RAP's Spring Tour of Homes Takes Place April 16th and 17th

The Cheney/Cummer Home, built in 1870. Photo credit: Kirk Chamberlain

RAP's Spring Tour of Homes will be held April 16th and 17th, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside several of Riverside Avondale's most beautiful and interesting residences.  Featured tour stops include the first house built in the “new” Riverside subdivision, the oldest home in Avondale, and a Henry J. Klutho masterpiece recognized as one of the 100 most historically and architecturally significant buildings in Duval County. This year, the tour includes 11 homes, one business and two schools, and the Riverside Trolley will be providing free transportation along the tour route.

Tour Stops 

• The 1909 Beerbower House, a unique Mission Style home built when Avondale was just a place to hunt wild game.
• The Cheney/Cummer House. Enjoy a docent-led tour of the gardens and ground floor of one of the district’s true historical treasures. The home dates to 1870 and was built by one of the original developers of Riverside on the site of today's Cummer Gallery.
• A majestic 1904 Colonial Revival home, now fully restored after a multi-year effort
• A quartet of charming and distinctive bungalows. Riverside has more early-twentieth-century examples of the Bungalow Style than any neighborhood in Florida, a fact we're celebrating this year with a special focus on bungalow architecture during the tour.  Popularized in magazines of the period, and touted for their functional simplicity, bungalows became the house of choice for middle-class homeowners from the early 1900s through the 1930s.
• The Love-McGinnis House, Klutho's Mediterranean Revival masterpiece
• A stately brick Tudor that's gleaming after a fire necessitated a major renovation
• A stylish condominium with wonderful river views
• A cozy and beautifully decorated Tudor Style home 
• A Mediterranean Revival mansion that dates to 1915. This year's Art House, the home will feature works curated by R. Roberts Gallery and refreshments from Bold Bean Coffee and Let Them Eat Cake.

In addition, this year's tour-goers are invited to step inside two of our historic local schools:

• West Riverside Elementary, celebrating 100 years of service this year
• Robert E. Lee Senior High School, a 1926 Renaissance-styled structure that is about to undergo a major interior renovation. Calling all Lee alumni--this will be your last chance to stroll your old hallways before the school is transformed!

Tickets are $15 in advance, and $20 during Home Tour weekend. Children age 12 and under are free. (RAP members receive a $2 discount: send an email to volunteer@riversideavondale.org  with "Home Tour discount" in the subject line to request your discount code.) Early Bird Tickets are available online until April 15th.