Holiday Home Tour
The Ludlow Historic Society is hosting a holiday walking tour of historic Ludlow homes on December 14th from 4-8pm. This is the first holiday walking tour in 10 years and is your opportunity to explore eight historic homes decorated for the holidays, learn about their history and architecture, and enjoy the small town vibes of Ludlow (shops, restaurants, and taverns will be open). Proceeds will support the renovation of the Ludlow Storehouse.
Ticket and Guest Information
Tickets can be purchased online using the link above or in-person at several local businesses in Ludlow: Beelicious, Ideal Supply, Ludlow Coffee, Reeves, and Taste on Elm.
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Check In Begins at 4pm at the Ludlow Heritage Museum, 49 Elm Street. All guests must check in to receive their program/ticket.
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Parking is available in the city lot at the Museum/Train Viewing Plaza. Street parking near the homes is also an option, as available.
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A tour after party will include refreshments and local authors and will be the Ludlow Community Center, 808 Elm.
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Additional Evening Events and Information:
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Holiday Concert, Wesley United Methodist Church, 319 Oak, 6-7pm​
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2024 Tour Homes and Information
330 Oak Street - Hosts: Tom and Anita France        An Italianate Victorian townhouse of the 1880s, with a later, craftsman-style brick porch, this house has many original details, both outside and in. Unusually, the owners have some of the original Victorian architectural drawings for the house, beautifully executed by a Prussian-born architect named Emil Baude, who studied at German technical academies before immigrating to the United States. His drawings show the house with its first porch, a wooden Victorian composition. The interiors exhibit original stairs, mantlepieces and coal grates. Of the current residents, the husband is a carpenter who engages in woodworking; examples of his handicraft will be displayed.
244 Forest Avenue - Hosts: Gene Paytes and Patrick Snadon        Completed in 1820, this is the oldest surviving building in Ludlow. Called "Elmwood Hall," it is a Federal-period neoclassical villa that was once the center of a 1,000-acre farm that eventually became the town site. Although altered in the later 19th-century, the house still contains much of its original interior detailing. Architectural historian Clay Lancaster called the entry hall (now dining room), with its elaborate plaster and woodwork, "the most beautiful room in Kentucky." The owners have decorated their rooms in different styles and go all-out for Christmas.
253 Forest Avenue - Hosts: Judy and Tim Lantry        A beautifully preserved Victorian townhouse from the 1880s, this residence has been rehabbed by Ludlow natives to have a sensitive and comfortable mixture of new and old design and furnishings. The exterior exhibits beautiful, unpainted brickwork and original details in stone and wood, with a spacious L-shaped porch that addresses the corner site. The interiors feature both restored rooms and newer spaces such as a custom-designed, eat-in kitchen with modern fixtures, lighting, and art. The owners have done much of the rehabilitation work themselves.
529 Elm Street - Hosts: Annie and Matt Venerable        This 19-teens or '20s bungalow house has been rehabbed by its young owners with gardens, porches, decks, and terraces, to enhance its bungalow character of "semi-outdoor living." The gardens feature "legacy plants" like a family-descended Wisteria vine, while the interiors display custom built-ins, open spaces, level changes, and a beautifully crafted modern kitchen. Original features, such as interior woodwork, are found side-by-side with whimsical artwork and quirky antiques. Don't miss the giant pencil that recalls the Ludlow High School just down the block.
236 Elm Street - Host: Scot Dewitz This is an 1880s townhouse in "Latta Row," Ludlow's only Victorian urban row. Built by Luella Latta, daughter of the noted Latta family, this house has a beautifully restored front. Inside, the contractor-owner has created dramatic open interiors with extensive rear additions, and a "rooftop room" with exciting city views. The interior decor combines original features such as mantelpieces with striking modern lighting, and items that recall the house's varied history, such as signage from the "Ludlow Yellow Cab and Bait Shop" that occupied the house in the mid-20th-century.
317 Elm Street - Host: Scot Dewitz        This elegant early 20th-century house in the Colonial Revival style was home to Dr. Frank Dutton Criegler and his wife Grace. It has an interesting porch with tapering concrete columns and other details, that were probably cast in Ludlow. The interiors are beautifully preserved and feature many Colonial-style details, such as columned mantelpieces and a handsome staircase. The current owner, a young building contractor, has designed and erected small modern buildings in the surrounding grounds to create Ludlow's first "AirBNB" complex."
23 Butler Street - Host: Aleta Bergsman        This is one half of a brick Victorian double house in the Italianate style, built in the late 1880s as part of the "Webster Subdivision." Double houses proliferated in Ludlow, especially after the arrival of the railroad, as they could efficiently occupy smaller lots and house two families side-by-side. The exterior is restored, while the current owner, proprietor of a popular Ludlow business establishment, has rehabbed the interiors in a crisp modern style while retaining original features such as mantles and staircase. A custom eat-in kitchen occupies the original dining room and the house features handsome modern bathrooms and lighting.
204 Adela Avenue - Hosts: Patrick and Danica Stricklen        This is a brick townhouse dating from the 1890s, built in the Ludlow family's "Second Partition" or subdivision. It has a late-Victorian vertical composition, combined with Colonial Revival details and deep, handsome, pressed-metal cornices and boxed-in gutters . The owners are part of Ludlow's new "creative class." He is a graphic designer and art historian; she is an interior designer. They have opened the original spaces and have created unique gallery walls of art. They also designed custom patterns and textures for use throughout the house. It is full of bold colors, emphasized by dramatic modern lighting. The attic has become an exciting playroom for the family's children.