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Calcasieu Historical Preservation Society

36th Annual Palm Sunday Tour of Homes

Five houses rescued from the very edge of demolition will be the featured homes in this year’s Palm Sunday Tour of Homes on April 17, from 1 pm to 5 pm, in the Charpentier Historic District in central Lake Charles.  

Dubbed “the phoenix house tour” by Toni Yoder, tour chairman, this year’s tour will focus on houses that escaped fire, neglect, relocation, vandalism, or near outright destruction.   These houses were brought back by individuals who saw potential in these “Cinderellas,” and that knew they could be turned around to become family homes that meet modern needs.

While the houses are at various stages of redevelopment and redesign, tour goers will see a variety of solutions to reclaiming and re-using existing architecture, replacing and sourcing out new materials and products, and reclaiming spaces and rooms.

On tour are five distinctly different houses.   

At 401 Pine Street (at Bilbo Street), a high style Queen Anne-style house that has a long and distinguished history, having been constructed in 1893 for pioneer lumberman.

There are two houses in the 500 block of Ford between Pine and Mill.  The first is a charming vernacular cottage at 518 Ford.  The second is a storybook-Victorian cottage at 522 Ford that was featured, while in renovation, at a pre-Rita Palm Sunday Tour.  

The house with the two-story paired Lake Charles columns at 916 Broad Street was probably constructed by and to feature products from one of the several working lumber mills once located around turn-of-the-century Lake Charles.

The Khoury House, recently and dramatically moved from Lakeshore Drive, is now located at 1019 Pujo Street, and is being freshly renovated by Rhino Renovators.  This will mark its debut viewing.

Tickets are available pre-tour at Gordon’s Drugs and at Curiosity Antiques (at Pujo and Kirkman streets).  Tickets are also available at each of the properties on the day of the tour.