The 2007 Belmont-Hillsboro Neighborhood Home Tour is scheduled from 11:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sat., Oct. 6, for one day only. The tour will open the doors of one of the Metro area’s most distinctive communities.

Bordered by two major universities, Belmont and Vanderbilt, and the unique shopping and dining areas of Hillsboro Village, 12th South and the Boulevard, the tree-lined avenues of the Belmont-Hillsboro neighborhood (BHN) offer shelter from the daily grind and a wide range of diversions.

“We hope people will bring their families and friends and make a day of it,” said BHN tour chair Melinda Newpher. “My advice is to start on one side of the neighborhood with coffee and a muffin, collect ideas and enjoy the beautiful homes, then finish up at one of the art galleries and have lunch or dinner on the other side of the neighborhood. There’s no where else you can enjoy so much in one walkable neighborhood.”

Tickets are $10 per person. Advance tickets are available at Helios Artglassworks at 3108 Belmont Boulevard and at Hillsboro Hardware at 2204 21st Avenue South.  The day of the tour tickets may be purchased at Helios Artglassworks and at Belmont Heights Baptist Church at 2110 Belmont Boulevard.

“Like many historic areas of Nashville we have a conservation overlay to help preserve the community's architectural heritage, but we're not stuck in the past," said BHN president and newly elected Metro Council member Keith Durbin. "With so many creative people living here, it's no wonder that we have both lovingly restored older homes and modern new homes all fitting together to create a truly dynamic urban neighborhood..”

Recent work by three of Nashville’s best residential architects are also represented on the tour including a newly built urban loft designed by Manuel Zeitlin, a new modernist cottage by Van Pond of Pond|Wills, and a sensitive renovation and expansion of a historic home by Michael Ward of Allard-Ward Architects.

Homes opening their doors for the tour represent some of the best of the historic and most unique of the new. Below is a list of the featured homes.

1208 Clayton Avenue:  Although it is a contemporary design, dark colors and a small-scale façade help this home to blend in nicely with the traditional homes along this street.  The mixture of materials, the projecting levels, and the varied arrangement of large and small casement windows create visual interest.  Curved parapets and tall accent walls disguise the angles of the roof.

1300 Clayton Avenue:  A contemporary design, this side-gabled home features a prominent front wing with large windows and a brick chimney.  The multi-planed roof has wide overhanging eaves.  A gabled dormer with a large casement window is located on the top story.  Paired columns support the front porch.

1302 Clayton Avenue: This home was built around 1925.  It has a side-gabled roof and features Craftsman details in the front door and sidelights.  The eight-over-one lights, clearly visible in the paired windows on either side of the entryway, are also typical of the Craftsman style.  Although the portico does not feature traditional Craftsman elements, the open base of the pediment helps it to blend in nicely with the remainder of the home.

1802 Primrose Avenue:  This newly built home creatively re-used many of the elements of the 1958 infill duplex which once stood on the site.  Bricks from the original structure were recycled for the foundation and the chimney of the new structure.  The new home features a traditional gabled form which keeps with the surrounding neighborhood architecture; yet the large, multi-light windows and large masonry chimney fronting the street help to distinguish it as a twenty-first century design.

1715 Cedar Lane:  Built around 1912, this home combines Craftsman elements and Tudor Revival characteristics.  Craftsman details are evident in the porch where brick columns support a low-pitched roof with exposed rafter tails.  The home’s roof also features wide, overhanging eaves and exposed rafter tails.  The stucco exterior with decorative half-timbering details in the gables and second-story projections are typical of Tudor Revival.  Bargeboards are found around the gables and the dormers.  Windows in the home are primarily arranged into bands of three or four and include double-hung sash windows and casement windows.  Some windows feature diamond panes.

1706 Cedar Lane:  The hipped roof of this c. 1915 brick bungalow has tiles along the ridge and a decorative ridge crest at each hip and the end of each gable.  Four-over-one windows are arranged in pairs on the front wing and porch and in a band of four in the center.  The window in the gabled dormer has three parts with four lights in each.  The roof also features exposed rafter tails and knee braces below the eaves.  The diamond-shaped windows in the gable of the front wing and the front porch add visual interest to the home.

2218 Belmont Blvd, Loft 102:  As part of a recent addition to 2218 Belmont Blvd, these lofts replaced the 1960s era eight-unit apartment building previously attached to the main house.  Constructed of brick with concrete details, this loft features large corner windows.  A copper shed roof supported by curved knee braces covers the entry.

1805 Linden Avenue:  This stucco home was constructed around 1920.  The hipped roof intersects with gables, flat dormers, and a large chimney.  Hood molding covers the entry.  Skylights supplement the light provided to the home through the large multi-paned windows found along the façade.

1903 Linden Avenue:  This 1920s American Four-Square has a hipped roof with ridge tiles and hip knobs.  Notice how the gabled roof over the front entry uses the same ridge tiles and includes a large ridge cap at the end.  Wide overhanging eaves are found around the home.  One-over-one double-hung sash windows are arranged in pairs on either side of the main entry.  Battered piers support the side porch.

2015 Linden Avenue:  Built around 1920, this side-gabled bungalow features a prominent gabled dormer.  Typical Craftsman-style knee braces are visible on the side gables and dormer.  Additionally, exposed rafter tails are found on the dormer.  Three-over-one windows, along with the multi-lighted door and sidelights, bring light into the home.  Square pillars support the expansive front brick porch.  The mixture of materials provides a variety of textures and colors to the home.