th: $20, april 30th (day of): $25  , children 12 & under: free, tri m. these transition in the latter part of that period into more symmetrical homes that freely borrow some classical elements, especially porch columns. later housing (1910 – 1930) is genera lly craftsman, or bungalow style, usually one-story homes characterized by low-slung roofs with exposed rafters and large porches. thank you for supporting our neighborhood , tour “check-in” begins at 12:30pm at: central methodist church,201 e. third avenue, knoxville tn 37917., we will have a list of the ticket purchaser’s name and number of tickets. if ticket(s) are purchased online day of event, please bring receipt. , please do not contact central methodist for information. if you have any questions, please email: [email protected]., although this is a self-guided tour, trolleys will be available to transport guests along tour route., this will be a rain or shine event and refunds will not be given due to inclement weather., we hope you enjoy the tour, and we are looking forward to your visit the historic fourth and gill, tour of homes committee .

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The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500

The White   House Announces Public Tours and Media Preview of the White   House Gardens on Mother’s Day   Weekend

The White House will continue the tradition of welcoming members of the public to tour the White House Gardens and South Grounds. This spring the White House Gardens Tour will take place during Mother’s Day Weekend, with tours available to the public from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM ET on Saturday, May 11 th and Sunday, May 12 th . 

2024 White House Gardens Tour The White House Gardens Tour is free and open to the public; however, a daily timed ticket is required for all attendees, including small children. The National Park Service (NPS) will distribute free, daily timed tickets at a tent stationed outside the White House Visitor Center (1450 Pennsylvania Avenue NW) each tour day (May 11 th and 12 th ) beginning at 8:30 AM ET, while supplies last. The tour entry point for all guests will be located on 15th Street, NW between E Street, NW and Constitution Avenue, NW. Advance reservations are not available. The ADA entrance will be located at 15th Street, NW and Alexander Hamilton Place, NW.

Media Preview The White House will host a media preview of the White House Gardens and South Grounds on Friday, May 10 th at 12:30 PM ET. This media preview will be open to pre-credentialed media. For interested media, please RSVP  HERE  by Thursday, May 9 th  at 3:00 PM ET. 

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