"Storytelling" read the headline in the Saturday, May 2, 2015 edition of the El Paso Times. The 1st Annual Old El Paso Historic Home Tour would be held on the following Sunday afternoon.
As I joined in the walking tour, I picked up pamphlets and information sheets about seven historic buildings near downtown El Paso, my home town.. These were the official stories from the tour organizers, the El Paso Preservation Alliance. But the more intimate stories were those that I caught snatches of from fellow tour participants, chatting about family memories of life in El Paso a century ago.
The first stop on the tour was the building that is now the International Museum of Art. It was designed by an architect responsible for many unique buildings in the Southwest, Henry C. Trost. This classic building greeted me with a touch of elegance as I purchased my tour ticket and printed guide.
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| International Museum of Art, 1211 Montana Ave. |
Just about a block down the street was another building in the Classical Revival Style. It now houses a very attractive studio.
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| Lara and Company Creative, 1317 Montana Ave. |
Next door was a tour home of a different style, the American Foursquare. I was intrigued by the front gate and fence.
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| 1318 Montana |
My favorite architectural style came next, Spanish Mediterranean. This building has always been a working photography studio.
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| Achilles Studio, 1330 Montana |
A charming Victorian house, meticulously restored, was the last stop on Montana Avenue. It is now an attorney's office.
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| 1420 Montana Avenue |
Just a few streets over on Rio Grand Avenue, I toured a well preserved house of mixed styles that could boast of several colorful El Paso residents as past owners.
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| 801 E. Rio Grand Avenue |
The last stop on my tour was a short drive to Kansas Street to view a house with a Prairie-Style exterior and an Arts and Crafts interior. It is now the law office of Terry Hammond.
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| 1401 N. Kansas Street. |
What an entertaining way to spend a quiet, sunny El Paso afternoon, thinking about the richness of El Paso's history and the value of preserving and restoring items from the past. I celebrated the day's experiences with a pears and cream gelato from Gufo de Milano.
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| My favorite gelato flavor |
And I suppose I wanted to do my small part to preserve the past. Inspired by the tour, I engaged a piano tuner this week to work on our over sixty year old Wurlitzer piano which was my childhood piano. The past washes over me every time I sit down to play it.
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