House Tour Celebrating Alice Washburn Homes

A Celebration of Washburn Homes is organized and hosted by the Cheshire Historical Society. Funds raised through this annual event are used for the maintenance of our historic properties, the conservation of our collection, and for our educational programming.

Together with generous donations from CHS members and friends, the proceeds of the Tour enables us to continue to preserve and protect our historic properties and to care for our collection of treasures from Cheshire's rich past.

This Washburn Homes Tour provides the rare opportunity for guests to explore five of Cheshire’s unique private residences. Each home was designed and built by Alice Trythall Washburn of Cheshire, who built 80 known homes between 1919 and 1931. These homes are of regional importance as architecture, of national importance as the product of an independent woman entrepreneur and designer. Washburn’s story is compelling. She filed her first building permit before women had the right to vote. Her homes are distinctive as to the style and embellishments. These Colonial Revival houses are generally graced with columns and detailed molding, and have interiors that are spacious and light-filled with lots of large, multipaned windows. Fireplaces have dentil work and carvings. It is no wonder that Washburn was a sought after architect in her day. It is surprising that she ended up bankrupt and living her final days in Cheshire in obscurity. Her death certificate listed her occupation as “housewife,” certainly no indication of the impressive talent and skill this woman possessed and her legacy of the many Washburn homes that are now neighborhood landmarks in Cheshire, Hamden and New Haven.

Pat Vita, Director at the Society and Event Chairperson, explains that “The homes can be visited in any order and at your own pace.” Guides are stationed at each location to provide background information about each home and its interesting design features and history. The tour price includes a Tour Program Booklet, which serves as your admission to each property.

In addition to the five featured homes, visitors are invited to stop at the Hitchcock-Phillips House, the home of the Cheshire Historical Society, for light refreshments and a guided or self-guided tour. The house tour is Sunday, May 21, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by phoning Pat Vita at (203) 272-3963