The old main post office for Columbus is still used as the downtown branch. It has also housed the federal court house and numerous government offices. The classically influenced Renaissance Revival landmark was designed by local architect E. Oren Smith under government contract. The style is commonly found among public buildings constructed circa 1900-1930.
National Register of Historic Places
This is another example of a modified shotgun house, in this case made fancy with Queen Anne elements.
Columbus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This Georgian Cottage has undoubtedly evolved since it was built just after the Civil War, with a port cochere and ornamental brick rails on the front porch.
Columbus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This is another fine example of the Greek Revival cottage style so popular in antebellum Columbus. Like its neighbor, in the previous post, it has been expanded over time and has had decorative elements added, but to no detrimental effect.
Columbus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
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
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