About the Tour

Welcome to the Encanto-Palmcroft Historic Home Tour and Street Fair!

Home Tour Day is a great day to get out of the house and see how other people live -- specifically those in one of the most talked about historic neighborhoods in Arizona.

You will want to park at Phoenix College where you'll will want to buy your tickets and a refreshment. We will then whisk you off to the neighborhood in an old-fashioned trolley while a tour guide gives you a fascinating commentary on the history of the neighborhood.

You'll be dropped off within a short distance of your first house. Your ticket will provide information about each specific house, its history, famous people who may have lived in it, interesting architectural features, and more.

Touring Tips

If you prefer to walk into the neighborhood from an adjacent neighborhood, you may purchase tickets at the corner of Monte Vista and 9th Avenue (map). There you will find live entertainment all day long, dozens of vendors selling everything from arts & crafts to food. To raise money, we'll also be selling commemorative home tour T shirts, cookbooks (compiled by neighbors many years ago), and posters. A bake sale will provide a smorgasbord of delectable items baked by our residents and several wine baskets awarded by raffle.

You can walk from one house to another or take a trolley to within 1/2 block of each house. Although there's not a great deal of walking required, wear your comfy shoes. We will have chairs along the way in case you'd like to just sit and soak in our beautiful weather, festive environment. You may even find yourself fondly reminiscing over "the good ol' days". Along the route, you'll find portable restrooms, refreshments, and a beautiful collection of historic automobiles (Model T, Model A, etc). Of course, you'll also see many additional beautiful homes and gardens throughout your day - and you can even play our game "Can you find this architectural feature" along the way for a prize T-shirt.

The tour runs from 10:00 to 4:00 rain or shine. You'll want to be here by noon if you want to see all the homes and spend some time at the festivities at 9th Ave and Monte Vista (map).

Activities

• Tour the homes
• Listen to music
• Eat yummy food from local restaurants and vendors
• Browse or buy arts and crafts
• Learn about historic Phoenix
• Sit and relax
• Visit with historic car enthusiasts
• Ride in a pedicab
• Buy baked goods
• Win raffles - wine baskets and more
• Get exercise
• Visit with Mayor Phil Gordon and other city officials

Message from the Chairman

by Christa Lawcock

I love our downtown. While we are the fifth largest city in the nation, you would never guess it. Sure, we have a world-class museum nary a mile away; a thriving arts district; a bustling, twice-weekly farmers market filled with organic, locally grown fruits and products. We've got the Starbucks and the mom-and-pops (Hob Knobs rocks!); the chains (Pei Wei) and the family-owned (our much loved Portland's). We even have the light rail (which, by the way, is amazingly quiet and a blast to ride on!).

But that's not why I love our downtown. No, I love our downtown because, in the midst of all of this, I constantly run into people who know people…It may be from the farmer's market, or the morning coffee shop; school or church or a volunteer program; the story is always the same, and the smile—that smile of knowingness, the one where your corners turn up just so—it's in every conversation, every quick, "Hello" and every rushed, "Goodbye."

That's how things are in our downtown. It is not, however, how things are everywhere else.

The Encanto-Palmcroft Historic Home Tour and Street Fair is our chance to share our downtown with others. It gives us an opportunity to remind people of what a small city it is that we really live in. And it helps us share our unique homes, with everything from Spanish Colonial homes from the 1920's to Tudor Revivals from the 30's to the classic Red Brick Ranch of the 50's, and everything in between. We have homes that are impeccably maintained; others that have been painstakingly restored; and still others that are in the process of being restored. There is literally something for everyone, and with the weather outside sure to be a gorgeous day, it'll also be a great opportunity to view the many gardens that fill our neighborhood--in full bloom!

It is also our largest fundraising event, and the monies raised go towards preserving our unique heritage as well as helping local non-profit organizations within our downtown.