St. Luke's House Tour Is On Saturday

The annual St. Luke’s Episcopal Church of East Hampton “House and Garden Tour,” featuring classic houses and elegant gardens, will be held in East Hampton Village on Saturday, May 7, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. On the evening before the tour, there will be a cocktail party hosted by Ken Lipper on Friday, May 6, from 6 to 8 p.m.

The featured properties on this year’s tour will include Bee Cottage, Alexandra Munroe and Robert Rosenkrantz’s Manor House, Dianne Benson’s garden, Peter Wilson’s garden, Calista Washburn’s garden and Mr. Lipper’s home.

The charming Bee Cottage was recently photographed for two issues of House Beautiful magazine. The home is a 1920s stucco with blue trim.

Ms. Munroe’s and Mr. Rosenkrantz’s home is a classic 1928 manor house, which sits on an ocean dune with multiple gardens and grasses. Hidden Jack-in-the-pulpits and ferns under a canopy of cryptomeria, cypress and rhododendron are featured in a woodland walk.

Ms. Benson’s home is filled with contemporary artwork and her stylish garden is noted for its ingenuity of layering and mixing colors and textures, interesting pruning and exotic plants that return year after year. The property also boasts what is said to be the largest magnolia on the East End and a rare Temple’s Upright sugar maple.

Mr. Wilson’s garden, designed by Craig Socia, includes distinct Japanese overtones, rock-hewn stairs, a 60-foot twig bridge and a floating stone walk. The 3-acre property boasts specimen Japanese maples, mounds of barberry and a weeping beech.

Ms. Washburn’s garden is a real “gardener’s garden.” The landscape exhibits spring bulbs, Crape Myrtle, an old espaliered pear and other unusual trees, a slatted folly for dining, stone walls and a little red barn.

Mr. Lipper’s home, the former Helen and Claus Hoie house, has been renovated to include modern lines, dark colors and striking architectural details. The property includes a small pool, as well as a pond inhabited by swans.

Proceeds from the tour will be used to complete the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church’s Parish Hall. Tickets are $50 for the tour and $125 for the tour and cocktail party. Reservations are recommended. Call 329-0990 or visit stlukeseasthampton.org for tickets and additional information.

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awn watson