Castle-like home overlooking Potomac in River Oaks. Photo by Laura Sheridan
Ticket sales for the McLean Woman’s Club annual Holiday Homes Tour are planned to start at three local businesses in early October and continue until Dec. 6, the day of the tour. The tickets will be for sale at Mesmeralda’s Gifts of McLean (1339 Chain Bridge Road, McLean), Karin’s Florist (527 Maple Ave., E., Vienna) and Great Dogs of Great Falls (9859 Georgetown Pike). Tickets will also be available on Dec. 6 at the tour houses and at a separate Woman’s Club “Marketplace.” Tickets before the day of the tour will cost $25, and tickets bought on Dec. 6 will cost $30. All proceeds of the Homes Tour and Marketplace will be donated to local charities and nonprofits, as well as used for scholarships and education.
The self-guided Homes Tour, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. will take place in the secluded enclave of River Oaks in northwest McLean, between the Beltway and the Potomac. (River Oaks can be reached by taking Balls Hill Road north across Georgetown Pike and past Benjamin Street, turning left to cross a Beltway bridge and then turning right onto Live Oak Drive.) The tour will focus on four large houses of varying design that have been decorated for the holidays by Woman’s Club members together with the owners. One home is a castle-like mansion backing to the Potomac, two others are large, conservative brick houses (one a manor house and the other somewhat more modern) and the fourth is a traditional brick home with a French Provincial façade.
In addition to the Homes Tour, the Woman’s Club is sponsoring a Marketplace in central McLean (at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1205 Dolley Madison Blvd.) on the same day and during the same hours as the tour. No admission will be charged. It will have over a dozen vendors from local businesses, a lunch and dessert concession and a silent auction of merchandise and services. It will also sell tickets for the tour.
For more information, contact Virginia Sandahl, 703-356-9646, or Laura Sheridan, 703-556-0197.