The Millers’ Dunwoody home, a French Colonial revival, is on the tour. Built in 1971 and bought by the Millers in 1993, the Louisiana natives were drawn by the New Orleans flavor of the two-story front porch and wrought iron railings.
The Millers’ Dunwoody home, a French Colonial revival, is on the tour. Built in 1971 and bought by the Millers in 1993, the Louisiana natives were drawn by the New Orleans flavor of the two-story front porch and wrought iron railings.

Homes in the Historic Brookhaven neighborhood, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs will open to the public during fundraising tours in October.

The Dunwoody Home Tour, the major annual fundraiser for the Dunwoody Woman’s Club, features five homes, including one this year that happens to be in Sandy Springs. The tour – the 41st put together by the Woman’s Club, is scheduled for Oct. 2.

The Dunwoody tour is expected to draw up to 1,000 people, Sharon Doyle, publicity chairwoman for the Woman’s Club, said in an interview.  Money raised through the tour is used to finance local programs. “It goes right back into the community,” Doyle said.

The Historic Brookhaven Candlelight Tour, a fundraiser for Atlanta Ronald McDonald House Charities, features four homes located in the Historic Brookhaven neighborhood in Buckhead and Brookhaven. That tour is scheduled for Oct. 24. “All proceeds from the tour will help provide temporary housing and support services to families of ill and injured children treated at local hospitals,” tour committee member Donna Davidson said in a press release.

The Dunwoody tour features remodeled homes and offers a chance to see how some residents have remade their “typical Dunwoody house,” a Georgian-style home sometimes described as a “five over four with a door” because it features five second-floor windows and four first-floor windows with a central door.

“It’s a nice variety of examples of what can be done with the standard Dunwoody home,” Doyle said.

The tour will include homes that have been renovated to give them a new look, including one redone in a New Orleans style, complete with wrought-iron balconies, and another remade into a Craftsman-style home, Doyle said.

“I marvel at what people have accomplished in terms of their older homes,” Doyle said.

Seeing houses

41st annual Dunwoody Home Tour

Date: Oct. 2

Time: 9:30 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Cost: $25 in advance, $30 on day of tour

For more information:

www.dunwoodywomansclub.org

Historic Brookhaven Candlelight Tour of Homes

Date: Oct. 24

Time: 5:30 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.

Cost: $40 in advance,

$50 on day of tour

For more information:

www.armhc.org/tourtickets

Joe Earle is Editor-at-Large. He has more than 30-years of experience with daily newspapers, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was Managing Editor of Reporter Newspapers.