If you have ever spotted a gorgeous Colonial home or mesmerizing Mediterranean abode and pondered its origin, Histoury is here to help. Founded in 2022, Histoury’s historical tours are “intended to illuminate and excite people about the historic buildings we discuss, and to that end, our hope is that all of these historic buildings are preserved and protected,” according to tour production manager, Allison Casazza, who comes up with the themes each tour will follow.
“It’s about getting people to care about the buildings that are around them,” says Casazza. “People pass by these buildings every day if they are on a main road, and we are giving them the history behind the building, the people that lived there, and the important events that took place there. We are also bringing people off the beaten path, showing them buildings on side roads. People get really excited when they learn something new.”
Casazza pours over databases, books, and historical-society records to create Histoury’s tours, which operate in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. Tours are both in busses and on foot, and cover roughly 25 structures per outing. Last year, the organization began Westchester tours, which focused on midcentury-modern homes around Pound Ridge, Colonial abodes in the southern county, and a host of New Rochelle Tudors.
This year, Histoury is back with a fleet of tours, including one covering fanciful Victorian homes in Tarrytown and Irvington, a bus tour of Mediterranean-Revival homes in New Rochelle, and a bus tour of sumptuous midcentury-modern homes along the Hudson River. Histoury also plans to lead a tour highlighting a collection of buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Rye, Port Chester, and Mamaroneck, to celebrate Preservation Month in May.
Throughout all of these inviting and stimulating jaunts, the safeguarding of Westchester’s timeless architectural treasures remains a top priority — and is a feature patrons can feel good about. “We are what you would consider a cultural heritage nonprofit,” says Casazza. “So, the preservation of these buildings is our ultimate goal. We want to get people more excited and informed about them.”
