Historic Homes Tour
This year’s tour was perfect in every way--the weather, the
houses and the great crowd. We estimate
nearly 600 people joining us. The houses
we visited were quite a mixed group architecturally and they were located from
Dubsdread all the way to Lake
Adair. We explored the architectural diversity of
the 1920s through the 1940s. We saw how
the traditional and modern existed side by side during the 1920s and early
1930s with the revival styles (Colonial and Mediterranean)
and the concurrent Craftsman style. We
also saw how the modern and traditional movements mixed in the Minimal
Traditional style that was popular as the nation was slowly recovering from the
grip of the Great Depression.
A huge thank you to all the homeowners, volunteers,
realtors, sponsors and donors. We could
not have done it without you. Our
sponsors this year were: Anne Rogers Realty, CCS Restoration, the College Park
Partnership, Historic Shed, ReMax, the Law Office of Eben
Self, Southern Traditions Development, Sutton and Sutton Realty and
Watson Realtors. The City of Orlando helped this year by hanging the banner across Edgewater Drive,
paying for the printing of the full color tour brochures and allowing us to use
the College Park Community Center.
Next year we would love to see you participate in the
tour. Volunteer to help--you could work
just a few hours or more. Offer your
house to be on the tour. Become a
sponsor. And on the day of the tour, go
out and see what College Park
has to offer! Contact Jodi Rubin at
403-928-8620 for more information.
Thank You To Our 2009 Historic Homes Tour Sponsors
Michael Welborn Grant
A portion of the proceeds from each year's tour will be used to fund the Michael Welborn Education Grant. The grant is awarded to a College Park school for a history-related activity.
During the 27 years he lived in Orlando, the late Michael Welborn made major contributions to the community in general and particularly to the cause of historic preservation.
While serving the College Park Neighborhood Association as Historical Committee co-chair and Vice-president he was instrumental in saving the landmark Publix sign at Edgewater Drive and in rescuing the bird frescoes now installed at the College Park Community Center. 
The frescoes, by noted artist Sam Stoltz, were part of Stoltz’s 1930’s work at the Dubsdread Clubhouse. Monitoring the 1990-1991 remodeling of the clubhouse daily, Michael averted the frescoes’ destruction.
Michael also chaired the City’s Historic Preservation Board, served on the boards of the Historical Society of Central Florida and the United Way, and was active in politics. He was an account executive for AT&T.
After Michael’s untimely death in 1999, the College Park Neighborhood Association voted to name a scholarship in his memory. The school grants that CPNA now gives instead of scholarships continue to bear Michael’s name. The grant money is raised during CPNA’s Annual Historic Homes Tour.
Historic Homes Tour Archives
Since 1991 our neighborhood has opened its homes through the Historic Homes Tour. We are making the brochures from all of our past tours available as a way to capture the information we dig up about homes in our neighborhood. Feel free to browse them, perhaps your home was in a previous tour. (They are indexed, so a Search for your address--number and street name only-- may work too.)