STAR OF THE SHOWPLACES: Part of the original Moses Taylor Pyne estate, this house at 505 Mercer Road has a dairy barn with floor-to-ceiling tilework by Rafael Guastavino, whose work is in some New York City subway stations. The 1901 home is among five on this year’s Historical Society of Princeton House Tour. (Photo by Izzy Kasdin)

Every fall for the past 15 years, The Historical Society of Princeton has searched out eye-catching residences to feature on its annual fundraiser, the House Tour. This year’s crop of five, the first since Izzy Kasdin took over as executive director last May, combines the historically significant with the adaptively re-used. The tour is Saturday, November 5 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“We try to find a balance, and this is a great selection,” said Ms. Kasdin. “There is the Woodrow Wilson house at 82 Library Place, which has been stunningly restored. And there is the house at 342 Nassau Street that is now home to Eastridge Design — a new take on one of the oldest, intact Georgian houses in Princeton.”

Ms. Kasdin is especially excited to have the unique property at 505 Mercer Road on the tour for the first time. Originally part of the estate that is now Drumthwacket, the house has a former dairy barn that is “just stunning,” she said. “It was a model farm at one time. Some of the tilework is done by Rafael Guastavino, who did the tilework in some New York City subway stations and Ellis Island.”

Architect Glen Fries modernized and renovated the house, which was built in 1901 and was home to George Weigel, proprietor of the dairy farm. The adjacent barn is “classic Moses Taylor Pyne,” Ms. Kasdin said of the original property owner. “No expense was spared.”

The house that Woodrow Wilson and family occupied at 82 Library Place is one of the few in the United States to have been designed and built by a U.S. president. Wilson was president of Princeton University before moving to Washington. “It was meticulously designed by Wilson and his wife,” said Ms. Kasdin. “Bob Carr [current owner] did some research and found all sorts of wonderful correspondence about the design decisions.”

The research revealed that the future U.S. president and his wife didn’t have the deep pockets that one might expect. “They didn’t have much money and had to make a lot of compromises,” Ms. Kasdin said. “You can see the cost-cutting measures they took. They wanted to have a separate servants’ staircase, but they couldn’t afford it and they were disappointed in that. Some of the features are from the Sears catalogue. It’s so interesting because the perception of Library Place is that everything is the best.”

This is not to say that the house, which has been on the tour before, lacks in grandeur. Today, it has a modern kitchen, a room-sized mural in the dining room, and an historic sleeping porch, among other features.

Also open for visitors is a house at 1 Haslet Avenue, which was designed as a replica of the St. George Tucker house in Colonial Williamsburg. Katie Eastridge created the interiors, which boast American colonial furniture, contemporary art, and antiques. Ms. Eastridge’s business, the Eastridge Design Home, is also on the tour, at the other end of town. Painted charcoal gray as part of its renovation by Ms. Eastridge, the building at 342 Nassau Street was built in 1730.

The tour also includes 150 Mercer Street, a 19th century home that sits in the location of a proposed, but never built, entrance to Princeton University’s Graduate College. The house has modern interiors and a landscaped back patio complete with a koi pond.

Tickets to the tour are $45 for members of the Historical Society; $50 for non-members. Proceeds go to the organization’s core mission activities throughout the year. Visit www.princetonhistory.org or call (609) 921-6748 ext. 105 to purchase tickets.

“It’s great to be able to celebrate people who respect the integrity and history of their homes, as well as those who take a historic home and, if it’s not practical as a residence, turn it into something else,” said Ms. Kasdin. “That’s how historic preservation needs to function.”