Preservation Foundation’s Sunday Strolls run into October

The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation’s Autumn Sunday Stroll season is underway, with guided walking tours every Sunday morning through October 25, 2026. The series opened September 13 and continues this Sunday, September 27, with a new tour of Congress Park led by local author Patrice Mastrianni, according to the foundation’s announcement published by I LOVE NY.

Each tour begins at 10:30 a.m. and lasts about 90 minutes. Tours are limited to 30 people, and tickets must be bought in advance. The foundation had not yet announced its four October tours when we checked.

Tickets and logistics

The basics, as listed by the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation:

• Tours run every Sunday from September 13 through October 25, 2026, from 10:30 a.m. to about noon.
• Tickets cost $15 for foundation members and $20 for nonmembers.
• Each tour is capped at 30 participants, and tickets must be purchased in advance.
• Tours involve walking and standing on varied terrain, the foundation says.
• Tickets and information are available from the foundation at (518) 587-5030.

The September tours

The foundation lined up three September tours, each with a different guide and focus.

Breezing Through Saratoga: R. Newton Brezee Homes (September 13)

Executive director Samantha Bosshart led the season opener, a repeat of a tour that sold out in August. It covered houses designed by R. Newton Brezee on the city’s East Side and met at the southwest corner of Regent and Caroline streets. According to the foundation, Brezee started as a carpenter in Saratoga Springs in the early 1870s, then moved to Long Island to apprentice under Edward D. Harris, the architect for department store magnate A.T. Stewart. After returning in 1884, he became an architect and building superintendent and went on to design and oversee construction of nearly 50 buildings in the area.

Historic West Side (September 20)

George Demers led a tour of the West Side, where Saratoga Springs’ Irish and Italian immigrants and its Black community lived. The foundation said the tour covered the neighborhood’s architecture, residents, stores and clubs, along with the effects of urban renewal and later revitalization efforts.

Find Me in Congress Park! (September 27)

This Sunday’s tour is new. Patrice Mastrianni will share facts and folklore she gathered while researching her children’s book, “Find Me in Saratoga.” The foundation says the walk will run from the Katrina Trask Memorial Staircase to the Congress Park Carousel and will mix historical fact with personal stories from antique journals and a few rumors. The staircase honors Katrina Trask, who with her husband Spencer Trask created Yaddo, the artists’ retreat on Union Avenue.

Why Congress Park

Congress Park and the Canfield Casino form a National Historic Landmark district at the south end of Broadway. Congress Spring, discovered in 1792, became the center of the village that grew into the city, and its bottled water was once the most famous of Saratoga’s mineral waters. The casino now houses the Saratoga Springs History Museum, and the park’s wooden carousel is more than a century old.

About the foundation

The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation was founded in 1977, the same year the city adopted its local historic preservation ordinance. The nonprofit promotes the preservation of the city’s architectural, cultural and landscape heritage. The Autumn Series is sponsored by Fridholm Painting, and the foundation is seeking sponsors for individual strolls through development director Dianne Winter.

The foundation also recognizes preservation work each year. In 2024 it sought nominations for its Preservation Recognition Awards, which honor people and organizations that restore or reuse historic buildings and landscapes in the city, Saratoga TODAY reported.

Why these tours matter

Much of Saratoga Springs sits inside five contiguous National Register historic districts, and many residents walk past landmark houses every day without knowing their stories. The Brezee tour is a good example: many of the architect’s houses still stand on Lake Avenue, Caroline Street, Circular Street and Union Avenue. Guided tours give residents and visitors a way to read those streets.

The West Side tour touches on a harder history. The neighborhood was the city’s working-class quarter during its resort years, and urban renewal in the mid-20th century changed parts of it dramatically. Tours like Demers’ keep that history in view as the neighborhood changes.

Brezee houses you can see on your own

If you missed the Brezee tour, several of his houses are easy to find. A few documented examples:

• 105 Lake Avenue, a single-family home from 1884.
• 75 Caroline Street, from 1885 to 1886.
• 130 Circular Street, from 1890.
• 203 Union Avenue, a Queen Anne house from 1888.
• 628 North Broadway, from 1887.
• 159 Division Street, from 1884 to 1885.
• 10 Fifth Avenue, from 1886.

All are private homes, so view them from the sidewalk. The Caroline Street and Lake Avenue houses are a short walk from each other on the East Side.

What is next

Four October tours will round out the series. Here is what to watch for:

• The foundation said it would announce the October lineup in the coming weeks.
• Tours will continue on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. through October 25.
• With a 30-person cap, popular tours like the Brezee walk have sold out, so buy early.

Tips for tour day

A few practical notes:

• Wear comfortable shoes and dress for the weather, since the foundation warns of varied terrain.
• Parking downtown is free in city garages outside the summer paid-parking season, with posted time limits. The Putnam Street garage is closest to Congress Park.
• Plan brunch afterward. Phila Street and Broadway are a few minutes’ walk from Congress Park.

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