Displaying a house is a relatively simple task; displaying a home, however, is something else. On Sunday, April 29, at the preview for the annual Clifton Homes Tour, participants Cyndy and Dennis Patrick and Peter and Sarah Noonan each received a painting that they immediately recognized as home.
"I’m just so tickled by this," said Cyndy Patrick as she looked at the portrait painted by Lynne Garvey Wark, who is a member of the Clifton Community Woman’s Club. This club sponsors the tour, which they consider to be their biggest fund-raiser of the year.
The Homes Tour preview took place at the Fairfax Station home of Mark and Sharon Gottlieb, who have also opened their house for the tour in years past. The Gottlieb home, which was designed by Mark’s mother Lois, an apprentice of Guggenheim Museum designer Frank Lloyd Wright, had what several members of the Clifton Woman’s Club described as "the wow factor." This factor has become a necessity for homes to be selected for this tour.
"We look for homes that are historic, but that are also different, unique and accessible," said Tour Chair Debby Crosier of how this year’s homes were selected. These four homes belong to the Patricks and the Noonans, as well as Teresa Fannon and Raie Paxson, who were not in attendance at the preview.
Peter and Sarah Noonan credited the tour with pushing them to finish renovations that they had been adding to their home for a while. "Since we’ve moved in we’ve added a master bedroom, bathrooms, a family room, and an extended kitchen," said Sarah Noonan. "This tour is making us finish our upstairs. … We just want somewhere our kids can be comfortable and where we can just live."
The tour will be Wednesday May 16 from 5-8 p.m. and on Thursday, May 17 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are not needed for Wednesday’s events, and tickets for Thursday range from $10 to $25. Along with the tours, the event will include shopping at a variety of boutiques, a silent auction and an art show.
Tickets are currently available online at www.cliftoncwc.org.