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Homes

A tour of homes touches heart

A year later, Erin Parsons and her husband will open their new home to others.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published December 2, 2005

SOUTHEAST SEMINOLE HEIGHTS - Erin Parsons took a spin through this historic, bungalow-rich Tampa neighborhood one year ago while on a holiday home and garden tour.

Not only did she fall in love with the friendly, old-Florida texture of the place, but she took her new-found passion a step further: A few months later, she and her husband, Nathan, bought a "camel-back" 1920s bungalow big enough for a home office, their strapping Rhodesian Ridgeback named Blue and their future family.

All this for two people who until recently shared a 450-square-foot apartment on New York's Upper East Side.

"Not too long ago all we talked about was what was the hottest new restaurant," she jokes. "Now we have discussions about which is actually better: Home Depot or Lowe's."

The 2,100-square-foot yellow house (2,800 if you count the finished attic), with its spacious front and back porches and a view of an old farm house, sits on a quiet corner not far from Nebraska Avenue.

The Parsonses feel as though they've lived there forever.

"Everyone was so real, so accepting, so unpretentious - it just felt like home," recalls Erin, 29, who grew up in Orlando and works in the pharmaceutical industry.

"The vibe was exactly what I wanted. Friendly people who really cared about their houses. I really think it's the only place in Tampa I could have moved to from New York."

Now, a year later, the couple is opening their home for the second annual Southeast Seminole Heights Homes for the Holidays tour on Sunday. The tour, which runs from 1 to 5:30 p.m., includes 10 holiday-themed homes and gardens, a historic church, a tour of WMNF-FM 88.5's new studios, a decorator show house by Lutz designer Jen Winchell, live holiday music and crafts.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased the day of the tour at Seminole Heights Baptist Church at Hillsborough and Nebraska avenues.

Buddy Williams, who left Southeast Seminole Heights to build a townhouse in Pasco County, missed the neighborhood so much that he sold the townhouse and recently bought a 1,300-square-foot bungalow on Shadowlawn Avenue.

The house, featured on this year's tour, shows off much of Williams' craftsmanship and artistry, including a hand-painted floor, which looks like a rug, hand-built bookcases and historically inspired crown molding. It also retains much of its character, including original ceiling and bathroom tiles and original plaster and fresco work.

Williams, a CAT-scan technician at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, says he was drawn back to his old neighborhood for a variety of reasons. "The appeal is the friendliness, that you can be anywhere in five minutes and the possibilities of these old houses. People don't realize how much character they have."

Tour founder and organizer Stan Lasater, an advertising executive, chose to showcase Southeast Seminole Heights during the Christmas holidays because most area house tours happen in the spring.

"We wanted to do something different, something unlike other house tours," recalls Lasater, whose own house was showcased on the first tour in 2004.

What makes the event different are the trolley cars that ferry passengers from stop to stop, with narrators, affectionately nicknamed the "Trolley Wenches," who offer tidbits of history.

The Parsonses intend to go all out with decorations, bedecking the front porch and front entrance with a pretty wreath and holiday swags that live up to their home's innate curb appeal.

"I was worried about the rush to get everything completed. I thought no way can we get this all done," Erin said. "But my parents have really helped us, and I think we're going to make it."

The Southeast Seminole Heights Homes for the Holidays tour runs from 1 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. The tour includes 10 holiday-themed homes and gardens, a historic church, live music, crafts and food. Tickets are $10. The tour begins at the Seminole Heights Baptist Church at Hillsborough and Nebraska avenues. A portion of the ticket sales will benefit Joshua House. For information, go to www.holidayhomeandgarden.com or call Stan Lasater at 813 239-0025.

[Last modified December 1, 2005, 09:34:11]