Restored ALCOA "Care-free" Home to be featured during 2021 Fall House+Garden Tour

The Tour committee is excited to announce that the 2021 Hollin Hills House+Garden Tour will feature exclusive in-person access to Hollin Hills’ singular Alcoa Care-free Home, one of only 24 of these unique mid-century homes built in the United States.

Designed by Charles Goodman, the chief architect of Hollin Hills, the Alcoa Care-free Homes debuted in 1957 as a demonstration project to showcase new uses of aluminum in home building. Alcoa originally planned to build 50 models across the country, expecting them to generate a groundswell of interest and orders for the innovative design. But building costs far exceeded expectations, and the program was cut short, leaving the 24 homes in 16 states as the only examples of these spectacular mid-century jewels. 

The Hollin Hills Alcoa Care-free Home has been lovingly and painstakingly restored by homeowners Lee and Peter Braun in partnership with Carbon Design Build. Both are also sponsors of this year’s tour. Ticketholders will have the opportunity to tour the home for the first time since the renovation has been completed.

The Alcoa Care-free Home joins more than a dozen other Hollin Hills homes and gardens that will be open to ticket holders during the tour, which is scheduled for Sept. 25. Tickets are available now.

The cover of the original 1957 brochure of the Alcoa Care-free Home

A sneak peek at what’s to come

In Fall 2020, docomomo US, a non-profit dedicated to the preservation of modern architecture, landscape and design, featured the Hollin Hills Alcoa Care-Free Home and one of the neighborhood’s unique two-story atrium homes in a virtual tour of Hollin Hills.

The D.C. chapter of Docomomo has generously provided exclusive access to the video tours for your enjoyment. 

We hope you take advantage of this chance to peek inside of two of Hollin Hills’ architectural gems. There’s more where that came from—we hope you’ll join us in person on Sept. 25!