Do you drive by the historic homes in the South Capitol Neighborhood, imagining what the inside looks like? On December 8, 2024, you don’t have to imagine, as five homes in the neighborhood, as well as the Bigelow House, will open their doors for you to tour them in their holiday finest. Tickets are on sale now for the Holiday Historic Home Tour!
“The event is about historic houses and architectural features,” shares David Goularte, Holiday Historic Home Tour chair. “It’s also about how houses can be renovated to reflect today’s lifestyles yet preserve the character of the past.”
Join the First Holiday Historic Home Tour Since 2019
Everyone at the Olympia Historical Society is thrilled to have the Holiday Historic Home Tour back since COVID. The tour allows people to see historical residential architecture up close – not to mention incredible holiday decorations. The Bigelow House will be hosting the open house for the tour, which includes special holiday decorations and live music. Proceeds of the tour help the Olympia Historical Society preserve the Bigelow House and other programming the Society does throughout the year.
Tours are self-guided. “All five houses within walking distance from each other,” shares David. “The ticket has photos of the houses and a map where they are located. You do not have to follow any order, though the houses are numbered in the ticket.”
While you can do the tour in any order, David recommends saving the Bigelow House for last because there will be refreshments. “There will be someone playing the piano that came around the horn in 1871,” he shares. Since the Bigelow House is not in the South Capital Neighborhood, you will need to drive there after touring the homes.
Each homeowner decides how much of their home they open to the public for the tour. “Some houses are first floor only,” David says, “Others are the whole house.”
Tickets are $35 each. The event is recommended for adults and older children. Purchase tickets before the event at:
Drees
524 Washington Street SE
Childhood’s End Gallery
222 4th Avenue W
Thompson’s Furniture
5407 South Capitol Boulevard.
You can also purchase tickets the day of at:
Bigelow House
918 Glass Avenue SE
Coach House
211 21st Avenue SW
Explore the Talcott House on the Holiday Historic Home Tour
One of the five historic homes you will visit on the tour is the Talcott House. Just one of the things that makes this home special is that it is a Tumwater Lumber Mills house. “That was an Olympia company that sold complete house kits,” explains David. “I understand there are about 500 Tumwater Lumber Mills pre-cut houses in Olympia. One other house on the tour is also a Tumwater Lumber Mills house.”
The Talcott family, an early pioneer family, established Talcott Jewelers in downtown Olympia. One of the brothers, George Noyes Talcott married Addie Chambers and moved into this house in 1923.
The current owners, the Shaws, have been in the Talcott home for 14 years. They dreamed of living in the South Capitol Neighborhood, with sidewalks everywhere and beautiful homes. “We used to drive there, park, and walk around,” Karla Shaw shares. “Then one day, they saw ‘their house,’ the one they loved, was up for sale.”
Karla says they spent two hours with the realtor in the house, just looking at everything. “It’s as beautiful inside as it is outside,” she says. “It’s one of those old, well-built homes that holds its character.”
The house has only had four families living in it over the past 100 years. The third family, the Flemings, did some renovation and restoration, Karla shares, and won an Olympia Historic Preservation award. In 2006 a kitchen remodel kept the charm of the early 1900s kitchen while adding modern conveniences like a dishwasher.
So far, the Shaws have kept the exterior paint color the same as it was when they bought it – a color that she was warned would get people stopping to ask the name of it by the third owner. She was not wrong. Karla says people often knock on her door to ask her the name of the color.
The Talcott house was on the Holiday Historic Home Tour back in 2013. It’s one of the houses for 2024, and Karla said both the first and second story will be open to visitors.
“We are the homeowners, but because the house is historic, we really feel like we are the caretakers of it,” Karla shares. “And it’s funny how many people talk to us about our house and say, ‘Oh, you live in my favorite little house,’ or ‘You live in my house.’ People call it their own and so we also refer to it as the People’s House, because people are so drawn to it.”
Get your tickets for the Holiday Historic Home Tour and see the Talcott house, as well as four other lovingly cared for historic homes decked out in their holiday finest.
