Short Walk, Plenty To See

Garden Week Tour Returns To Lexington

The Virginia Garden Club’s Historic Garden Week tour returns to Lexington this Saturday, and this time visitors won’t have far to walk.

All five of the historic homes are located near each other on Lee Avenue and South Jefferson Street.

The homes reflect a variety of exterior and interior architectural details dating from 1824 to the present and include recent renovations that creatively blend old and new in simple, innovative, and classic ways.

The tour, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is hosted by the Blue Ridge Garden Club whose members and community volunteers will be on hand to provide information about the history, art, furnishings, and other notable features of each home.

There will also be special activities by Bartlett Tree Experts and the Rockbridge Area Master Gardeners, and light refreshments will be served.

The five featured homes and gardens include:

107 Lee Avenue

The homes on the west side of Lee Avenue have been described as stately. This property is surrounded by a sweeping lawn leading to the historic circa 1824 home. Built for prominent Lexington lawyer Charles Dorman, the house changed hands in 1853, when it was purchased for the first residential rector of Lexington’s Grace Episcopal Church, the Rev. William Nelson Pendleton, and his family. The Old Rectory continued in this status until it became a private residence in 2000.

Architecturally, the house is more Federal in style than its Classical neighbors. The entrance is a one-story, Doric-columned porch and entryway with an elliptical fanlight and decorated sidelights. Antiques, woodwork from the different periods, and fireplaces are throughout the house. In the dining room is a Varner and Pole cabinet purchased in 1870 by the Pendleton family. Each room has paintings, many by local artists and the owner’s brother, Russ Cox, of Portland, Maine.

The gardens have been developed over the years by the present owners. The lot is one of the larger ones in downtown Lexington and is frequently used for entertaining. The backyard has a vegetable garden and multiple beds of flowers with a wide variety of blooming plants each spring.

114 Lee Avenue

After the present owners purchased this 1924 brick, Federal-style house in 2020, an architect was consulted to expand its footprint, and a two-story addition was designed.

On the main floor, the former dining room became an office, and a new dining room was located to overlook the rear garden and lawn. The kitchen was enlarged and opened onto a spacious, covered back porch, which is perfect for entertaining.

When the construction was completed, the interior decorating began. The foundations of the living room’s design are chinoiserie wallpaper, contemporary art, and traditional furniture.

Pocket gardens surround the house. To the north is a porch, which is original to the house, with steps leading to a shade garden with oakleaf and climbing hydrangeas and a walkway made of iconic Lexington bricks. The southern garden includes a stone wall, perfect for heattolerant plants. Along the eastern fence line is a newly designed, perennial flower bed framed by hydrangea trees with holly, spring flowers, and native rudbeckia as the focal point in the summer.

116 Lee Avenue

Designed in 1890 and completed in 1891, The Keep is a fine example of the Victorian Queen Anne-style of architecture that is simpler and less embellished than its nearby sister houses.

Noted Lexington architect William George McDowell incorporated many signature features of the style in his design, notably a three-story tower with rounded glass windows and conical slate roof, a welcoming front porch, and fish scale-patterned wood shingles. Henry Alexander White, who taught history at Washington and Lee University from 1889 to 1902, commissioned the home’s construction. Valerie and the late John William Thomas purchased the property in 2017 from the VMI Foundation.

Extensive renovations include a basement-to-secondfloor elevator. The Thomases modernized the living space to meet current standards, integrating universal design elements while preserving the home’s original elegance and charm, including its high ceilings, fireplaces, and pocket doors. Sleeping porches were reconfigured into the firstand second-floor flow.

The landscape and garden design incorporate perennial beds, edibles, trees, and plantings chosen to add beauty and privacy, an outdoor entertainment space, and a bit of whimsy. A stone patio connects the main house to the new garage, complete with an overhang, sliding barn doors, and solar panels.

305 South Jefferson Street This circa 1905 home was reimagined when the present owners purchased the property in 2020.

A two-year renovation preserved the original footprint but added a new foundation and floor plan. The goal was a modern, sustainable, energyefficient residence.

The owners, who lived in Mexico for 12 years, had many pieces of furniture custom-made in San Miguel, and the decoratively painted ceramics were made to order in Dolores Hidalgo.

The main bedroom was built on the site of a former patio and looks out to a cutting garden, which provides fresh flowers for the house. The owners restored many areas of the gardens and added shrubs and plants to create a blooming oasis on the threequarter- acre lot. A newly designed pathway flanked by mature boxwood leads to garden rooms, including a lily pond with goldfish and a meditation area with seating to enjoy quiet moments during the day.

Across the lawn is a casita or little cottage with a patio where refreshments will be served.

309 South Jefferson Street Often described as a Jeffersonian- style home, this house stands out among the Victorian- era homes surrounding it. The house has Greek Revival origins and has also been called a Palladian cottage due to its square plan and symmetry. It is known as the White-Davidson-Badgett House, reflecting its past owners.

Built in 1854 for William White, the owner of a hardware store, the house remained in the White family until 1906. Virginia Military Institute professor William Badgett and his family purchased the home in 1963. The present owner, ready to return to the East Coast after living in California, searched in Maryland and Virginia for a historic house in a historic town and purchased the property from the Badgett family’s estate in 2020.

Over the past four years, the house has been extensively renovated and restored; it is a showplace displaying the owner’s antique furniture, Oriental carpets, and vintage prints. The architectural details of the intricately carved mantels and woodwork are highlighted by the customcolored wall paint in each room. This past year, the gardens have been the focus, with beds of perennial and annual flowers surrounding the house.