SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Preservation Sacramento is proud and excited to announce the 50th Annual Historic Home Tour is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 20 and advance tickets are available now. 

With a mission to showcase historically significant architecture of some of Sacramento's most noteworthy historic homes and buildings, the 2026 Historic Home Tour will showcase six historic properties associated with the Old & New Washington School Historic Districts. Located in the heart of Sacramento’s central city and bounded by C, H, 12th and 19th streets, this is one of Sacramento’s oldest residential neighborhoods. 

The 2026 tour will highlight the neighborhood’s longtime and celebrated history with the Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF), an internationally recognized collective of artists and activists that originated in Sacramento in the late 1960s.

The four residential properties on the 50th Annual Historic Home Tour, three of which are located on F Street, date from the 1890s. The homes offer a sampling of housing types commonly found in Sacramento during this time period, ranging from very modest single-story cottages to large homes of two or three stories. As demand for affordable housing grew in this neighborhood, many of the single-family homes were divided into two or more apartments, and some became boarding houses, with furnished rooms for rent. These multi-occupant residences provided inexpensive housing for employees of local businesses and industries, such as the canneries and the railroad shops.

One of the homes on the 2026 tour is known as the “F Street Boarding House” and has an infamous past due to a former occupant, Dorothea Puente, who leased the property for about seven years until she was convicted of murdering nine of the lodgers in 1989. The current owners are generously opening their home while underscoring that “The House is Innocent,” a phrase that is on the exterior gate of the home and is the name of an award-winning documentary that was released in 2015.  

Located at 16th and D streets, the Washington Neighborhood Center is also an important stop on the home tour. Built in 1927, this former tire store was repurposed as a youth center 30 years later and has recently been renovated. Tour participants will have the opportunity to see the impressive mural painted by RCAF artist Esteban Villa and his students, Emergence of the Chicano Social Struggle in a Bi-Cultural Society (or simply, Emergence). Painted between 1969 and 1970, it is the oldest surviving RCAF mural painting in Sacramento. With the inclusion of the Washington Neighborhood Center, the historic home tour also is linked to the ongoing regional celebration of the RCAF called InFormation that has shown a light on the RCAF’s legacy of art, activism and community.

“This year’s Historic Home Tour highlights how history never stops, even in historic districts,” said President of Preservation Sacramento William Burg. 

“Historic events including demographic and social changes, cultural and artistic groups, activism and resistance, triumph and tragedy, all shape our city, and our neighborhoods. After more than a half century of celebrating and protecting neighborhoods, Preservation Sacramento is proud to announce its 50th annual tour, highlighting history old and new in the historic districts around Midtown’s Washington Elementary School and Washington Neighborhood Center,” Burg said.

Additional Tour Details

To add to the home tour experience, eye-catching and period-appropriate vehicles will be parked near the residences and buildings on the tour. The tour is designed to be both walkable and bikeable, and complimentary bicycle parking is available in a monitored bike corral provided by Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (SABA).

While touring the prized historic homes is the highlight of the annual event, an always- popular Street Fair will include vendors, food trucks, nonprofits, community organizations, local crafters and artists, live musical entertainment and more. This year, the Street Fair will be located on the Washington Elementary School grounds (1631 F St.) and is the starting point for the tour where attendees pick up wristbands (that serve as tour tickets), tour brochures (for more details about the homes and featured sites), and for day-of ticket sales if still available.

Proudly supported by initial sponsors Paloma Begin, Realtor (DRE01254423) and Michael Triglia, Realtor (LIC#0493778), advance tickets to the 2026 Historic Home Tour are on sale now and cost $30 per person for Preservation Sacramento members, $40 for the general public in advance or day of the event. 

To purchase advance tickets to Preservation Sacramento’s 50th Annual Historic Home Tour, visit preservation-sacramento-44.wildapricot.org/event-6731534; for more information about the tour, visit preservationsacramento.org/hometour.