AUBURN — A downtown walking tour this month turns away from commercial areas on Main and Court streets in favor of historic homes.
“It’s meant to be sort of an opening opportunity to let people know, this is something we really want to work on this year,” Alan Manoian, Auburn’s economic development specialist, said.
Manoian will lead a walking tour of the city’s downtown residential neighborhoods starting at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 25. The tour steps off from Festival Plaza, winding up at the Foss Mansion at 19 Elm St. at about 7:30 p.m.
Manoian said it’s an opportunity for Auburn residents and especially downtown neighbors living along High, Drummond, Spring and Elm streets.
“I’ve been in these places and when you go in and see the craftsmanship, the world-class stained-glass windows and fireplace mantels and woodwork, you realize this neighborhood is a treasure house of the highest quality,” Manoian said.
It also serves as a starting point for an effort to unify the downtown area’s property owners and get them to work together in a historic development network.
“I want people, after this tour, to say they really can’t look at the neighborhood the same way again,” he said.
Manoian led several downtown walking tours last summer, trying to get residents to see the downtown differently. Topics focused on recognizing the area’s development patterns and recognizing historic and architecturally significant buildings.
This new tour will have a similar goal in a slightly different area.
Auburn’s residential downtown was built by some of the region’s richest families using the best materials and designs. Buildings feature Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Queen Anne, Romanesque, Beaux Arts and Arts and Crafts architectural styles, he said.
“So I am inviting all the owners of these homes to come on this tour,” he said. “We want to show them the amazing architecture on these buildings, who the architects were and the incredible high-quality materials these buildings are made of. We want to raise people’s awareness about what they have.”
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