Some may recognize the familiar phrase “know thy neighbor,” but what about “know thy neighbor’s house?”

For the 22nd year in a row, the architecturally curious will have the opportunity to take a peek at some of South Whidbey’s most interesting homes during the South Whidbey Republican Women’s Home Tour.

Set for next Saturday, the event — which raises money for a college scholarship fund — got its start as a way for people who like to see other people’s homes do just that.

Marion Fitzpatrick, a member of the Republican Women and a witness to the first home tour in 1981, said it was the event’s initial success that made it a tradition. It also proved to be a draw to the Island for at least one couple who took the tour.

“That first year, a couple from Seattle went on the tour and fell in love with the Island,” Fitzpatrick said. “They ended up selling their home in Seattle and buying a house here, where they still live today.”

This year, the Republican Women have chosen five homes to showcase. The tour starts at Jim and Nancy Haas’ Smugglers’ Cove Road home, a new, knotty-cedar sided house nestled in the woods. Afterwards, the tour moves on to a condominium in Freeland, a Langley area geodesic dome home, Jack and Norma Metcalf’s Log Castle, and finally another family home off Bob Galbreath Road.

Two homes in particular, the Haas and Liddell homes, will spark a good deal of curiosity in those interested in the tour.

Jim and Nancy Haas moved to the Island from Ohio in December. Enlisting the design help of their son, Steve, the couple came up with a home rich in wood inside and out that has the essence of a cozy lodge.

The house is set atop a steep bluff 190 feet above Admiralty Inlet. A winding path leads to the beach, while much shorter, hand-laid brick walks built by Jim and Steve Haas sidle past a detached garage and lead all visitors to the home’s wide porch.

Entering the home, tour participants will immediately notice the open floorplan. A combined greatroom and kitchen, which boasts ceilings of knotty pine and maple floors, dominates the home’s design. Bedrooms and bathrooms are tucked into hallways and at the bottom of the basement stairs.

With plenty of windows facing Admiralty Inlet, the Haas home is bright with natural light. Contemporary and antique adornments — including a stained glass suncatcher in a high window — infuse the new house with a comfortable feel.

“We wanted to go for a casual look,” Nancy Haas said. “The lodge-like appearance, we thought, would let it blend in with the woodsy surroundings.”

Natural wood pillars supporting heavy wood beams add to that lodge feel.

Most noticeable both in the house and outside is the sense of privacy radiating from the woodsy bank, even though the property is only about 100 feet off busy Smuggler’s Cove Road.

Perhaps the one home on the tour that best deserves the title “unique” is a geodesic home on Park Wood Drive owned by Rick and Myrna Liddell.

Built 24 years ago and designed by Rick Liddell after he and his wife moved to Whidbey Island from California, the cream-yellow and white structure consists of two geodesic domes, an unusual departure from single-dome structures.

Unlike some of the more rustic domes built over the past 30 years, the Liddells’ “home sweet dome” is as liveable as any home. Inside the larger of the two domes, there is a living room, dining room, kitchen, lofted bedrooms, a study deck and bathrooms, as well as a loft accessed by a folding ladder. The smaller dome is the master bedroom.

Behind the domes, a sunny deck with adjoining gardens links the structure together.

Rick Liddell said he and his wife chose dome living for a number of reasons, including the fascinating acoustics that make it possible for two people to hold a whispered conversation between the upstairs loft and the entry hall.

There are practical reasons as well.

“Geodesic domes have really cut down on our power expenses,” Rick Liddell said. “Our energy bill is 30 percent less, because the dome is so efficient.”

As in past years on the third Saturday of the month — the regular date for the home tour — this year’s tour will probably be on a sunny day. As far as anyone can remember, tour-goers have never had to contend with a drop of rain.

“Surprisingly, every year the weather has been the same,” Marion Fitzpatrick said. “It has always been a beautiful day,”

Funds raised through ticket sales from the tour fund scholarships for men and women attending various schools.

“The scholarships are granted by request of high school students who are graduating or a college student furthering his or her education,” said Marlene Angeles, the director of this year’s home tour.

Given in the name of the late Dorothy Cleveland, many of the scholarships this year may go to South Whidbey’s Skagit Valley College students.