By June Mathews
Before COVID-19 came along, Homewood’s biennial Historic Hollywood Tour of Homes was scheduled for April 26. But the tour, along with many other area events, has been postponed due to social distancing restrictions. Plans for rescheduling have not been announced.
“There’s a lot to be considered before we can set another date,” said Cathy Whatley, co-chair of the 2020 tour along with Carolyn Neiswender. “Our hot summers aren’t the best time for tours like this one, and a fall date would present any number of conflicts with school and football schedules. We’ve also got the homeowners and their schedules to consider.”
While a 2021 home tour is a possibility, it’s not necessarily the popular option.
“We could easily reschedule for next spring, but that would throw us off our biennial track,” said Whatley. “So, we’ve clearly got some people to talk with and thinking to do before a firm decision is made.”
But whenever it takes place, the next Hollywood Home Tour, like those before it, will showcase the timeless feel and historic character of the area. Organized by the Hollywood Garden Club and sponsored by local businesses, the tour is a nearly 50-year-old fundraising event to benefit neighborhood school Shades Cahaba Elementary and neighborhood beautification projects.
Historic Creation
Inspired by the timeless glamour of the Golden Age of Hollywood, California, Homewood’s Hollywood is an upscale suburban neighborhood in a beautiful setting with lovely homes, good neighbors and an ultra-convenient location between downtown Homewood to the west and Mountain Brook Village to the east.
The concept for Hollywood was conceived in the early 1920s by Clyde Nelson, president of the Nelson Real Estate Company of Birmingham. He hired Harvard-trained landscape architect Rubee J. Pease to design the neighborhood and Birmingham architect George P. Turner to design most of the original residences. Lots were planned to be large, with 100-foot frontages and ranging in price from $1,800 to $3,700. Houses would range from $15,000 to $35,000. The first 75 to 100 homes were built between 1924 and 1926.
By no means a cookie-cutter kind of neighborhood, Hollywood is noted for a variety of home styles that come together in a pleasing blend. While Nelson’s plans initially called for only Spanish Mission and Tudor Revival to populate the neighborhood, other styles such as Modern Ranch, Minimal Traditional and Craftsman Bungalow eventually became part of the mix.
The oldest homes in the area reflect the Spanish Mission style and were built along the neighborhood’s first three streets: Bonita Drive, which was the first street to be paved; Poinciana Drive; and La Prado Place. To ensure the Mission style was accurately portrayed, Nelson sent his contractors to Miami for several months to study the Spanish-inspired architecture there before ground was even broken.
A freight carload of decorative wrought iron from a demolition project in the French Quarter of New Orleans reportedly provided detailing for some of those first homes. Other building materials such as terra cotta, stucco, slate, limestone and ceramic tile also were used and continue to give homes in Hollywood their distinctive flair.
By the 1940s and ‘50s, modern styles were being built in Hollywood. During the 1960s and ‘70s, a number of Ranch-style houses were built south of Windsor Drive to south of Shades Creek Parkway, which was Nelson Real Estate Company’s and the town of Hollywood’s original corporate boundary.
Originally formed as a separate town in 1927, Hollywood was annexed into Homewood in 1929. The Hollywood Historic District qualified for the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 and is home to several American Institute of Architects-nominated houses.
For updates on the 2020 Hollywood Home Tour, visit Hollywood Garden Club on Facebook or follow Hollywood Home Tour on Instagram.
