This cottage has been expanded at the rear section, but retains its historic integrity. It’s one of my favorite houses in Columbus, though I have been unable to locate any history beyond an approximate date of construction. The ornamentation is a stylistic addition, likely done 20-40 years after the house was built.
Columbus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Richard Rose Goetchius (1814-1875) came to Columbus from New York in 1834 and quickly established himself as a prominent builder and architect. He built this grand Greek Revival cottage as a gift for his wife, Mary Ann Bennett Goetchius (1819-1878), upon their marriage in 1839. It originally stood at 11th Street and 2nd Avenue but was moved circa 1970 to save it from commercial development.
All six of the Goetchius children, five sons and a daughter, were born in the house. The two eldest sons died in the Civil War. Another son died in early childhood. One son became a Columbus lawyer and another a Presbyterian minister. Their daughter, Mary Goetchius McKinley, died in childbirth, and her daughter Mary McKinley Wellborn, eventually inherited the house. It remained in the family until 1969.
It has been completely restored by its new owners, who have transformed it into a popular gourmet restaurant.
National Register of Historic Places
At least two entrances to the Columbus Historic District, including 4th Street at Broadway, have brick gateposts topped by sculptural griffin finials. I haven’t been able to locate anything about them, but they serve as very interesting boundary markers. Griffins are mythological creatures that are part lion, part eagle, and traditionally were seen as symbols of strength and wisdom, and guardians of treasure.
Greater Saint Mark was organized in as Saint Mark AME Church in 1886 and the present sanctuary was built in 1961, during the pastorate of Rev. W. L. Brown. An old cornerstone saved by the congregation indicates an earlier church was built in 1889, during the pastorate of Rev. M. R. Wilson.
This is the first time I’ve ever encountered a railroad crossing sign that notes an exempt status. This is due to the fact that an old streetcar line crosses here. Columbus once had a vast network of streetcars, or trolleys, and they were instrumental in the growth of numerous neighborhoods throughout the city.
Columbus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The Georgian Cottage form is widespread in Columbus, and this hip-roof example has a Folk Victorian appearance.
Columbus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This house did not originate as an octagon house, but rather as a small cottage built circa 1830, now incorporated into the present structure. Until 1857, it was owned by Alfred Iverson, Sr. (1798-1873), a native of Liberty County and Princeton-trained lawyer who later served in the House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate, and his wife, Julia, the daughter of Georgia governor and future U.S. Secretary of State John Forsyth.
The property was purchased by contractor and cabinetmaker Leander May in 1862. May added the octagonal front to the existing Iverson cottage, and then transformed the original structure into an octagon, creating a double octagon house. Neighbors found it it odd and dubbed it May’s Folly, or simply The Folly. Octagon houses were a short-lived Victorian craze that never fully caught on, making them rare as hens’ teeth today. The rear section was returned to a rectangular form at a later date, but a 1968 fire confirmed that May had made it octagonal, as well.
Though it is often claimed to be the only double octagon house in the nation, there are apparently a few others, depending on how the term is defined. Still, it is an exceedingly rare form, and it’s the only residential property afforded National Historic Landmark status in Columbus.
National Historic Landmark
This is a nice example of what I’ve come to consider a “modified shotgun house”. There are quite a few of these throughout the Columbus Historic District, all with their own unique design elements. Though not shotgun houses in the purest sense, they have the overall massing that defines the form.
Columbus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Columbus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This house was located at the corner of Front Avenue and 8th Street, overlooking the Chattahoochee River, until 1969, when it was moved to its present site by the Historic Columbus Foundation. Little of the early history of the house is known; it was purchased by saloon keeper Francis Marion Bagley (1845-1903) around the turn of the 20th century.
Columbus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places