Without knowing it, those who read the Open House article by Elizabeth Rhodes in the Seattle Times Home & Real Estate section on May 23, 2004, and the 2,000+ who on that Sunday afternoon visited the Hilton Residence in Laurelhurst designed by David Foster AIA, took part in a historic occasion.

After 50 years, the Seattle Times/AIA program – variously known as the Home of the Month or Open House – ceased to operate in the Sunday feature article/open house format, effective this June – making May's Open House the last of its kind. The Seattle Times/AIA Housing the Northwest program, which spun off from the Open House program beginning in 1997, also took a new form this year, with Elizabeth Rhodes's Times Home & Real Estate article May 30 covering this year's selected multi-family projects, and the tour June 6, following one week later.

Since its 1954 inception, the Home of the Month program has grown and changed over the years, reflecting changing social, economic, environmental, and professional conditions in our communities. In connection with the 50th anniversary in March 2004, coverage in The Seattle Times (Elizabeth Rhodes, 'A window into how we've changed' 2/29/04) included a retrospective of the five decades of residential design, each illustrated by a review and selection of featured homes.

The program has attracted and affected professionals and the public alike, as Peter Sackett observed in '50 years of open houses' in the Times 2/29/04. Many of the area's most distinguished architects cite the visibility provided by the program as giving them a boost, particularly at the start of their careers. Architects and journalists associated with the program in its first decades tell of homeowners eager to have their homes featured; more recently, the idea of having thousands of visitors in their newly-completed homes has had less appeal for an increasingly privacy-conscious public. Still, the number of Open House visitors has continued to grow – as has public appreciation for the opportunity to experience first-hand an architect-designed home and the realization of the client's vision by means of the owner-architect-builder relationship. The annual Seattle Times/AIA Home of the Year event, with distinguished guests speakers offering insight on residential design topics, has delivered value and learning to popular and professional audiences, in recent years numbering 500 or more.

The outgoing and incoming Chairs of the AIA Seattle Home of the Month Committee – Christopher Bull, Laura Kraft AIA, and Pak Koong AIA, along with Program Director Peter Sackett and EVP Marga Rose Hancock Hon. AIA – have met with Times management and editorial staff to consider possible alternatives for residential design coverage in new collaborative formats. In keeping with the mission of AIA Seattle and concern expressed by numerous AIA Seattle Members and other observers and participants in the program, and as affirmed by the Board of Directors, we place a high value on offering the direct experience of residential design to the public. Meanwhile, the Committee has ceased to accept and review applications for the Open House feature/tour, while considering options for revisions to the program.

Let's all hope that loyal fans of the program - both professional and public - will stay tuned for announcement of further opportunities to engage in participatory observation of residential design in our communities.