Well known artist and St. Louis resident Charles Houska lent his considerable talent to the 2009 Big BIG Tour, generously creating a special painting to help celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of Big BIG Tour and the annual event that promotes city living to residents of the St. Louis area!

This colorful St. Louis cityscape with a cheerful, smiling sun is rendered in Houska's immediately recognizeable and vivid signature style. Fans and art aficionados are invited to purchase one of these art prints that will surely rise in value as time goes on.

ReVitalize St. Louis is proud to organize and present the Annual Big BIG Tour!

ReVitalize St. Louis is a non-profit organization that promotes revitalization efforts in the City of St Louis through education, support of progressive civic projects, and strengthening communities. Our mission and vision point towards a future for St. Louis where innovative development ideas are implemented with broad community support, where citizens celebrate the city's unique building heritage, and where we can all work together toward a sustainable St. Louis.

To find out more, to volunteer or to become a member, please visit the organization's website

Big BIG Tour, a free self-guided city-wide open house of for-sale properties had its beginnings in 1999. Back then, Marti Frumhoff, a local city-based realtor, decided to share what she called the “best-kept secret” of city living in a big way with the greater St. Louis community. She appreciated the huge potential in the for-sale properties she saw on a daily basis. Marti felt there must be an equally great demand for urban-minded folks of all types to find quality residences in the unique metropolitan neighborhoods of the City.

And was she right! The Tour has always displayed great diversity of housing stock including traditional single-family homes and lofts, as well as two-family and four-family residences. Located throughout the City, the properties are available in all architectural styles and price ranges — they are rehab projects, completely restored historic homes, even new construction. This spectrum of features, style and price, broadens the appeal of listed for-sale City properties both with real estate agents and visitors making the Tour universally appealing.

Every year since Marti started the Tour, it has grown both in properties to view and in the level of interest and participation from the public. Hundreds of people come out every year, rain or shine, lured by the adventure of one glorious day spent exploring a new neighborhood, and possibly, finding that place to call home