The Dorchester House Tour will return this June for a journey through some of the grand homes of the Ashmont/Carruth area with the Dorchester Historical Society gearing up for its annual fundraiser and architectural showcase.
Dating back to the 1970s, the historic homes tour was resurrected last year in the Ashmont Hill area. Now owners will open their doors to houses in the more cohesive Carruth area, featuring a number of 1880s houses with varying levels of modernization and adherence to a classic aesthetic.
“The houses this year are pretty grand for the most part,” said All Saints’ parishioner Jeffrey Gonyeau. “Some of the iconic houses that people will recognize from passing through the neighborhood and wondered about will be on the agenda.”
Visitors will tour 10 homes on Ashmont, Carruth, and Beaumont streets, kicking off at the parish house in the Parish of All Saints’ near Ashmont station.
“We’re also lucky to have featured at least two of the most active architects working in Dorchester at the time,” Gonyeau said, noting that Dorchester native Edwin J Lewis, Jr. and John A. Fox were the creative minds behind a number of the houses on the tour.
Many of the gorgeous, stately homes were spliced into multi-family houses over the years, and the current owners “have done really fine work in respecting the character of the houses,” said Vicki Rugo of the historical society.
“All of them are really excited to be sharing their houses,” she said, “so it’s going to be a wonderful experience for them to share the stories of the houses, the stories of how the owners came to live there, the work they’ve done on them. In almost every case, the homes had significant work done to bring them up to 21st century preferences.”
The tour will take place Sunday, June 11, from noon to 5 p.m. Tickets will be on sale for $35 per person later in April at the historical society website – dorchesterhistoricalsociety.org – and also on site on the day of the tour.
The Dorchester Reporter is the media sponsor for the tour, which benefits the historical society.
