Somerville Illuminations Tours are Saturday

The Somerville Arts Council offers its 13th annual Illuminations Tours, trolley tours of the Massachusetts city's most spectacular holiday home displays, on Saturday, Dec. 19. One of the tour stops is Otis Street (pictured above and immediately below), where, the council reports, one gentleman, John Ragno, decorates three houses. He lives in one, his daughters live in other two. Examining the dazzling displays there and on Preston Road, Bartlett Street, Robinson Street, Central Street, we couldn't help thinking that there are few art shows around here that can match these homes' aesthetic wattage.

Illuminations Tour tickets, which support the council's programs, are $10 for adults and $5 for seniors and children 12 or younger. If you can't make the tour, beginning Dec. 21, the council will sell $3 self-guided tour maps at Blue Cloud Gallery and Magpie.

All photos here by The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research.

Otis Street:



















































































Central Street




























Robinson Street










































Bartlett Street










































Preston Road