Decked-out Dwellings and a One-of-a-kind Shopping Experience, Pasadena’s Popular Holiday Look in Home Tour Returns
Festive floral designs, live music, and an arts and crafts boutique are just some of the flourishes one can anticipate from Pasadena Symphony Association’s 52nd annual installment of the Holiday Look In Home Tour—a benefit for the Pasadena Symphony and POPS concert series—set for 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on Dec. 7 and 8.
“The Women’s Committee of the Pasadena Symphony Association was founded in 1957 as a support group and initiated its first Holiday Look In tour in 1968, with decorations provided by the Pasadena chapter of the American Institute of Decorators,” says chairperson Marsha Willhire.
“In 1970, Pasadena florist Jacob Maarse offered to help with the decorations, a tradition joined since then by other prominent Pasadena florists. In 2018 the Holiday Look In provided $150,000 for support of the Pasadena Symphony, and we’re working hard to make this year’s event better than ever.”
Visitors can expect guided tours of four Pasadena homes and gardens representing different cultural and architectural periods, complete with live music performances, and spaces decorated with new and innovative designs by Drew Domenghini of Patterson’s Topiaries, Pots and Teas, Margit Holakoui Florist, Lisa Cardelli of Ixora Floral Studio and Hank Maarse of Jacob Maarse Floral Design.
Among them: an Arroyo Boulevard Monterey Colonial Revival built by noted architect Roland E. Coate in 1926 for John Edwin Barber that has since been expanded and remodeled with careful attention paid to maintaining and restoring the original structure, and a Spanish Colonial Revival in the historic Oak Knolls neighborhood designed by Johnson, Kaufmann & Coate Architects in 1924 that epitomizes the artful union of location, landscape and architecture.
Also on the lineup is a classic California carriage house designed by Coate in 1922 that has since been remodeled to represent the true California lifestyle, as well as a stylish yet family-friendly classic French Provincial dwelling in the exclusive Prospect Park neighborhood east of the Rose Bowl that was crafted in 1916 by architect and builder G. Lawrence Stimson and recently redone with a mix of French antiques, newer Mid-century pieces and an extensive art collection.
Rounding out this year’s tour is a boutique in the Scottish Rite Cathedral auditorium (150 N. Madison Ave.) featuring seasonal fashion and accessories, gifts and décor, and gourmet foods from L.A.-area vendors.
Tour tickets are $40 in advance and $45 at the event.
Photographs: Courtesy Of Mona Neter
