This weekend: Inside Downtown Tour in Rochester, New York

The e-letter from the Landmark Society of Western New York calls our attention to their upcoming annual Inside Downtown Living House Tour, which this year features places in the East End, on East Avenue and Alexander Street.

It reminds me that back when I first started out in this stuff c. 2000, I came across a similar program in Lexington, Kentucky.

I thought it was a great idea, as a way to build interest both for improving a revitalizing neighborhood and introducing yourself to new audiences.

I remember suggesting that DC do this, to the then "long term commercial revitalization coordinator" for the city. I even suggested model rooms could be outfitted by local furniture and housewares stores. While the city didn't move the idea forward, a couple years later they did do a one-off "City Living Expo" to promote living in the city, back when that was still a novel concept.



Cities like Baltimore have created resident recruitment efforts, such as Live Baltimore, which is a national best practice.

This Washington City Paper article, "Honey, I Shrunk the District," from 2006 is very critical of the city's resident recruitment efforts, which were expensive, and took time to show results.  But starting around then, the recruitment efforts paid off (or maybe they didn't, and the growth would have happened anyway, as residential choice trends began favoring center cities) and today the city has a population greater than 700,000, more than 120,000 people compared to 2000.

-- "10 Tips for Organizing a Community Tour," National Trust for Historic Preservation
-- "Organizing a Garden Tour," Garden Tours New England
-- "House Tour Raises Big Cash," PTO Today

They can also be fundraising events, help build community pride and relationships, etc.

It's fun to volunteer to be a docent. I've done it for the Capitol Hill and Takoma house tours.

And in organizing such tours, I recommend including stops at civic and commercial assets such as a local library, church, and businesses.

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Sadly, in the downsizing of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, for the most part they junked their publishing program, which included a wide variety of shorter "manuals" on various topics including "Historic Homes Tours: Showcasing Your Community’s Heritage." It's out-of-print and not available as a pdf download.