Central Gardens Home & Garden Tour

I got a chance to chat with Leigh Martin earlier today.  She's a colleague of mine and she also serves on the Central Gardens Home & Garden Tour Committee as the head of advertising and sponsorships.  She was gracious enough to give me the scoop on this marvelous annual event and even slip me one of the hot-off-the-presses-and-not-yet-released-to-the-public tour books.  First, the basics:

• Tickets are $12 in advance at various Midtown business locations.  Remember, all proceeds go toward the preservation of the Central Gardens neighborhood, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
• You may also buy tickets online for $15 and pick 'em up at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception after 12:30 on the day of the event.
• If you're prone to decide to do these sorts of things day-of, you can always buy your $15 tickets at any of the homes on the tour or the Cathedral.
• Sunday's weather is supposed to be nice and all the homes are within walking distance of one another.  Nonetheless, if you'd rather be chauffeured around, there will be a bus to take you to each destination along the route.

And then there are the homes!  There are seven marvelous buildings on the tour and I can't wait to see each and every one.  Here are some of the things I'm most excited about:

• 1695 Central Avenue, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception - okay, technically not a home (unless you count it as God's House), but I'm really excited to take a look around.  I went to a wedding here once years ago and it was absolutely gorgeous.  They've since gone through a renovation and I'm eager to see how in the world they could improve on perfection.



Like the Baptist preachers used to say: if that doesn't light your fire, your wood's wet!

• 1592 Central Avenue - great Spanish-Colonial Revival style with stucco walls and red tile roof.  But the best part is the pop culture/music link: famed Memphis-born, Mississippi-raised photographer Bill Eggleston lived in this house from 1965 to 1978.  His was the first solo color photography exhibit to hang in MOMA in NYC and that exhibit featured pictures taken in this house.  He also shot album covers for Memphis' own Big Star, and then the band's frontman when he went solo, the late Alex Chilton.  Cool, huh?



Famous stuff happened right here!

• 1554 Peabody Avenue - Ohhhh, I've been wanting to see this house for a while!  Dubbed "Hillcrest", it's this gorgeous limestone behemoth at the corner of Willett and Peabody.  Interesting tidbit: one of the architects went on to design Graceland.



Makes me think a bit of the Pink Palace or the Greenstone on Poplar...

• 1749 Harbert - If only to see what's behind that incredible wall with the yellow-painted address!  I've never seen what's beyond the wall, but the house was built in 1967 so I'm imagining a sort of mid-century modern structure.  The Memphis chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has an annual award named in honor of the architect who designed this house for his family, Francis P. Gassner.  I'm hoping this one is filled with furniture from Design Within Reach (like the Eames lounge and ottoman I covet so badly that is, ironically, out of my reach).

What glorious wonders are beyond that wall?!?

Oh, and though it's not a part of the actual community tour, while you're piddling around in Central Gardens on Sunday, you should totally stop by and see me!  I'll be holding 215 Kimbrough, another Central Gardens masterpiece, open from 1 to 4:30 that afternoon and I sure would love the company!  I won't even charge admission.

Gorgeous, no?

By the way, the Central Gardens Tour is a sanctioned Memphis Architecture Month event.  Be sure and check out some of the other great goings-on in my previous post or check out AIA Memphis' official event site.